Covid Created a Boom Market for Booksellers

Why that’s good news for your brain and your body

I looked forward to the latest book in a long-running series of action thrillers and couldn’t wait to download it.

A little more than halfway through, I pushed my iPad aside.

Even though I’d read every book in the series, this time, the intrigue, the conspiracies, and the violence were too much. If I wanted to set my pulse racing, I could just as easily turn on the news.

Ever since then, historical fiction, self-improvement books, and light-hearted romances are my mainstays. I also had fun exploring the world of “The Witcher” by reading every book in the series after binge-watching the show on Netflix.

It turns out I wasn’t the only one expanding my reading list last year. From politics and social justice to cooking and personal finance, readers turned to books that solved problems, offered insights, and provided an escape from the grim realities we all faced.

A big year for booksellers

Book sales started to pick up when pandemic lockdowns began last spring.

Thirty-five percent of us read more in 2020, and 14 percent reported reading significantly more.

According to The NPD Group, U.S. print book sales had their best year since 2010, recording 8.2 percent growth. E-book sales were up more than 19 percent at the end of 2020.

Readers initially sought out books about pandemics and isolation but quickly turned to other topics.

Many read to learn new subjects or to add new skills. Some explored unfamiliar genres. Others re-read old favorites, craving the no-surprises security of familiar plotlines and characters.

Growth in every book category

Every major book category grew last year, according to Publishers Weekly.

As parents struggled to keep their kids occupied and help them learn at home, juvenile nonfiction saw a 23 percent increase, and juvenile fiction was up 11 percent.

Books for young adults also saw big gains. Fiction sales grew more than 21 percent, led by “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” by Suzanne Collins, which ranked №3 on the list of the 10 best-selling books of 2020.

Stephenie Meyer of “Twilight” fame scored the №4 spot with “Midnight Sun,” a retelling of that tale from the vampire’s perspective.

“Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You” by Jason Reynolds was a top seller among nonfiction books for young adults. Juvenile nonfiction grew more than 38 percent, per Publisher’s Weekly.

Adult fiction sales grew a healthy 6 percent, with the best-selling title, “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens ranking №5 on the top ten list.

Politics and social justice titles gave adult nonfiction a 4.8 percent boost.

Barack Obama’s “Promised Land” topped the list of ten best-selling books of 2020. Mary Trump’s “Too Much and Never Enough” was №2, and Robin Diangelo’s “White Fragility” was №8.

There were also some standout sellers in niche categories.

As more people began dining at home, cookbook sales grew by 15 percent per NPD. The second volume of “Magnolia Table” by Joanna Gaines led the cookbook category and earned it the №10 spot on the bestseller list. An astonishing 200,000 more bread cookbooks were sold in the U.S. in 2020 than in 2019.

Traditionally published romance novels, in decline since 2012, rebounded. Self-help books saw a spike and sold steadily throughout the year.

Sales of personal finance books have been on the upswing since 2017 but accelerated during the pandemic. Investing, retirement planning, and money management were top topics.

Reading benefits your brain and your health

While an engrossing book can offer a much-needed escape, reading also gives your brain a good workout.

As you get to know a book’s characters and follow them through a plot, reading improves your focus and memory.

Research reveals that dedicated readers have better vocabularies and that reading makes you smarter, happier, and more creative.

Fiction lovers strengthen their empathy by seeing situations through the eyes of the characters in the book they’re reading.

And, reading nonfiction, such as biographies, helps you learn life strategies from people you admire.

Reading a book for just six minutes can lower your stress by 68 percent. That’s more than taking a walk, grabbing a cup of coffee, or listening to music.

If insomnia’s an issue, creating a before-bed routine like reading can condition your brain for sleeping, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Reading also lowers your blood pressure, fights depression, and can even help you live longer. A Yale University study of people 50 and older found that regular readers lived an average of two years longer than people who didn’t read or stuck to magazines and newspapers.

There are plenty of things I’ll be glad to leave behind when the pandemic ends, but books won’t be among them.