Sales up across Italian trade publishing, AIE reports

The Italian Publisher's Association (AIE) has predicted trade publishing sales will be up by between 12.6% and 16.3% at the close of 2021.

In the period 4th January to 11th November 2021, retail price sales came to just under €1.4m, up by 22% on 2020 and by 15% on 2019. This accounted for 92 million books, in terms of sales volume, with a 25% increase on 2020 and up 17% on 2019.

The forecasts were set by the AIE based on NielsenIQ data, based on trends to date and in comparison with 2019 and 2020 in the same period. According to information aggregated by the AIE, online bookshops in the same period were at the same levels as 2020 (43.5%). Physical bookshops have held 51.5% of the market this year, and major retail chains 5%. The growth in the market in 2021 is credited to major increases in sales for online bookshops, rising from €329m sales in 2019 to the €506m of 2020, to then reach the €590m of this year, and also the recovery of physical bookshops.

In 2019, physical bookshops accounted for €711m sales, which dropped to €601m in 2020, during the pandemic. This has now risen in 2021 to €698m sales, while major retail chains sales have fallen to €68m.

After the decline in 2020 due to the pandemic, the number of new printed publications has risen again to 68,057, up by 10% on 2020 and down by 1% on 2019. New e-book publications have seen an 11% decrease on 2020 and 2% on 2019 levels to 40,866.

All genres are experiencing market growth with peaks in books about gaming in leisure up 235% this year. Comics also experienced growth of 188%, while titles exploring current political affairs soared by 56%.

Consistently high-performing authors include Stefani Auci and Valerie Perrin, while the top 50 titles account for 5.4% of total sales, and 5% of copies. Catalogue sales have reached €944m this year, up by 25% since 2019, while new titles came in at €412m — an increase of 16% on 2019. 

The data was presented in an online preview of Più libri più liberi, the national fair for small and medium publishers organised by the AIE, taking place at La Nuvola in Rome from 4th to 8th December.

Commenting on the findings, Ricardo Franco Levi, AIE president, said the data "bears witness to the energy of Italian publishing, supported by investments made by publishers and supported over the course of the last two years by long-sighted public intervention policies".

Despite the results, Levi warned issues such as the rising price of paper would continue to dog the industry in the future, saying: "The current situation however must not let us forget the persisting structural difficulties of our country, like low reading rates, and new difficult circumstances, suc as the rising price of paper. All issues that will be tackled, alongside many others, during the Rome book fair”.