After months of the kind of doom-and-gloom that would depress even Dickens, B.C.’s independent book publishers are fighting to come back from the havoc wreaked on their industry by COVID-19.
Brian Lam, publisher/owner of Arsenal Pulp Press, said COVID-19 shutdowns caused a 50 per cent drop in sales for his company.Lam says the reopening of stores is helping sales to creep back up, but there is a long way to go to make up for the book being closed on a full season of sales. To date, Orca hasn’t let go of any staff or cancelled any books. Like fellow publishers, though, they have delayed some releases. Now, they’re keenly interested in what happens with schools in the fall, as Orca is a huge supplier to educational libraries and classrooms.
However, Wooldridge says ebook sales certainly haven’t replaced print — and he thinks they never will. But, in the meantime, it’s about giving his company another sustainable revenue stream. Many of the books that would have made their debut won’t get their moment in the sun and will be shipped back to publishers for credit on future sales. It’s those returns that are going to really hurt the industry.
“We jumped really quickly to work with our authors to do alternative forms of book launches and events to some success,” said Johnstone, who puts out about 20 titles a year. “We didn’t get the kind of sales that we normally do and ultimately need for our spring season, but we did get some so it wasn’t a total loss.”
No one in the B.C. publishing business has yet to shutter. With the help of government programs like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit , wage subsidies and funding from grants from Canadian Heritage and the B.C. Arts council, businesses have been able to hang on.
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