EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING: HOW THE PANDEMIC HAS AFFECTED BOOK SALES
It is safe to say that 2020 has been a year that none of us were able to predict. However, it is not all doom and gloom for avid readers and aspiring authors out there. Although we have seen fewer books physically on the bookshelves this year, we have an increase in people reading.
In fact, in recent months, people have been rediscovering their love for reading, especially now we all have a little more time on our hands to sit down and pick up our favourite book for an hour or two. Online book sales and eBook purchases have increased significantly …no virus will keep us from reading!!
The traditional sense of going into a bookshop to browse the shelves and pick up the books feels like a distant memory. However, with the hope of the imminent vaccine, this may be able to become a reality again soon. But, have our book buying habits changed for good?
The closure of bookshops during the pandemic did mean that we saw a decrease in sales of printed books in the first half of 2020. But do not worry if you are a writer thinking just about to submit your book for publication, we know people are still reading, so your book will still be seen, just maybe in a different way.
Below we will explore the increase in popularity of eBooks and Audiobooks and discover how you can buy books of all formats online.
Online Bookshelves
As we have already mentioned we know that people are still actively reading books, if not more than they did before the pandemic. In fact, in a survey, 31% of Britons said they were reading more since the Prime Minister encouraged us to stay home. Although there are now multiple ways in which you can read a book the majority of readers still prefer reading physical books, to some readers nothing can beat the smell and feel of a printed book, which was reflected in the 9% increase in printed book sales between 2019-2020 despite the closures of bookshops throughout the country.
The high-street bookshops are well aware of this and jumped to ensure that their loyal bookworms are still able to purchase books from the comfort and safety of their own homes, which has been demonstrated in the increase of online book sales in 2020. For those who always purchased from the high street have now been forced to purchase online which has opened them to a whole new world of online shopping. Speaking of online shopping, do check out the latest book collection of Austin Macauley Publishers.
eBooks
Dubbed as the ‘future of reading’ eBooks had been seeing a six-year straight decline of sales since their peak in 2014, however, the pandemic turned this pattern around with UK publishers expecting to enjoy their best years of eBook sales since 2015.
There are now plenty of e-readers available on the market and multitude of shops in which you can purchase your eBook download from, they are portable, lightweight, some have features in which you can quickly look up the meaning of a word you don’t understand. All these features alongside the accessibility of eBook’s, heightened by the closure of bookshops during the lockdowns can be highlighted as the reason for their success during the pandemic.
Where can you purchase eBooks?
Audiobooks
Audiobooks have been just as successful if not more so than eBooks with there sales expected to supersede eBook sales this year. Although the pandemic has played a part in this success, it can also be attributed to the rise in popularity of podcasts. With audiobooks drawing A-list talent with celebrities such as Meryl Streep and Michelle Obama there is no wonder why they are attracting such a large audience, teamed with the benefits of eBook and excelled by the fact you can do almost any task whilst listening to one. The pandemic has reaffirmed and accelerated an upward trend for audiobooks.
Where can you purchase Audiobooks?
The only certain thing that has come from 2020 is the growth of these online mediums and it is looking like it is here to stay long after the virus has gone.
If you have a story you would like to share with the world, with Austin Macauley Publishers we can get your book published in all of the above formats (Paperback, Hardback, eBooks and Audiobooks) so you can really expand your readership as much as possible. We have an open submission policy so please submit your book today…we look forward to reading it.
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