WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 5News
All publishers are frustrated about the uncertaintyover when the situation will return to normal. The PRH
spokeswoman said there is some optimism that things
will begin to improve toward the second half of March.
Ellie Berger, executive v-p & president, ScholasticTrade Publishing, said Scholastic expects China opera-
tions to be back on track this spring, but she added that
the company “will continue daily communications with
vendors as well as develop contingency plans should
delays continue.”
Jacobs said supply chain issues could go on for somemonths, “or at least until it’s clearer when workflow, labor,
and freight transport” will return to their regular patterns.
As Jacobs alluded to, printing is only one part of theproblem for publishers that manufacture in China—get-
ting books to the U.S. is the other. Ray Ambriano of
Meadows Wye & Co., an international logistics company
specializing in the publishing industry, said shipping loads
since early February have been light, suggesting that
factories are having difficulty getting back up to full speed.
He—and others—expect a surge in demand for ships when
production returns to normal, which could cause problems.
Publishers are worried, Ambriano said, about whether
ships will be in the right positions to carry full loads.
The PRH spokeswoman said that due to some canceledsailings, finding reliable transportation is a “fluid situa-
tion, which we are monitoring closely.”
The fact that the outbreak of the coronavirus occurredso shortly after the increase in tariffs on books made in
China has resulted in some printing returning to the U.S.,
though it’s unclear how much has returned. Jacobs noted
that Abrams has been shifting more of its book produc-
tion out of China over the past three years, explaining
that the country now represents “considerably less” of
the publisher’s overall volume than it did five years ago.
“The tariffs and now the coronavirus scare have only
solidified our strategic plan and accelerated our tactics
to move the proportions of our production sourcing to
North America where and when we can,” he added.
Both PRH and Scholastic have also transferred titlesout of China when necessary. “We have had very few
supply chain disruptions to date, which we have managed
through moving work domestically,” Berger said.
Despite the various uncertainties over book printingin China, Ambriano said it is not time to panic: “There are
concerns, but it is too early to predict if this is an extreme
crisis or just an issue to be managed.” —Jim Milliot,
with reporting from Ed Nawotka and Karen Raugust
The Weekly Scorcard
Print Unit Sales Inched up in
Late February
Unit sales of print books rose 0.9% in the week ended
Feb. 22, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets
that report to NPD BookScan. The juvenile fi ction category had
the largest increase over the week ended Feb. 23, 2019, posting
a 5.5% gain. The annual Dr. Seuss promotion began to kick in
during the week, and fi ve of the top 10 books in the category
were by the popular author, led by Green Eggs and Ham, which
sold more than 14,000 copies, placing it second on the category
list, trailing Dav Pilkey’s Fetch-22 (Dog Man #8), which sold
nearly 19,000 copies in the week. Print unit sales rose 1.4%
over 2019 in the adult nonfi ction category. Mamba Mentality
by Kobe Bryant was #1 on the adult nonfi ction list. Originally
released in October 2018, the title returned to the bestseller list
following the death of the former Lakers star in a helicopter
accident in late January. A new release, Dark Towers by David
Enrich , was second on the adult nonfi ction list, selling nearly
15,000 copies. Adult fi ction unit sales dipped 0.8% in the most
recent week compared to 2019. Where the Crawdads Sign by
Delia Owens stayed number #1 in the category, selling more
than 17,000 copies. The bestselling new release was Chasing
Cassandra: The Ravenels by Lisa Kleypas, a mass market
paperback that landed in fourth place, selling more than
12,000 copies. Units fell 8.6% in the YA category. Last year at
this time, Angie Thomas had two books (On the Come Up
and The Hate U Give) atop the category list, and they sold a
combined 16,500 copies; in the most recent week, the top
two titles combined to sell about 7,400 copies.SOURCE: NPD BOOKSCAN AND ERS APPROXIMATELY 80% OF THE PRINT BOOK MARKET AND CONTINUES TO GROW.PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. NPD’S U.S. CONSUMER MARKET PANEL COV-TOTAL SALES OF PRINT BOOKS (in thousands)
FEB. 23, FEB. 22, CHGE CHGE
2019 2020 WEEK YTD
Total 11,406 11,512 0.9% 2.8%FEB. 23, FEB. 22, CHGE CHGE
2019 2020 WEEK YTD
Adult Nonfi ction 4,980 5,04 8 1.4% 3.1%
Adult Fiction 2,166 2,148 -0.8% 2.6%
Juvenile Nonfi ction 942 947 0.4% 6.2%
Juvenile Fiction 2,715 2,861 5.5% 2.7%
Young Adult Fiction 326 298 -8.6% -5.9%
Young Adult Nonfi ction 35 36 3.2% 9.0%UNIT SALES OF PRINT BOOKS BY CATEGORY (in thousands)UNIT SALES OF PRINT BOOKS BY FORMAT (in thousands)
FEB. 23, FEB. 22, CHGE CHGE
2019 2020 WEEK YTD
Hardcover 3,290 3,206 -2.6% 2.5%
Trade Paperback 6,146 6,362 3.5% 4.6%
Mass Market Paperback Paperback 79 0 741 -6.2% -7.8%
Board Books 763 851 11.5% -0.2%