Last year the Italian book market experienced unprecedented growth. According to the report that the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) presents every year at the specialization seminar of the Umberto and Elisabetta Mauri School for booksellers, the publishing industry of various (printed fiction and non-fiction books sold in physical bookstores, online and in large distribution) reached 1.701 billion euros in sales at cover price, for 115.6 million copies, registering respectively + 16% and + 18% compared to 2020, a year that – despite the pandemic, or perhaps thanks to the pandemic – had already gone well.
Sales + 14%
In fact, compared to 2019, the growth in sales was 14%, that of copies by 16%. “An unprecedented fact in the history of the Italian book,” said Ricardo Franco Levi, president of the AIE. “The data confirm our September forecasts: Italian publishing has been able to react to the pandemic and, also thanks to the public support policies implemented by the government and parliament, closes 2021 with strong growth, after an already satisfactory 2020”. Levi noted that the numbers are “very good even compared to other European countries, but the future is not without its unknowns. On the positive side, the confirmation of the public support measures and the wait for the new system law for the book.
The risks associated with the price of the card
But there is the emergency of the card, in terms of prices and availability, and the heavy impact of piracy remains. In addition, some sectors, such as art publishing and tourism, are still suffering greatly from the effects of the pandemic ». The analysis of the AIE shows that Italy is confirmed as the sixth publishing in the world (after the USA, China, Germany, the United Kingdom and France), with much greater growth than Germany and the United Kingdom, where the various markets have risen by 3%, but lower than in Spain and France (+ 20%), which, however, had suffered a decline in 2020. The number of new titles published in Italy also increased in 2021: 85,881, 16% more than 2020 and 14% more than the last pre-pandemic year; while the average cover price has dropped slightly (2.4% on 2020), now at € 14.72. If we also add ebooks and audio books, the market value rises to 1,881 billion euros. Sales of ebooks fell by 11% (to € 86 million), while audiobooks jumped by 37% (to € 24 million). Despite the life change induced by Covid-19, bookshops remain the first purchase channel: they have a market share of 51.5%, while online ones account for 43.5% of sales, both up by a few decimal places on 2020. Large-scale distribution has lost 0.9 percentage points and today covers 5%.
Bestsellers account for 5.4%
The whole market is moving, not just bestsellers: the 50 best-selling titles weigh on the total only for 5.4% in cover value and 4.5% in copies: a sign of a market spread over an ever-increasing number of titles, which grows on new products (+ 7%) but even more on the catalog (+ 20%). “The life cycle of books has lengthened” explained Stefano Mauri, president and CEO of GeMs. “If once a second chance a book only had it if Hollywood decided to turn it into a film, today it can also offer it a booktuber 16-year-old from somewhere in the world, ”added Mauri, referring to the case of Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller, the third best-selling title in Italy in 2021, after The winter of lions, by Stefania Auci, e Change the water to the flowers, by Valérie Perrin and then following the example of A life like many others, by Hanya Yanagihara, published six years ago and now back in eye. The counterpart is that the novelties now have to compete with the entire catalog and not just with the new titles. The growth of 2021 was uniform with respect to all genres, with an exceptional performance of comics that led the macro-category in which they fall, manuals and more, to grow by 37%.
Forecasts for 2022
According to a Prometeia survey, presented by Angelo Tantazzi, 2022 will still see growth, albeit at half the speed. The rise in the price of gas “shot to even higher levels than oil during the oil crisis of 1972-73 is worrying.” “The increase in the cost of energy – said Levi – generates a cascade increase in the cost of paper and logistics, which are very important for publishing”. The growing need for packaging, added Stefano Mauri, makes it increasingly difficult to obtain paper. “The pandemic meant that people had ten extra minutes a day to read. This has resulted in a 15% increase in the market: there is still great potential for growth »concluded Achille Mauri, president of Messaggerie.