2020, so far, has been an interesting year, to say the least. Even during strange times, we want to take the time to stop and take a retrospective view of the Canadian book market. Combining data from BNC SalesData, BNC BiblioShare, and our Canadian Book Consumer survey, let’s look at how the English-language book market performed in the first half of 2020.

Book sales

Print sales for the first six months of 2020 vs. the first six months of 2019 show a decrease of at least three million units and 63 million dollars year-over-year. Sudden closures and restrictions due to COVID-19 had, and are still having, a significant impact on the industry – not only in sales but also in purchasing behaviour. More on that below.

The bestselling print books in the Canadian market during the first six months of 2020 were:

In the Fiction category and overall: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

In the Juvenile & Young Adult category: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

In the Non-Fiction category: Untamed by Glennon Doyle

The top-selling Canadian title: From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle 🍁

On the graph below you can see the changes in unit sales by month for the overall physical English-language book market in Canada for the first half of 2020. Unsurprisingly, due to COVID-19 necessitated retail closures across Canada during spring and early summer, sales were down a total of 24% with some weeks being down as much as 44% year-over-year from 2019. In a bit of good news, as stores began to open, sales began to bounce back significantly. In fact, weekly sales in June, July, and August (so far) have generally been trending above the corresponding weeks from 2019.

Looking at the category trends for the first half of 2020:

• Juvenile/Young Adult continues to dominate, accounting for 40.6% of all print book sales in the Canadian English-language trade market, up from its 38.8% share for the same period in 2019;

• Non-Fiction follows with 32.5%, down slightly from 34.5% in 2019; and

• Fiction brings up the rear at 25.5%, holding from 2019.

The graph below shows the weekly unit sales for the top-level BISAC subject categories for the first 31 weeks in 2020. The impact of the COVID-19 retail closures can be seen, but note the performance of Juvenile/Young Adult titles throughout the retail closure.

Publication dates

Using data gathered from publisher-supplied bibliographic metadata data to BNC BiblioShare, we looked at publishers' publishing schedules and how they have been affected by the pandemic.

Analyzing publication dates by month for 2020 print book releases in Canada, the data shows a significant decrease in the number of new print books entering the market during the spring and summer (April to July), followed by a significant increase in titles set to publish in September. It’s important to remember that, routinely, September and October are the biggest months for new releases as the industry readies for the book buying holiday and award seasons. What is of interest this year is the absence of the usual bump of books published in May and June. It appears many summer releases have been delayed until later in 2020 or perhaps 2021.

A hint of what’s coming next: Canadian Book Consumer Survey

The information below is a sneak peek at the results of the Canadian Book Consumer Survey, a quarterly survey conducted by BookNet Canada querying Canadian readers about their book purchasing behaviour, fielded primarily in April and July 2020 from approximately 3,000 English-speaking Canadians.

With readers practising physical distancing, the collected data shows a significant growth in digital book consumption and purchasing through the first half of the year. As bookstores were closing, readers sought alternative formats beyond print books:

• Respondents to our March-April survey increased their purchasing of ebooks to approximately a quarter (24%) of all their book purchases (print, ebook, and audiobooks). This was up from 18% in the same quarter in 2019 and represents a 33% increase year-over-year.

• In the second quarter of 2020, ebook sales declined slightly to 20% of purchases.

• Audiobook purchases did not show much change between the first half of 2019 and 2020, and held at approximately 5% of units purchased.

• Print formats, paperbacks, and hardcovers saw slight declines in the first quarter that were mostly reversed in second quarter results.

As mentioned, due to COVID-19 physical store closures, book shopping moved primarily online in March and April this year. In fact, about seven in 10 of all book purchases (66%) by respondents were done online during this period. This was significantly higher than the 51% recorded for the same period the year before. Online purchases fell slightly in the second quarter (63%), but still remained well above the corresponding period from the year before. Conversely, there were significant declines in physical retail sales during the first half of 2020.

Keep an eye on this blog for more information on consumer and reader behaviour in Canada. Complete information on print book sales broken out by category and by Canadian-owned firms for 2019 can be found in our annual publication The Canadian Book Market 2019.

New research on sales trends, format breakdowns, reading behaviour, and more can be found at booknetcanada.ca/research. Interested in getting communications from us exclusively about research? Subscribe to the monthly BNC Research newsletter. To stay up-to-date on all BookNet Canada news and information, subscribe to our weekly eNews.