Increase in e-book and Internet sales softens the decline for the book publishing industry
In 2020, the book publishing industry was indirectly affected by measures put in place by governments to control the spread of COVID-19. The closure of non-essential businesses, including bookstores, for parts of 2020 limited sales of books for significant portions of the year. This resulted in a decrease in revenue. Even with an increase in total Internet sales of print books, as well as sales of e-books, the operating revenue of book publishers declined 4.4% from 2018 to 2020. Expenses decreased more rapidly than revenue, down 7.4% for the same period, resulting in the profit margin rising from 7.6% in 2018 to 10.5% in 2020. The largest expense item for the industry—salaries, wages, commissions and benefits—declined 7.7% from 2018 to 2020.
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