Why Is There a Book Shortage? Publishing Warns to Pre-Order Your Faves

Author Tasha Suri tweeted a warning to all her readers and fellow book-lovers on Sept. 11, 2021: “Met friends today and tried to explain publishing’s broken supply chain and realized I don’t understand it either. But yeah: Please pre-order the books you want, because if the print books run out, there aren’t going to be more for a while. A long while.”

Many other authors quickly followed suit, including Maureen Johnson, who wrote, “You may or may not have seen tweets about the publishing supply chain problem. Tl;dr, there is going to be a book shortage! So if there is something you want in a physical copy anytime in the next few months, it’s best to get it now/preorder it.” Book lovers on TikTok have also been posting about the issue, but nobody has been articulating why there’s a book shortage until now.

Thankfully, Publisher’s Weekly has the answers we have been waiting for and explains that the book shortage has been growing since publishers first became aware of it in July 2021. “In the ensuing two months, things have gotten worse, as printing capacity continues to shrink and labor shortages have made it difficult for printers, retailers, and wholesalers to fully staff their businesses.”

The problems leading to book shortages include shipping delays from vendors, bottlenecks in the supply chain, and a lack of available warehouse workers. Some publishers have been concerned about receiving shipments from overseas printers as well, saying that precautions including pre-ordering and ordering bulk shipments well in advance have been helpful to combat shortages.

Indie bookstore Tubby & Coo’s also did their best to break down the shortage in a handy Twitter thread, explaining that there are shortages in paper availability, printing, cardboard (for shipping), and port congestion in addition to a lack of available workers. Essentially, there are shortages at every level of work that goes into book printing, and literary fiends should expect to see this shortage extend through the rest of 2021.