According to market research data from Nielsen Book, last week, sales of novels in the UK increased by more than 30%, while sales of children's educational books increased by 234% compared to the previous week. Puzzle books, books on arts and crafts, and books on criminal psychology also tended to increase sharply.
Nielsen Book said: “Book sales data shows that Britons are preparing for a prolonged period of isolation.” Waterstones - the largest bookstore chain in the UK - closed after staff were worried about Covid-19 infection. In that context, readers are turning to buying books online, with online sales increasing 400% in just one week. Bestsellers are classics such as: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera by Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath...
The Mirror and the Light - Hilary Mantel's latest book, released on March 4 - has achieved huge sales in the past 3 weeks. At the same time, dystopian novels - novels about societies and worlds developing in a negative direction - have also sold quite well. Examples include The Handmaid's Tale by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, Nineteen Eighty-Four by British writer George Orwell, and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Many authors, like David Walliams, have chosen audiobooks as a solution. Specifically, this author began releasing a short story with an audiobook version from the series "The World's Worst Children" every day for a month. David Walliams joked on Twitter: "Parents stuck at home with their children may need The World's Worst Children." Famous author JK Rowling also began to relax copyright restrictions, allowing teachers to post videos of her reading the Harry Potter series for students to follow at home. In addition, some bookstores also opened forums to discuss classic novels on Facebook.
