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More than globalization and digitalization affecting the book publishing industry




Book publishing is a larger industry than film and entertainment in terms of revenues. In his 15-page overview, Global Trends in Publishing 2014: an overview of current developments and driving forces in the transformation of the international publishing industry, Rudiger Wischenbart reveals in 2012 book publishing made $151 billion globally, compared with movies and entertainment ($133b), magazines ($107b), video games ($63b), and music ($50b).

Presented by the Frankfurt Book Fair Business Club – in the lead up to the Book Fair from 7-12 October 2014 – Wischenbart maintains that, at a global level, the book publishing industry is still dominated by just a few markets. The six largest markets in 2012 were United States (26% of the market), China (12%), Germany (8%), Japan (7%), France (4%), United Kingdom (3%), and the rest of the world (39%). The six largest markets account for 61% of the global value created by publishers.

China is now the second largest book publishing market, overtaking France and Germany in 2012. Europe and countries with Anglo-Saxon cultural lineage dominate the English language book market, whereas Spain dominates the Latin American market.

While globalization is on the increase, local (regional) publishers are still doing well. These include Scandinavian countries, as well as France and Germany. Both globally and locally, to increase their revenues, publishing houses have been merging to form conglomerates, especially since 2011, and more aggressively since 2013. Wischenbart comments on the ten largest publishing conglomerates, from the global Pearson’s Penguin to Germany’s Holtzbrinck.

Geographically, in 2013 the North America printed book market remained stable, while Europe was affected by economic downturns, with many book stores and chains going out of business. However, printed book sales continue to increase in December, on World Book Day (23 April), and during Book Fairs held in cities around the world. 

E-books have been largely spearheaded by the United States and the United Kingdom. But e-books only accounted for less than 5% of the book publishing market in 2013. The sales were led by self-published titles. On-line book sales increased by 20% between 2012 and 2013, while sales in book stores declined by 1% in 2013. The two ‘super’ digital e-reader sellers were China Mobile (due to the rise in the purchase of smart phones and tablet computers) and Amazon Kindle.

Wischenbart concludes that the transformation of the book publishing industry is ongoing and driven by many factors, not only by digitalization and globalization. The consolidation and mergers of companies, as well as the emergence of new players will also impact the book publishing industry into the future.



The Global Trends in Publishing 2014 paper is presented by the Frankfurt Book Fair Business Club – www.book-fair.com/businessclub
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