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Written by Camryn Flowers

Supply chains are at the heart of every industry, the veins and arteries of the production cycle. When these supply chains fail, production fails. Since industrialization, supply chains have had numerous disruptions—war, disease, strikes, etc.—and this most recent disruption is no different. The COVID-19 pandemic knocked the breath out of every global supply chain on the planet. And we’ve felt it for sure, from toilet paper to bicycles. Lumber, and by proxy, paper, has especially been hit. Pulp mill shutdowns caused a shortage of paper amidst an ever-growing demand.

In 2021, when new books had yet to be printed, the publishing industry began to really feel it. Print runs that had already been scheduled before then felt only minimal impact. But release dates for new books were being bumped back weeks and months, with some books not even reaching store shelves until well into 2022. In addition, industry tracker NPD Bookscan noted an increase in printed book sales by 13.2% from 2020 to 2021, indicating that people were reading more books while in lockdown. A lot more people. That puts publishers in a bit of a pickle when there’s a shortage of paper. 

Due to lockdowns, we saw an increase in online shopping. Online shopping means shipping, and shipping means cardboard. This brings us back to wood pulp. Some pulp mills, in order to keep up with the uptick of online shopping, switched entirely from paper to cardboard, further slowing down paper production. 

As the pandemic waned, bookstore shopping came back and places like Amazon and Barnes & Noble truly started to feel the effects. With the earlier surge in printed book sales, both companies ended up “over-inventoried,” with Amazon stuck with full warehouses and B&N sending books back to the distributor and publisher. As a result, they are also reducing their purchases from distributors, and while sales to big-name retailers are down, sales to independent bookstores have increased. This says a lot about current consumer habits.

And to round it all off, the cost of paper, ink, and printing presses are at a premium, which means they’re more expensive than they have been in the past. Due to the aforementioned pulp mill shutdowns, production changes, and the increase in the price of wood pulp, the cost of paper has also increased. Printing presses themselves have struggled since the 2008 recession, but that’s a tale for another time. In essence, the whole lumber-to-book pipeline is like an old car struggling to start in the winter. 

So, what does this mean for CamCat? How have we been impacted?

All across the industry, distribution groups report continued delays due to paper, labor, and transportation shortages. The pandemic sales bubble has popped but the supply chain issues remain, leaving many publishers in a sticky situation. 

One of the issues CamCat faced was the need to delay book releases due to the shortage. Printers simply couldn't get books to us fast enough to meet our pub dates. At its peak, printers needed 4 to 5 additional months. That much time is sheer impossible to make up in a publication schedule of 12 months. To avoid a delay entirely, CamCat has simply adjusted the schedule so that books are prepared for printing 2 to 3 months ahead. In addition, our size offers an advantage. Compared to larger publishers who often place huge printing orders, CamCat can manage with smaller orders at a time. This enables the printing presses to squeeze us in between those large orders, which helps cut down the wait time as well. 

Publishing has taken a hard hit these last few years, and the industry is still trying to drag itself out of the hole dug by the pandemic, but there is progress. The paper shortage has lessened since the start of the pandemic, the market is adjusting to shifting consumer habits, and books are still making their way onto the shelves, even if at a slower pace. CamCat faces many of the same challenges that larger publishers do, and we work every day to earn our place next to them.