The German Book Market
With a market which can boast of over 15,000 publishing companies and is witness to an unprecedented record sale of 9.6 billion euros (figures of year 2007), Germany is diverse as far as its book trade and publishing market is concerned.
Of the total sales, almost one fifth came from fiction titles, and a quarter from scientific and academic books. The same year the industry reported 96,500 new publications, 86,000 of which were first editions. These figures put Germany third in international ranking, just behind the English and Chinese language book markets. The decision making over fiction buying in Germany takes place due to an image of intellectual authority that many of the publishing houses have created for themselves in the market. Apart from the printed book, Germany has also seen a virtual explosion of the audio book. Produced in an audio book version, read out mostly by the author himself or by actors, this format has carved out a niche market for itself. People who need intellectual content while on the move are the best buyers of this version of a book.
Germany has uniform pricing for all titles that are sold in all outlets as a part of a legislative policy. The law is called “retail price maintenance” that guarantees any given book must be sold at the publisher-set price across all book stores in the country. It aims to safeguard the broad spectrum of publications ranging from rural to urban distribution of books.
The intermediate book trade (wholesale), as it is called, has been designed meticulously in a way that every book in print can theoretically be delivered within one day to any bookshop in Germany.
Germany's publishing scenario has in the past decade also undergone a change of ownership. Big German corporations have bought over some of the major publishing houses like Random House, etc.
German books are being translated in almost 47 other languages, and with business hubs like the Frankfurt Book Fair becoming the ultimate destination for all publishers around the world, the market is worth exploring.
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