Book fair goers queue for entry into an earlier iteration of Italy’s national small- and mid-sized publishers book fair, Più libri più liberi, outside Rome’s La Nuvola. Image: Più libri più liberi
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
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Readers Report Reading Two Hours, 47 Minutes Weekly
On the same day that the 34th industry-leading International Publishers Congress from the International Publishers Association (IPA) opens with a keynote address from Mexico’s Enrique Krauze at Guadalajara (December 4), the Italian publishers’ annually important public-facing Più libri più liberi opens in Rome, its name translated by the publishers to English as “More Books, More Freedom.”
Despite the Association of Italian Publishers (Associazione Italiana Editori, AIE) success in its Guest of Honor Italy presentation at Frankfurter Buchmesse in October, the Italian industry has gone home to sobering statistics on the rate of reading in its busy market.
For a second year, the average weekly time dedicated to books among those surveyed in Italy who declare themselves readers has decreased.
In 2024, the self-identified readers told researchers that they read two hours and 47 minutes per week, compared to three hours and 16 minutes in 2023 and three hours and 32 minutes in 2022.
These data, then, become one of the chief talking points of the professional program at this week’s show of small- and medium-sized publishers, a yearly high point for sales thanks in part to the proximity of the event to the holiday season.
Più libri più liberi opens today (December 4) and runs through Sunday (December 8).
Focus Sessions for Professionals
Special emphasis on the new numbers around weekly reading rates in Italy will be the focus on Thursday (December 5) in a professional program presentation, Weak Reading: Are There Too Few Readers? Or Too Little Time? That program is set for 11:30 a.m. CET in the La Nuvola convention complex’s Sala Aldus.
Moderated by our good colleague Samuele Cafasso of the AIE’s Giornale della Libreria, this discussion focused on what appears to be a shrinking commitment of time from readers will include:
- AIE president Innocenzo Cipolletta
- Renata Gorgoni, president of the AIE’s miscellaneous publishing group
- Monica Manotti of NielsenIQ and GfK Italia
- Giovanni Peresson of the AIE research office
- Florindo Rubbettino, AIE’s delegate for the south of the market
In a session today (December 4), the show’s professional program will turn to Audiobooks and Podcasts: From Voices to the Purchase of Books. Also set in the Sala Aldus, this event will include Riccardo Cavallero (Voxa); our associate Bruno Giancarli of the Ufficio studi AIE); and Marino Sinibaldi of Timbuctu – Il Post, with moderation by Alessandra Rotondo of Giornale della Libreria.
It may be worth at some point considering a session on how reading is marketed to male and female consumers. In the guest of honor program this year, Italy’s lead poster art from the artist and illustrator Lorenzo Mattotti depicted a beautiful lily on which sat a young woman reading.
And in the artwork for this year’s Più libri più liberi, the spine of a mighty book is depicted as the pedestal for a victorious and commanding figure—again, a woman.
In neither case has the Italian industry seen fit to picture a boy or man engaged in the industry or consumer base of books and reading.
Italy is not alone, of course. In many international markets—something being discussed at this week’s IPA International Publishers Congress in Mexico—books and reading are envisioned as things connected with girls and women, not males.
While it can be an uncomfortable subject for some, the world industry is beginning to discuss whether it is communicating its work as being promulgated by mostly female workforces for mostly female consumers, “leaving male money on the table,” financially, and signaling (even unintentionally) that books and reading are for girls and women only.
One way to build readership in many of our international book publishing markets may be to remember to invite the guys in.
More from us on the Italian market is here, more on Rome’s Piu libri piu liberi is here, more on the work of the Italian Publishers Association is here, more on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, more on Guest of Honor Italy at Frankfurt is here, more on guest of honor programs in the international arena is here, and more on book fairs and trade shows is here.
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