Books
12 Great Novels That Got Lost In The Pandemic
Catch up with them now!
Today on The Reading Lists, we share this piece by Aimee Liu, author of Glorious Boy.
We know that 2020 has been a very bad year, but what were the very worst months for publishing? According to one editor at a major NY publishing house, books released in April and May were hit hardest by the pandemic.
Back in March, most readers were still going about business as usual. States didn’t issue lockdown orders until the second half of the month, and Amazon was still accepting pre-orders for forthcoming titles.
Then Amazon de-prioritized books, canceling and delaying deliveries. Bookshops and libraries closed. Printers missed shipping deadlines as they scrambled to keep employees safe from COVID and stay afloat themselves (one of the largest, LSC Communications, declared bankruptcy in April). Newspapers shrank as ad revenues dried up, and book reviews were among the first cuts. Book events, too, were abruptly canceled or shoved into limbo as everyone tried to figure out how Zoom worked. Readers, meanwhile, were preoccupied with questions about the virus, homeschooling their kids, and staying employed. Books weren’t a priority for anyone, and books released by small presses were especially vulnerable.
