Partnering with PubWest and the Independent Book Publishers Association, I led a group of student researchers on the publishing distribution practices project, which answered these 5 questions:

• How can the book industry decrease the return rate for books sold into trade channels from an average of 30% to an average of 15% (or less)?
• As consumer buying habits further migrate from retail to online, what does efficient and cost-effective delivery of print books to readers look like going forward?
• What needs to be done to make book printing truly carbon neutral by 2050?
• What’s stopping the industry from embracing POD as the preferred means for printing non-illustrated, black-and-white trade books?
• Although COVID-19 did not create the book industry’s supply chain problems, it certainly exacerbated them. What shortcomings in the book industry were most exposed due to the pandemic?

You can view the full report here.