E-book and audio sales proving 'welcome ray of sunshine' for publishers

Publishers are seeing a boost in e-book and audio sales as readers escape the lockdown with feel-good fiction.

With shops shut and Amazon prioritising essential items, firms say there have been significant upticks in their non-print operations. Digital charts show comfort reads are proving hugely popular, particularly in the e-book category where they are pushing out the standard crime and thriller titles. In audio, too, readers appear to be plumping for inspirational titles like Michelle Obama's Becoming (Penguin) or upbeat books like Grown Ups by Marian Keyes (Whole Story) and Stephen Fry's Mythos (Penguin).

E-books currently riding high in the Amazon charts include The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary, closely followed by Rebecca Serle's In Five Years. At Quercus, which publishes both novels, Jon Butler said digital sales had been “a welcome ray of sunshine in an otherwise tough market”. He said: “Like the rest of Hachette, we’re seeing big double-digit growth in the baseline of our digital sales—both e-book and audio—year-on-year for the corresponding weeks. But Quercus has seen particular success over and above that with several feel-good hits: The Flatshare and Beth’s next book, The Switch; New York Times bestseller In Five Years and Linda Green’s One Moment.

“Linda Green has sold almost a million e-books for us over the last five years, and we’ve been building the buzz for The Flatshare for over two years now—we acquired it in October 2017—so these aren’t overnight successes. But in our messaging we’ve been describing these books like much-needed hugs, or the book equivalent of a warming mug of hot chocolate, and clearly these lovely books are striking a chord with the emotional needs of readers around the country. Well, that, and the fact that The Flatshare is about sharing a one-bed flat with someone you’ve never met.”

He added: “Darker books are certainly still doing well in e-book—from classy thrillers like Blood Orange (Wildfire) to our own brilliant Peter May thriller Lockdown ‚Äì but this is the first time in a long time that we’re seeing more feelgood books tipping the balance now, which is great to see.”

Jenny Geras, m.d designate at Hachette's digital publisher Bookouture, also observed an uplift in sales over the past month compared to previous weeks while Amanda Ridout said there had been a definite “accelerating uptick” in demand both in the UK and US for her Boldwood Books firm over the same period.

Ridout said there was a particular interest in fiction set in warmer climes, with reading the closest people can get to going abroad. The “uplifting” My One Month Marriage by Shari Low and The House By The Sea from Louise Douglas have both cracked the Amazon charts while two other books set in France have proved popular.

Ridout said: “This whole business of escape through fiction is quite a strong theme at the moment. I think there's also lot of wanting to lose yourself in another place in a warmer and sunnier clime through your reading.”

Jasper Joffe, who runs e-book publisher Joffe Books, is celebrating huge success in the US with Nicholas Rea's Constable on the Hill, featuring a policeman in a 1960s Yorkshire village. “It's hit the top 50 USA Kindle bestseller list," he said. “I wonder if it's a nice escape in these troubled times.”

He went on: “In the UK our year-on-year sales are up 25% in April, with an uptick across all titles. We've had good sales of our Helen Forrester sagas which feature women in wartime Liverpool and perhaps those are quite inspiring in the current situation.”

At Bonnier Books UK, Kate Parkin said "inspirational" tales like The Beekeeper of Aleppo and The Tattooist of Auschwitz continued to see healthy weekly sales while, in thrillers, Lynda La Plante enjoyed her strongest first week of digital sales ever with Buried. "In adult non-fiction, self-improvement titles and uplifting autobiographies are seeing an increase in popularity,” she said.

Before lockdown started, Orion's audio sales had already been given a huge boost because it has all of the audio rights for The Witcher novels which have surged in popularity because of the hit Netflix adaptation. Head of audio Paul Stark explained: “That meant we were coming off a slightly higher level than perhaps some publishers anyway in terms of growth levels coming in to the current situation. But we've definitely seen people turning towards audio editions I think, not just because they can't head into a book shop but also because people are looking for other things as diversions and to entertain.”

Stark said a broad mix of titles were doing well, from comedy books like Alan Partridge's Nomad and the recent This Is This Country tie-in to footballer Roy Keane's The Second Half and self-help books including Ferne Cotton's Happy.

“We're also seeing growth in books for people who want to learn something new and look at personal development,” he said. “We released Dead Famous which is Greg Jenner who runs the 'You're Dead to Me' podcast and that's been doing really nicely in audio because people are turning to it as a fun way to learn in the current situation. It's no surprise that his history lessons that he's just launched on the BBC are getting such a good response.”

Away from e-books and audio, some subscription firms have also reported a boost. The Rare Birds Book Club, which offers members two surprise books each month they can then discuss in a digital book club, has seen 52% growth over the past four weeks. Founder Rachel Mills said sales has shifted firmly towards gift purchasing with hundreds of orders including messages of consolation, comfort and togetherness.

Wood, currently mailing books out from home instead of her Edinburgh city centre headquarters, said: “My spare room is basically now a small warehouse, but it means we've been able to stay fully operational during lockdown. Once books are picked, packed and ready to go, they are collected by Royal Mail in a seamless operation that is completely contactless.”