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Paperback fiction sales rise by 35% - Printable Version

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Paperback fiction sales rise by 35% - Kyng - 03-26-2020

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/25/book-sales-surge-self-isolating-readers-bucket-list-novels

Book sales have leapt across the country as readers find they have extra time on their hands, with bookshops reporting a significant increase in sales of longer novels and classic fiction.

In the week the UK’s biggest book chain, Waterstones, finally shut its stores after staff complained that they felt at risk from the coronavirus, its online sales were up by 400% week on week. It reported a “significant uplift” on classic – and often timely – titles including Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar.

Waterstones also reported a boost for lengthy modern novels, headed by the new bestseller Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light, but also including Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch and The Secret History, David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest and A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. Dystopian tales are also selling well, particularly Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.


Yeah, it's pretty obvious that this is happening because people have a whole load more time at home :P . However, it'll be interesting to see whether it causes many people get into reading on a more permanent basis.

Still, I haven't bought any new books to read - mainly because I already have so many unfinished ones!

RE: Paperback fiction sales rise by 35% - JennyorAlice - 03-30-2020

I agree with you, Kyng.  So many people are finding themselves quarantined because of the coronavirus (or they're staying home for fear of getting it) and now they're sitting around with all this free time on their hands.  I wouldn't mind having a little extra free time to read, however, I find myself working for a company that considers themselves "essential" so......even if the governor of our state orders everyone to shut down except the essentials then I would still be working.  I think they only way I wouldn't be working is if we went to "curb side service only" and just the management team was forced to work and they sent everyone else home. 

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.  I think more people are reading right now due to having the extra time because of the virus.  I would like to see these people continue to read after the pandemic is over.  Even if they can't read as much as they are able to right now, I think it would be a good to keep up the practice of reading.  I think reading can help keep your mind in shape and it is something that doesn't really take up a lot of effort in my opinion.  I also find reading to be relaxing after a long day at work.

RE: Paperback fiction sales rise by 35% - Kyng - 04-23-2020

Apparently, another survey for World Book Night has confirmed this. Around one-third of Brits have been reading more during the lockdown:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52379327

I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I'm not one of them. I have plenty of other stuff to finish already!

RE: Paperback fiction sales rise by 35% - Shiny Star - 04-23-2020

Interesting stuff. I read from time to time. I love reading Victorian books. During lock-down, so far, other than academic work I've read 1/4 of one of The Witcher books. It definitely makes us try or revisit old hobbies.