News
How are German publishers feeling about the
state of the market, both
for print and e-books?
German publishers and
booksellers are feeling
energetic and confident
at this time. Even if sales
have declined slightly in
2014 and in the first
months of 2015, the market performance over the last years has
generally been stable.
Can you tell us about the mix of print
and digital books for German readers?
German readers still largely prefer print
books, but the e-book has found its place
in the market. The market share of
consumer e-books in Germany is still
relatively low compared to the U.S.—
about 5.6% of sales as of July 2015—but
e-book-purchases have been rising during
the last years, both in volume and revenue,
although the increase in turnover is not as
large as it has been in previous years.
At the opening press conference in
Frankfurt, you noted that the Tolino e-
reader has managed to surpass the Kindle
in Germany. Tell us a
little about that.
Yes, the Tolino has outrun the Kindle in terms
of sales in Germany. As
the common e-reading
ecosystem of the German book industry, it is
a real success story. Tolino was launched in 2013
by the big bookselling
companies in Germany: Thalia, Welt-bild, Hugendubel, and Club Bertels-mann, in cooperation with Deutsche
Telekom. In 2014 the wholesaler Libri
joined the Tolino alliance, and as a consequence, about 1,000 independent
bookstores have been brought into the
system. And the Tolino alliance is still
growing. This year, for example, two big
regional chains, Osiander and Mayer-sche, have joined the alliance. Customers
can buy e-books for the Tolino in over
1,800 bookstores at the moment, roughly one out of every three bookstores in
Germany. After only two and a half years,
the Tolino has firmly established itself in
the German book market.
How German
Publishers Deal
With Amazon
Retail
At the opening press conference at his year’s Frankfurt Book Fair ( which ended October 18),
Heinrich Riethmüller, the chairman of
the German Publishers and Booksellers
Association, told reporters about the German book industry’s battle to prevent
Amazon from “monopolizing” the book
business. In a sign of how that ;ght is going, Riethmüller said that the Tolino, an
e-reader backed by a consortium of German booksellers and publishers, was outselling the Kindle in Germany. According
to ;gures compiled by GFK Entertainment, the Tolino e-reader now holds a
45% market share in Germany, while the
Kindle has a 39% share. PW caught up
with Riethmüller to ask about the German book market—and the German book
industry’s dealings with Amazon.
SOURCE: NIELSEN BOOKSCAN AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. NIELSEN BOOKSCAN’S U.S. CONSUMER MARKE T PANEL COVERS APPROXIMATELY 80% OF THE PRINT BOOK MARKET AND CONTINUES TO GRO W.
Unit sales of print books rose 1% in the week ended Oct. 18, 2015, compared to the
similar week last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The increase was
driven entirely by sales through the retail and club channel, which offset a 17% drop in
units to mass merchandisers. The juvenile nonfiction category had the best
performance in the week, with units up 10%. The gain in the category was led by a new
title, The Amazing Book is Not on Fire by YouTube celebrities Dan Howell and Phil Lester,
which sold almost 57,000 copies in its first week, easily outdistancing Enchanted
Forest by Johanna Basford, which sold more than 13,000 copies and was in second
place on the juvenile nonfiction list. Units in adult nonfiction increased 3% in the week
over 2014. Killing Reagan by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard stayed at #1 on the adult
nonfiction list, selling 61,000 copies, while Humans of New York: Stories by Brandon
Stanton debuted in second place, selling more than 51,000 copies. Units slipped in
adult fiction, down less than 1% in the week compared to 2014. The decline came
despite a strong showing for See Me by Nicholas Sparks, which sold more than 85,000
print copies in its first week on sale.
OCT. 19, OCT. 18, CHGE CHGE
Juvenile Non;ction 850 937 10 10
Juvenile Fiction
3,105 3,054 - 2 - 4
Unit Sales of Print Books by Format
OCT. 19, OCT. 18, CHGE CHGE
Mass Market Paperback
1,254 1,048 - 16 - 10
Board Books 532 619 16 12
Audio 86 71 - 17 - 12
Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel
OCT. 19, OCT. 18, CHGE CHGE
2014 2015 WEEK YTD
Total
11,148 11,254 1% 2%
Mass Merch./Other
2,150 1,794 - 17 - 9
Retail & Club
8,997 9,460 5 4
Heinrich Riethmüller (l.) with
Salman Rushdie and Juergen Boos
at the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair