A top ebook author says she is selling four times as many books as normal in lockdown.
Nicola May, who wrote The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay, told Radio 4’s You & Yours (15th April 2020), ‘I’m actually having an amazing time. I’m selling a lot more ebooks, I would actually say four times as many as I usually do.’
Spending on books was up by 25% (+£6 million) in the week before the lockdown, according to market researchers Nielsen. Sales of War and Peace more than doubled.
Bookshops then closed and could no longer sell books on the High Street. Writer Abbie Greaves was due to promote her book The Silent Treatment, but she told You & Yours her book tour had been cancelled.
Online sales, particularly of ebooks and audio books, have continued to prosper though. Nicola May again: ‘It obviously helps that Corner Shop is in the chart and it’s visible, and it’s one of a trilogy, so now people are actually beginning to buy two and three in the trilogy as well. So I’ve seen a massive upturn in my sales.’