The effort to ban books in schools and libraries has made headlines, resulting in a big boost in sales of the most contentious titles.

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, number one on the most challenged books list of the American Library Association, saw a whopping 130 percent jump in sales over one week in May 2022, reports NPD, which tracks the book industry.

Maus, the graphic format account of the Holocaust by Art Spiegelman, awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1992, got a sales boost of 50 percent in February 2022. This followed the book’s banning by the McMinn County (TN) school board, which garnered national media attention.

“When a book finds itself at the top of a national news story because it has received a challenge, sales go up,” says Kristen McLean, an NPD analyst. “But that doesn’t translate into an overall sales boost for other banned books.”

NPD also reports:

• Sales of “Antiracist Baby,” by Ibram X. Kendi, increased by 14,500 units during the week ending April 2, 2022, after Texas Senator Ted Cruz criticized it during a Supreme Court hearing. Total lifetime book sales have reached 303,000.

• “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson, sales increased by 1,900 units, during the week ending February 12, 2022. The book, which has sold more than 37,000 copies overall, had been banned in public libraries in eight states.

In its analysis of recently banned books, NPD found that overall, only half received a sales increase. The implication: “it is the news cycle that is driving sales rather than a wider consumer protest,” says McLean.