3 minute read
COVID-19 AND THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY Brooke Taylor
from Peternomics
by StPetersYork
The publishing industry of the UK has been hit in several ways by the impacts of COVID-19. This includes the publishing of educational resources and physical books in general, which have seen great change in things such as consumption levels and rate of supply as COVID-19 has took its course within the UK economy. This is due to changes in the role of consumers as their online purchasing power increases. The industry has also been impacted by a fall in employment due the impacts of covid-19 on revenue.
The switch from physical to e-book:
First, COVID-19 has led to a disruption in the print supply of physical books as many switched to the use of ebooks. This was due to the inability to visit main book shops during most of the UK lockdown period. With shops such as Waterstones closed, consumption of physical books decreased, leading to an overall fall in demand for physical books in the UK by around 40%. This meant that publishers decreased their production rates to meet the change in habits of consumers as their online purchasing power rose. Within this, online education throughout lockdown saw the use of physical educational books to decrease as the use of online resources rose. Overall, publishers around the UK were split, with some experiencing positive outcomes with the increased efficiency of the publishing and supply of e-books. However, others who may not have reviewed technology infrastructure saw a negative disruption in their supply chain as they were restricted to supplying only physical books, effecting their success within the UK market of publishing in the long run.
The decrease in employment:
In the UK, the government introduced the furlough scheme which allowed employees without work during the pandemic to continue getting paid, not being made redundant. This was applicable to many of those working with publishing companies as their workload and business decreased massively with the closure of book shops and the change in habits of consumers. As lockdown begun, publishing companies mainly had their employees working from home. This caused disruption to those without the facilities to complete efficient work at home, causing the overall success of some publishing companies to decrease. This is because these disruptions led to decreased supply rates of books and more. This meant that companies became unable to pay the wages of workers and unemployment levels rose among many major publishing companies, as well as many workers being furloughed. This conveys how the impacts of COVID-19 caused a decrease in employment in the publishing industry, leading to other long-term effects such as decreased supply and even the closure of major companies.
Overall, the impacts of COVID-19 have created competition between major companies, especially those who were not prepared for the shift from physical to e-book production. Those who were not fell behind within the industry, seeing a fall in revenue as they were unable to efficiently supply to customers during the lockdowns within the UK. As well as this, the overall industry was hit by decreased employment rates as companies failed to pay wages, especially those who already fell behind due to increased competition within more technologically structured publishers. Those who were furloughed also saw disconnection from the workplace and distraction within their homes, decreasing the efficiency of many publishers around the UK. This illustrates how the UK publishing industry has been affected massively by COVID-19 with the change in means of consumption and the change in ways in which employees have been able to complete work throughout the pandemic.
