CHICAGO—  Current trends can be described as a revival of the North American book market – and not only in softcover but also in hardcover. At the virtual spring conference of the Book Manufacturers Institute (BMI), which describes itself as the graphic arts industry association focused on the book manufacturing market, Some interesting statistics to support this trend. Unit sales of printed books” from NPD BookScan, which covers 85 percent of book sales in the US showed that the number of printed books sold in the US increased from about 694 million in 2019 to about 750 million in 2020. This represents a growth rate of 8.2 percent – and this during the pandemic! The fact that more North Americans are buying printed books again also has to do with the fact that they are not being displaced by e-books. A recent report by NPD BookScan, for example, states that the share of e-books in total book publications has leveled off at 20 percent and has not recently increased. This is another reason why publishers are expecting more printed books in the coming autumn season and are asking book manufacturers for higher production capacities. Part of the increased volume is also the result of book production moving back to North America and there are financial and political reasons.  Four-colour hardcover books (cookbooks, for example) are also moving back to North America.  There is still a cost saving of around 40 percent for production in China, so local publishers have to pay more if they move production back to North America.