Covid has seriously affected just about everything that used to be normal. That includes products we order online and when they actually arrive at our door. Authors, in particular, are encouraging buyers to order their favorite copies from now. here’s the story:
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A book's journey begins in Asia, mainly in China and Hong Kong, where almost all printing occurs, Watters said, because doing so in North America is too expensive. But because of new environmental standards, there's not as much pulp, leading to less paper and, thus, a paper shortage. Obviously, you can't print books without paper.
But that's only the beginning of the problem for the book industry and its deteriorating supply chain. Then there's the actual shipping, but a labor shortage and rampant Covid-19 risks means there's less people working in warehouses. And shipping containers, which are used in every industry, have all gone up in price, because of such high demand, Watters said.
If that wasn't enough, books are too heavy to ship by air, meaning that books are typically brought to other countries via ships, and the ports have all been heavily congested, both in the US and abroad. Then there's the shortage of truck drivers in the US, to bring the books from the ports to the bookstores.
Ok so what if books are delayed?
Well, books take money to make, market, and publish. The longer the delay, the more it will cost to keep prospective buyers aware of your book’s arrival. The more authors and publishers spend, the less money they have to take care of themselves or invest in new books.
Not only that, the small authors are getting chewed because larger authors have a preference over newcomers. Former President Barack Obama’s book last November had an order size of 3.4 million units, you add that plus paper shortage and you get the math.
What’s the benefit of ordering early?
by ordering your favorite copies from now, you signal to the author which book they should print more of and which to put on the back burner to make the best use of the scarce resources.
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