On a week that saw the one-year anniversary of pandemic-related shutdowns in the US and around the world, President Joe Biden signed The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion package of economic relief for individuals and businesses. The fiscal shot-in-the-arm came as more than 2.1 million American daily received coronavirus vaccinations.
Considered together, these developments make for a chorus of upbeat mood music with editors and executives in publishing circles, says Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.

“Over the last two decades of digital disruption and global economic meltdowns, the most important things to make for a good sales year [for the book business] were consumers with disposable income and a reasonable level of confidence in the economy,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.

“The development of vaccines and better therapeutics suggests people can soon gather safely, and we might see the return of shopping traffic” Albanese says. “That means bookstores can start to ramp up. Libraries, too, will be reopening.”

In 2021, he adds, “we may not see the bump we got from Trump books over the last four years, but there are still going to be a lot of great books. And who knows whose ‘tell-all’ book is coming?”