Book publishing has a tight calendar, even in a pandemic

As people shelter in place to help slow the spread of COVID-19, a lot of the world might be on pause right now. New books are still being published and printed, however. But between bookstore closures and shipping delays, it can be hard to get the new titles.

Rachel Deahl, the news director at Publisher’s Weekly, spoke with “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal about how the publishing industry is handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Look, it sucks right now,” she said. But, Deahl added, that doesn’t necessarily mean that publishing can or should just go on hold until the economy reopens and people can easily buy books.

“The fall is historically when publishers release their biggest titles,” she explained, so if you push a book’s release date to the fall: “That means you’re going to be competing for attention and airtime with the biggest titles, with some of the biggest books that are going to publish all year.”