In Freiburg im Breisgau’s city center. Image – Getty: Manuel Vinuesa
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘The Situation in Many Companies Remains Tense’
As Publishing Perspectives readers know, the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Germany’s publishers and booksellers association, annually produces it’s “Buchreport,” an initial assessment in January of the book publishing industry’s year just past. This is followed in the summer by a more detailed analytical report.
Today’s top-line information on the 2024 market is highlighted by:
- An increase in gross industry revenue of 0.8 percent in the market’s main sales channels by comparison to the 2023 performance
- In local bookstores, the newly released data tracked a slightly higher result of 0.9 percent
- Growth was reported in nonfiction, fiction, and books for children and young adults in 2023
- And, as an overall assessment, the Börsenverein tells us, “Bookstores and publishing houses remain under pressure”
Another useful phrase in terms of how the new analysis is looking at 2024 is encapsulated this way: “Turnover in the book industry is slightly higher than in the previous year [2023], but the situation in many companies remains tense.”
In the German market, the “central channels” are defined as including retail bookstores; e-commerce including Amazon.de; railway station bookstores; department stores; electrical goods stores; and drugstores. This is the set of channels showing a scant 0.8-percent gain in revenue in 2024.
Despite that modest increase, the units sold—the number of books—fell by 1.7 percent. The rise came from a gain in book prizes averaging 2.6 percent.
If you look at local bookstores alone, there was that 0.9-percent gain, amid a drop in sales of 2.2 percent by comparison to 2023.
Karin Schmidt-Friderichs
Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, chair of the Börsenverein, is quoted, making the point that the publishing industry is being seen here in the context of strains on the overall German economy, saying, “As we see in the economy as a whole, the situation in the book market remains extremely tense.
“In these difficult times, the book industry has been able to maintain the previous year’s level of turnover. This is a positive signal, as facts, knowledge, and inspiring stories are essential tools for understanding and coping with a complex and crisis-ridden reality.
“Books are still a particularly popular medium among young people. For many publishing houses, bookstores, and book logistics companies, 2024 was a challenging year,” she says. “The industry continues to feel the effects of the general uncertainty of consumers and their reluctance to spend, while cost pressure and increasing bureaucracy continue unabated.”
Breaking down some of today’s information:
- Fiction saw a gain of 4.1 percent in 2024 over 2023
- Children’s and young adult books, including new-adult books, saw a small increase of 0.5 percent
- The gain in nonfiction is comparatively impressive, at 7.7 percent. This is credited in part to the commercial success of the memoir Freedom: Memoirs 1954 to 2021 (Kiepenheuer & Witsch) by the former German chancellor, Angela Merkel, with Beate Baumann. The book would be named the second most successful book in the German market in 2024.
- Ahead of the Merkel book at No. 1 was Altern by Elke Heidenreich (Hanser Berlin); and at No. 3 was Das Kalendermädchen by Sebastian Fitzek (Droemer Knaur)
- Reference books at -4.1 percent fared less well, as did travel books, down 8.4 percent
Data, as usual, is based on information from the Media Control retail panel.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the German book market is here and more on international industry statistics is here. More on bookstores is here and more on bookselling is here.
About the Author
