High street bookshops need help from the government if their presence there is to continue, the c.e.o. of the Booksellers Association has said.

Tim Godfray called on the government to give rate relief to businesses with a cultural and educational value to maintain independent bookshops on high streets and protect “the wellbeing of society”. He also called on publishers to do more to support bricks and mortar booksellers.

Godfray’s remarks come after the BA found overall membership numbers had declined by 20% in the last six years, from 4,495 in June 2006 to 3,683 in June 2011, with independent bookshop membership falling even further by 26%, from 1,483 in June 2006 to 1,099 in June 2011.

In a statement, Godfray said: “At a time when literacy is an issue and libraries are under threat from government cuts, we need to build a coalition of publishers, government and consumers to provide opportunities for the passionate and creative entrepreneurs who run bookshops on our high streets to thrive.

“What is clear from surveying our members is the considerable influence local and national government and our competition authorities have on the high street retailer. There is a lot of talk about putting the high street first, but far more action is needed. Rate relief for businesses with a cultural and educational value would be welcome.”

He added the issue affected wider society, not just BA members, because maintaining bookshops high streets is vital to literacy, the future economic prosperity of UK plc and “the cultural health of our nation.” He said: “There is plenty that can be done but it needs to be done now if we are to maintain bookshops on our high streets and protect the significant impact they have on the wellbeing of local society the UK. We will be making representations in the next few months to the appropriate bodies, and are also providing our members with posters for shop windows.”

The BA recently surveyed its members in August about concerns local and national government could address and the top three issues cited were rates (29%), parking (28%) and planning (13%).

Godfray told The Bookseller the BA had decided to speak out now after finding out its “stark” membership figures. He said: “For us, the membership figures were really worrying and disturbing and we took the view it was incumbent on us to take action about the situation we find ourselves in.”

However, while Godfray said in the BA statement that action was needed to maintain bookshops on the high street, the sector was not at fatal risk. He told The Bookseller: “While the figures are despairing, we are not saying bookshops will not survive, we would never say that.”

The BA would also like to see more free or lower cost parking in town centres to encourage customers to use the shops there along with better planning of town centres, so that shops are not allowed to become vacant and community centres become “like ghost towns.” Godfray said: “So many of our members are despairing about the difficulty that customers have in parking and getting near to their shops.”

The organisation has been in talks with publishers to look at better ways of supporting high street retailers but Godfray refused to elaborate on details. However, he said: “Fewer bookshops equals fewer sales for authors, publishers and for booksellers. We have been working closely with publishers and it is certainly clear that they are generally really concerned about the pressure bookshops are under and many are considering ways they can give bookshops greater support.”

Jane Streeter, owner of The Bookcase in Lowdham and president of the BA, said the decline in bookshop numbers is not inevitable. She said: “Booksellers are already at the heart of their communities, key parts of their local high streets, and are undertaking positive and innovative work across the country to make their shops the best places to browse and discover new books.

“However, if we don’t make a real and concerted effort now, then the economics for high street booksellers simply won’t add up. We need to see a real commitment from publishers and government to offer opportunities to booksellers so we can keep our place on the high street, and keep our high streets diverse and innovative work across the country to make their shops the best places to browse and discover new books.”

Hazel Broadfoot, President of the Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland (BA) and owner-manager of Village Books in Dulwich, has kindly shared with us her speech presented at this year's BA Conference on 31 October 2022. Read her inspirational words below.

 

Hello everybody. I’m Hazel Broadfoot and I’m the owner/manager of Village Books in Dulwich. Since April this year it’s been my privilege to be President of the BA. My first experience of bookselling was a holiday job in a local bookshop while I was a student. I knew immediately that I had found my tribe and I’ve been a bookseller ever since. I joined Waterstone’s in its infancy, setting up shops in Edinburgh, and Glasgow, before moving south to work in London branches and to serve on the board. I desperately missed shop-floor bookselling: buying Village Books was an irresistible opportunity and I love going to work in it just as much today as I did when I first bought it.

At last year’s conference, the outgoing President of the BA, Andy Rossiter, stood where I am standing now and reflected on his two years as ‘The Covid President’. I may have breathed a sigh of relief that someone before me had taken that mantle… The prospect of turning the page on Covid, lockdowns, social distancing; the impact on all of our bookselling businesses, was a tempting one. We hadn’t yet fully turned the corner but it was within sight

And when we turned that corner… Never has that supposed Chinese Curse – ‘may you live in interesting times’ – felt more apposite

And yet, here we all are. In the room and online. The biggest self-help group that I know of. The community of booksellers; planning this autumn, planning next year, planning our legacies

And we’re joined by our colleagues from publishing; from sales, marketing and publicity. And by some wonderful authors – all here and keen to support booksellers as a keynote species…

Booksellers are key to the ecosystem of books. Booksellers are the pollinators for new authors; the oxygenators of creativity; the hummingbirds of their communities.

We are more than the sum of our parts; in our own bookshops, as a species as a whole, in our communities and in the contribution we make to breaking out new and undiscovered talent

We punch above our weight and are respected for doing so.

But we need support. We largely weathered the Covid Storm but some of the challenges we face now, could be existential.

Like all retail businesses we desperately need some mitigations from government to help us through the coming storm. And I believe that it is well within the capacity of those within our industry who can, to do the same.

As everyone in this room will be able to testify, the cost of doing business is going up. And up and up and up… Materials shortages, labour shortages, supply chain issues were all impacting us before the arrival of the hyper-inflation of energy and other costs.

Covid provided a massive windfall for trade publishers with huge sales and profits. And my message to publishers is we need your support. Now and through the coming storm.

Support takes many forms:

Many booksellers are extremely concerned about what they see as the diminishing number of reps calling or available to call. Whenever a trusted rep retires there is widespread anxiety among booksellers that they won’t be replaced; that the boundaries will be redrawn and the existing rep force spread more thinly. By definition the magnificent work being done by reps isn’t done under the common gaze of a publisher’s head office. It is being done far away, in bookshops up and down the country. But they are our lifeblood. I spoke about booksellers being key to the ecosystem of books. The relationship with reps is symbiotic within that ecosystem.

Authors too are a key component. I would like to commend Bob Mortimer, not just for being a national treasure but for using his national treasure status and social media presence to highlight bookshops and direct public attention to buying signed editions of his novel The Satsuma Complex from bricks and mortar booksellers, both chains and indies.

It’s been said time and again but why the seemingly thoughtless linking from author and publisher sites to Amazon and only to Amazon? Why? We see the most inappropriate links. Progressive works by progressive writers whose driving principles are a fairer, more equal, more just world… linking straight to Amazon. It just makes no sense. Link to your local bookshop, link to your favourite bookshop, link to bookshop.org, link to Waterstones. Just don’t link only to Amazon

The BA’s annual BAseline report shows us where booksellers’ costs lie. Overheads - including staffing, rent and rates and especially utilities - are increasing.  The vast majority of the goods we sell are books, so we are dependent on our gross margins: any improvement in those margins (on the books we sell?) could go a long way towards offsetting the horrific increases we are facing on utilities and overheads. 

I’m not making a blunt instrument call for more discount but asking publishers to be imaginative. Talk to your bookseller customers, understand what shocks they are facing, remember your Covid windfall and look at creative ways to help mitigate against those bookseller shocks. And remember that a very small gesture from you could have huge significance for a small business and could determine its survival. 
And I do wonder, though my own views on this are decidedly mixed, whether it’s time for a mature debate on whether books should continue to have printed cover prices. I know many people’s eyes will glaze over at the prospect, but almost uniquely among retailers, the price we can sell our main products for is capped by our suppliers. We can price them down, but we can’t price them up. As I say, my own views are mixed and I view the prospect of price labelling 10,000 books in my shop with horror, but while we are thinking about each and every cost in our business and each and every opportunity to maximise profits it may be worth at least a second thought.

One thing I would dearly love to see is the balance of emphasis change in how we communicate to consumers as an industry with more emphasis on the value of books. Because books are wonderful value. And so are booksellers.

On April 24-25, Álvaro Martínez benefited from a bookshop training at Mr B’s Emporium in Bath (UK), where he had the chance to learn the work that lies behind this successful independent bookshop. As part of EIBF’s training, all staff members are encouraged to benefit from this opportunity and get an insight into the daily reality of a bookshop of the EIBF network. Read Álvaro’s takeaways from this placement and how it will enhance his work for EIBF. 

 

Nic Bottomley and his wife Juliette founded Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in 2006, leaving their careers as lawyers to pursue his dream of becoming booksellers. Seventeen years later, Mr B’s has consolidated itself as an example of how dedication and an unapologetically personal approach to bookselling can go a long way.  

 

Amongst other achievements, Mr B’s has been awarded with the Bookseller’s Independent Bookshop of the Year in 2008 and 2011. The bookshop is also the official bookseller at The Bath Festival. Last but not least, the literary preferences of each of the more than 20 staff members finds its place on the shelves, which boasts a selection of around 25,000 books.  

 

I venture myself into the shop—always located on John Street, although it has undergone a progressive expansion in size over the years—where I am welcomed by Nic and Juliette. After being introduced to some of the staff members, and going on a quick tour of the shop, we go to their office space, just across the street. 

 

 

One of the most renowned services that Mr B’s Emporium offers is their bespoke reading subscription system. Through this model, readers are appointed to one of their booksellers, who becomes their ‘bibliotherapist’ for the duration of their subscription (which can last 3,6 or 11 months). This selection is based on the reading interests expressed by the subscriber in the questionnaire they are asked to fill out. All subscriptions are monitored by the staff from an app that has been specifically developed, from which each bibliotherapist can communicate with their allocated subscribers, follow the status of their subscription and send recommendations. Once a recommendation is accepted by the customer, the title is approved for delivery which, due to the high popularity of the service, is shipped directly from Gardners. 

 

Next up, I had the opportunity to join one of the staff members, Tom, in one of the Reading Spa sessions. In a reading spa session, the beneficiary sits down with one of Mr B’s booksellers, having an informal chat about books. Once the customer’s interests are outlined, the bibliotherapist leaves the customer to enjoy their cake and cup of tea and goes on a quest for some books that they think will fulfil their reading likes. Then, the bibliotherapist will introduce the titles to them, leaving the customer to decide which ones to take home. This subscription includes a £60 book voucher, a tote bag and a Mr. B’s mug. 

 

 

 

This session’s customer was Frank, who had just retired from a long career in finance and received the voucher as a gift from his daughter. He also proved to be a true book lover, eager to discover new recommendations from his bibliotherapist and to enjoy them in his recently inaugurated chapter in life. After the session, Frank’s limitless curiosity led him to leave the bookshop with three of Mr B’s tote bags full of books! 

 

 

And just like that, the bookshop opening hours came to an end. I wasn’t the only guest in the shop that day, as the artist Daniela Terrazini spent the day decorating the shop window with a full-size illustration from her artwork for Emma Carroll’s The Tale of Truthwater Lake. 

 

 

Book events are also an integral part of Mr B’s identity, and Nic hosted an interview in the shop that evening with explorer and writer Benedict Allen, who explained some of his adventures around the world to those who joined the event. After listening to some of Allen’s fascinating stories and following a signing session, it was time to call it a night. 

The second day started with a quick session shelving new arrivals. This way, I could get a glimpse of how books are distributed around the shop. Besides arranging books by different sections –fiction, history, children, etc– some other shelves boast staff-curated picks, which reveal the diversity of interests among Mr B’s staff members. 

 

I spent the rest of the morning shadowing Rohan, who showed me how returns are managed. It was fascinating to see how low the return figures were for most of the books in the list –rarely exceeding 2 units of the same title. To my understanding, this is caused by careful attention to book orders, which is proceeded with attention to what titles would suit their audience, rather than relying on national sales charts.

It is worth noting that Mr B’s Emporium uses Batch Returns to track the returns from most of their suppliers, thus simplifying the process and getting a more accurate information on return requests. 

To conclude my training, I joined Nic and event manager Lottie in an organizational meeting ahead of the Bath Literary Festival, of which Mr B’s Emporium is once again the official bookseller. Sitting next to them, I had the chance to go through the list of authors participating in the upcoming edition of the festival, and to get an idea of the criteria used when placing orders for this kind of event. 

With this experience, I had the privilege of exploring first-hand the practicalities and principles of bookselling, and to strengthen the idea that for a bookshop to thrive and stand out, it is essential to work collectively and to have all opinions on board. It was also an honour to share this time with Nic, Juliette and their staff members, who kindly shared their passion for books with me and made of this experience something memorable. 

 

Last 30-31 May, EIBF’s Policy Advisor, Daniel Martin Brennan, spent two wonderful days learning the ropes at being a bookseller at Village Books in Dulwich, London (UK).

It was an early Tuesday morning in sunny and leafy Dulwich Village, London (UK) as I walked into Village Books, a small, quaint, colourful and award-winning independent bookshop that exists since the 1930s and is currently run by Hazel Broadfoot, bookseller and also the President of the UK and Ireland Booksellers Association (BA).

 

I was immediately warmly greeted by Hazel and 3 other smiley booksellers – Tracey, Harriet and Oonagh – who all agreed to guide me through their daily work in the bookshop for the following two days.

I quickly got to work: the Dulwich Festival, where Village Books ran several events, had just ended, and schools were on half-term, meaning children were all on holidays. It was supposed to be the end of a hectic period and we weren’t expecting a particularly busy weekat the bookshop... But as I soon found out, that was wishful thinking!

I spent all morning helping to gather remaining books from the Dulwich Festival and pack them to be returned to publishers. Village Books is small but mighty, storing an incredible number of books in all corners, nooks and crannies! So, collecting them all involved going up and down the stairs and getting up on a ladder to take them down from the high shelves! Unfortunately, there are no pictures of me on the ladder for your enjoyment.

 

These books were being sent back to Gardners, the UK’s main book distributor. As often as possible, carboard boxes and other materials are reused from previous orders. This is a conscious choice from booksellers to be as sustainable as possible. However, there are times where orders are sent in boxes that cannot be reused, which is unfortunate, as it has a knock-on effect on future returns.

After a short break, I joined Oonagh, bookseller and marketing wizard, to discuss all things newsletter and social media presence. Village Books sends out a weekly newsletter summarising new releases and bookseller recommendations – I've already signed up and recommend you do too! The bookshop is also present on all social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok), so there’s something in there for everyone. Shortly after our chat, Hazel joined us to discuss how Village Books can make the most of Bookshop.org, for instance, by curating original reading lists.

In the afternoon, I joined Hazel for a call with a Harper Collins rep, to go through the new titles coming out in July and August 2023. I found it fascinating how Hazel could decide whether to request a copy or not, as well how many. It was a perfect demonstration of the amazing memory, skill, experience and even intuition a bookseller needs to have!

To end the day, I sat with Hazel behind the main desk to go through the day’s orders via Batchline. Looking through some information, including how many copies a book had sold in that year and how many books were left in the store, Hazel could decide whether a book needed to be restocked or not. It was a great exercise on stock management and understanding their own consumers’ behaviour.

Next thing I blinked, and we were already on Day 2! The morning was, once again, busy in the best possible way, as we continued packing books to be returned. It also brought about a new fun activity: unboxing newly delivered books that were ordered the previous day. This required scanning the new books and adding them to the system, setting aside books that were for specific customer orders and finding the right spot for them among the shelves (probably one of my favourite tasks of the ‘job’).

 

 

After that, we had a busy afternoon meeting more reps from publishing houses – first from the children’s publishing house Nosy Crow and then from Bloomsbury. As with the previous, day both reps presented their new books for July and August, and I got to see Hazel once again in action.

The day ended with me observing the fabulous booksellers doing what they do best: chatting to customers, patiently listening to them, recommending the best books and kindly taking their orders.

But before I really finish, I have to make a special mention to a highlight of my training: the constant in-and-out of the cutest four-legged friends you can imagine: Village Books is most definitely a dog sanctuary!

 

I left the bookshop with a handful of books, lots of new knowledge, a renewed sense of security and comfort in knowing that I work representing a unique profession and, most importantly, with a big smile on my face.

See you soon, Village Books!

 

We are hosting a digital panel during Industry Insights track at this year's online London Book Fair 

 

The European and International Booksellers Federation is convening a panel to discuss how the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union has impacted the bookselling industry. While Brexit has been a topic high on the political agenda for a few years now, it’s only since 1 January 2021 that businesses importing goods to, and/or exporting goods from, the United Kingdom encountered tangible disruptions. Focusing on the book trade aspect of this wide-ranging topic, this panel will explore any impacts booksellers have been experiencing and highlight what (if anything) they are doing to mitigate them.

 

How to join?  

The panel will take place on Tuesday, 22 June, during the Industry Insights track on the London Book Fair. The panel will start at 12.15 pm BST / 1.15 pm CEST. and finish with a live Q&A session from 12.35 pm BST. 

Register your participation at this year's digital London Book Fair to join the panel. 

 

Get to know the speakers:

     •     Elda Lamberti, International Sales Manager, Gardners Ltd
     •     Jan Smedh, Bookseller, owner of The English Bookshop, Uppsala, Sweden
     •     Tomás Kenny, Bookseller, General Manager at Kennys Bookshop, Galway, Ireland 
     •     Moderator: Julie Belgrado, Director, European and International Booksellers Federation 

 

Missed the event? 

Read the recap here. 

EIBF has been advocating for the interoperability of e-book formats for many years now. 

Today, with the ongoing negotiations on the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the topic of interoperability is high on the agenda for the key negotiators, especially at the European Parliament. But what is interoperability and how does it affect booksellers?

With this FAQ we hope to give answers to some of these questions.

• What is interoperability?

In general terms, interoperability refers to the ability of two different systems, devices, products, files or models to readily connect and be compatible with one another in terms of use and access, without restriction.

• What does it mean for e-books in practice?

It means that a legally acquired e-book should be accessible and readable on any e-reading device no matter its format.

• Why is interoperability of e-book formats important for booksellers?

At the moment, some e-book formats and e-reading devices are not interoperable and that’s due to the systems they’re sold on. This lack of interoperability usually causes confusion among customers who do not understand why an e-book they bought on a given platform is not accessible on the e-reading device they bought from another provider.

For booksellers who sell e-books on their website, this often results in: 
     •    Customer complaints, following disappointment at not being able to read their e-book on the device of their choice.
     •    Time consuming after-sale management, as customers have to be explained why the file they bought on their bookshop website is not accessible on some devices.
     •    The loss of an unsatisfied customer.
     •    The impossibility to invest responsibly in the digital market – in a way that meets the demands of today’s customers.

Consequently, the lack of interoperability is a real problem for book sector professionals and for consumers, who want to buy e-books from different providers, but then find out it is often not possible.

The only way to contribute to the healthy development of the e-book and audiobook market is for access to such books to be opened up across devices. 

• What causes this lack of interoperability of e-books?

The existence of a few dominant non-interoperable models, developed by some tech giants, doesn’t allow consumers to read the same e-book they’ve purchased via the tech giant on different e-reading devices.

To be specific, these tech giants have their own e-book file format and compatible e-reading devices with this particular format. However, these do not interoperate with files and hardware sold by third party businesses, including booksellers. 

We believe this practice is harmful for innovation and for fair competition. And most importantly, it is harmful for consumers.

• What exactly does it mean for consumers?

This lack of interoperability results in consumers being locked into closed ecosystems and being deprived from their freedom of choice. 

This is why we continue fighting for further interoperability in all relevant EU legislation, including the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

• What is the Digital Markets Act (DMA)? 

The DMA is an upcoming EU legislation that seeks to ensure a higher degree of fair competition in the EU’s digital space, by preventing large companies from abusing their market power, protecting consumers from their harmful practices and allowing new players to enter the market.

In doing so, it will set new rules and obligations for these dominant large online platforms that act as “gatekeepers” between consumers and businesses online. 

• Why is interoperability relevant in the DMA?

The topic of interoperability is high on the agenda for many of the DMA’s key negotiators, especially in the European Parliament.

Stronger interoperability requirements, they argue, are essential in ensuring fairer competition and an equal chance for innovators: both priorities in the DMA. 

However, the current discussion mostly focuses on ensuring gatekeepers’ messaging services and social media platforms can interoperate with one another, meaning that the interoperability for e-books is, so far, not covered.

The inclusion of e-book interoperability is crucial in the context of the DMA, as it would lead to a level playing field in the e-book market, increase innovation and access to the market for innovators and, ultimately, ensure sufficient consumer choice and protection.

• What are we calling for?

We believe consumers should be able to access and read any legally acquired e-book format on the e-reading device of their choice. 

We, therefore, call for the inclusion of interoperability requirements in the DMA to extend to the book sector, for fairer competition in the e-book market, to boost innovation and access to the market and, ultimately, to ensure sufficient consumer choice and protection.

• What if I want to know more about interoperability?

In 2013, we commissioned a study on interoperability in order to assess the different existing file formats available on the market, as well as the possibility of establishing interoperability across all devices. 

The study, demonstrated that with “EPUB” as a standard format, interoperability across devices is completely possible.

This is even truer now that the EPUB file format has evolved and has become a standard within the book industry, which is available for reading on a variety of devices, including computers, smartphones, tablets, and most e-readers.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, national economies across the world have been severely hit by ongoing lockdowns and restrictions. Many sectors, including the cultural sector, have been jeopardized by the crisis and are only now starting to recover.

Bookshops of all sizes around the world have also suffered from the pandemic, having dealt with closures, restrictions, stock shortages and sales losses. 

To help European economies rebuild from the effects of the pandemic, the European Commission set up the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

• What is the RRF?

The RRF is a financial instrument launched by the European Commission with the intention of funding a set of reforms and investments in all EU’s 27 Member states. It came into force on 19 February 2021 and will provide EU countries with a total of €723.8 billion in loans and grants until 31 December 2026. 

To benefit from these funds, Member States had to draft and submit their national recovery plans to the European Commission, consisting of reforms and investments they would like to finance with the European funds, in line with guidelines set out by the European Commission.

Once submitted, the drafts of the national plans had to be endorsed by the European Commission and approved by the Council of the EU, before EU member states receive their allocated funding.  

As of today, all of EU countries’ national recovery and resilience plans (except for the Dutch one), have been submitted to the European Commission. While some are still being reviewed by the Commission, others have already began being disbursed, such as Spain. 

• Why is the RRF important?

Member states’ recovery and resilience plans are crucial for them to benefit from a substantial amount of funding to rebuild their economies. For instance, Germany will receive €27.9 billion, of which €25.6 billion are grants, and will prioritise climate policy and energy transition as well as the digitalisation of their economy and infrastructure, among other areas.

Over the past years, EIBF has joined forces with many cultural-sector organisations calling on member states not to forget to allocate adequate funding to the cultural sector within their national recovery plans. 

Having monitored the process of plan submission, adoption and funding disbursement, EIBF looked into each plan to determine how each member state’s plan can best benefit the bookselling industry.

In order to do so, we focused on two main areas of funding: 
     •    The funding earmarked for the recovery of the cultural sector
     •    The funding earmarked for the recovery of the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

• What’s in it for booksellers?

Based on EIBF’s research, we determined that many of the plans include reforms to ensure businesses across all industries become greener and more digitalised, which is one of the Commission’s key priorities.

Furthermore, 14 out of 26 member states have included the cultural sector as a priority in their plans, meaning they will allocate funding to diverse plans and investments to boost the development of the sector in their respective countries.

A summary for each country’s recovery plan in our membership can be found in the document below. 
Examples of specific measures for the book sector include:

     •    € 40.7 million investment in Bulgaria to build an inclusive, internationally competitive and sustainable cultural ecosystem 
     •    € 4 million investment in Romania for the digitalisation of the book sector
     •    €53 million plan in France to increase the competitiveness of 10,500 bookshops vis-à-vis platforms and strengthen their regional role)

Find out more below.

• Next steps

It has become increasingly obvious that the 2020 European Parliament’s Resolution on the Cultural Recovery in Europe, setting the goal to earmark at least 2% of the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) budget to culture, has not been taken into account by many member states. 

On 25 April 2022, the Parliament’s Culture Committee (CULT) adopted its opinion on the Implementation report on the Recovery and Resilience Facility. In their opinion, CULT Committee deplores the fact that only 16 Member States have included culture in their national recovery plans, arguing that "the heterogeneity of public investments will lead to the cultural and creative sectors recovering at different speeds, causing increased disparities within the EU’s cultural ecosystem and threatening Europe’s cultural diversity".

Therefore, CULT Committee calls on Member States to appropriately consider the cultural sector's recovery in any amendments to their National recovery plans.

They also urge the continuous involvement of stakeholders to the implementation and monitoring of the RRF plans, a call which EIBF supports.

EIBF will continue to monitor and advocate, along with EU organisations from the cultural sector, for adequate funding for the cultural and creative industries.

--

Disclaimer: this information was gathered through EIBF research and complemented with the publicly available monitoring and analysis by Culture Action Europe and Bruegel.

This publication has been updated with information available until 2 May 2022. We will continue updating the page when necessary.

Booklovers are always on the hunt for good books, often thinking they are priced differently depending on where they buy them. However, this isn’t always the case: it varies greatly from one country to another. To understand this, in today’s EIBF Insights edition, we will look into a key feature of the book world: fixed and free book pricing. 

It is not well known to customers that, depending on which country a book is sold in, the pricing is either fixed or set freely. For instance, in countries like France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands, the pricing of a book is fixed by law, meaning that all retailers must offer the same titles at the identical pre-set price, with the law foreseeing for a maximum discount rate, varying according to the country.

Meanwhile, in other countries like Norway and Hungary, the price is fixed by a trade agreement. Booksellers in these countries are, however, allowed to apply discounts to varying degrees in line with national regulations.
 
Through this system, booksellers compete on the added value they provide with their services, advice and offer, allowing some of them to specialise on a given type of books, such as comics.
 
On the other hand, in countries such as Sweden, Finland, Latvia, the UK, and the US, books are priced freely according to their market value. This creates a competitive and resilient book sector where bookshops are often spacious, versatile and resourceful.
 
Although there are different advantages to both book pricing systems, all booksellers, regardless of the pricing regime, enjoy a sense of community because they share the same passion for what they do.
 
If you wish to know more about why and how books are priced differently across Europe, keep an eye on our website, as explanatory infographics will soon be published.

EIBF is pleased to announce the publication of the Global Book Markets report for 2022, which explores current trends in the sector, analyses the impact of inflation on bookshops and highlights the different development paths they could take in the future. 

2022 has been a year of transformation and transition for the bookselling industry, following two unprecedented years of disruption. When looking at the overall book sales numbers from all the analysed markets, we can observe two distinct trends across the globe. Half of the analysed markets experienced a clear decrease in book sales last year, while the other half reported stability and, in some cases, a positive development in turnover. 

Broadly speaking, this decline can be explained by two main factors. On the one hand, the exceptional circumstances in 2021: after months of closure, bookshops reopened, boosting sales to a 10-year high, especially at Christmas. Thus, if 2022 sales data still display some positive and encouraging results, they appear very modest when compared to the preceding year. On the other hand, the inflation rising throughout 2022 and the energy crisis, partly caused by the outbreak of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has limited readers' purchasing power, as well as pushed up production costs within the sector.  

 

That said, when taking a closer look at each of the analysed markets we can see that their performance throughout 2022 has been very diverse. In some cases, the complete return to physical spaces has boosted brick-and-mortar sales. As for digital sales, several of the analysed countries report more modest numbers than in 2021. 

The report is based on a survey carried out by EIBF over the past semester. National booksellers associations and EIBF associate members from sixteen countries have responded to a questionnaire, providing an insight into the state of play of their respective markets and the potential directions that the sector could be heading in: Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States. 

 

You can download the full report here.

Analysing the preliminary sales figures from the past 12 months, we take a closer look at nine bookselling markets in the central Europe 

The international bookselling markets underwent significant changes in 2021, impacted by the ongoing pandemic, subsequent sanitary restrictions and pandemic-induced challenges. As the first 2021 sales numbers roll in, we take a closer look at the Central European bookselling markets to see how the region fared over the past 12 months. 

For the purpose of this article, the Central European region includes the following countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland (see Graphic 1 below). The bookselling markets in these countries have different characteristics, with some countries having a fixed book price markets (e.g. Austria, Germany, and Hungary), while others don’t (e.g. Czech Republic and Switzerland). During the course of the pandemic, Slovenian Government suspended the fixed book price regime until at least 30 April 2022, while at the same time the Polish Chamber of Books was hosting a series of industry debates aiming to introduce the law into their market.  

All of the markets analysed experienced some sort of lockdown measures during the course of 2021. In almost all cases, these movement restrictions resulted in an increase in online shopping. Nevertheless, while some national bookselling markets experienced growth (e.g. Austria, Germany, and Switzerland), other saw brick and mortar, and mainly independent, bookshops closing and their market shrinking (e.g. Czech Republic and Poland). 

What we can learn from 2021 figures? 

• Online strategy was crucial for driving the growth of book markets

Across the German-language bookselling markets, including Austria, Germany and the German-speaking Switzerland, the annual sales turnover for books grew (see Chart 1 below). As reported by the Börsenverein, the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, the turnover in 2021 increased by 3%, compared to 2020 numbers, across central sales channels. The bookselling market even grew in comparison with 2019, pre-pandemic year, by almost 1%. 

In Austria, the total sales in the book market increased by 4% in 2021, compared with 2020, and by 0.4%, compared by 2019. The Austrian Association of the Book Trade (Hauptverband des Österreichischen Buchhandels) noted the relative growth of the market in the past year is largely due to the trade’s uptake of online strategy. 

The German-speaking Swiss bookselling market shows a similar trend: for the third time in a row, annual sales in the Swiss German book trade have increased. In 2021, growth was at 6.5%. According to Tanja Messerli, Managing Director at the Swiss Booksellers and Publishers Association (SBVV), national lockdown contributed to increased online sales: “Almost every second book was sold online in 2021. Not only did the large booksellers benefit from this trend; due to the COVID-19 pandemic, small bookshops also expanded their online shops and many customers remained virtually loyal to their stores.”

• Physical retail sales drastically impacted 

In Germany, physical bookstore business was unable to make up the shortfall from the months of store closures in spring and finished with a 3% drop in revenues compared to 2020 and a staggering 11% drop compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019, as was reported in Börsenverein’s press release. 

In Austria, sales in stationary bookstores lost almost 2% compared to 2020. However, looking back to 2019, the drop in sales is much bigger, coming to -13%. According to Karl Puš, bookseller and former owner of Bestseller Bookshop, “shops have been closed by lockdown measures for 48 days in 2021. Especially the last lockdown in 2021 was very hard, as it lasted for three weeks and ended on 13 December. This means that shops were closed during the most important time of the year for the book trade – the holiday period. With online sales, posting services, home delivery and click and collect at the shop door, many of the smaller independent bookshops turned out to be more successful than the large chain stores, which were mostly located in shopping malls”.

In Poland, many brick and mortar bookshops closed in 2021. According to the National Book Store Database, over 60 bookshops closed in the past year in Poland. This follows the closure of another 100 store during 2020. There are still over 1,700 bookstores across the country, which has a population of 38 million. The Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage launched a program to help independent bookstores. As part of the "Certificate for Small Bookstores" project, almost PLN 3 million (€ 660,000) went to 106 bookstores. Most shops received grants of up to PLN 30,000 (€ 6,630).

While there aren’t any recent sales numbers available for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia or Slovenia, the 2020 reports from these countries don’t look too encouraging for booksellers. Comparing sales numbers from 2019 to 2020, the total book sales numbers are down by 11% in Hungary. In Slovakia, available information points to a decrease in sales for physical bookstores by 8%, while internet sales increased by 10%.

The Czech Republic introduced a strict national lockdown from 27 December 2020 to 10 May 2021, when stores were allowed to re-open. Although customers returned to physical bookstores after the restrictions were lifted, the stores in most cases failed to replace the lost turnover. In 2020, bookstore turnover fell sharply, by 15-30%. This has drastically impacted small bookshops, and exacerbated the closing down of small, independent bookshops. There are about 600 brick and mortar bookstores in the Czech Republic, of which the largest are run by retail chains, which together own 263 stores. 

• Impact of paper shortage 

The paper shortage and increased shipping delays are continuing to wreak havoc on the bookselling industry. Many publishers have been forced to postpone the release of planned titles, which in turn impacted the number of available titles in bookshops during the holiday period. Crucially, the paper shortage is also having an impact on book prices.  

What is on the horizon for 2022

During the 2020 Slovenian Book Fair, book trade experts dived into the post-pandemic future, exploring what the trade can learn from the pandemic. Many of the topics discussed remain crucial for the bookselling market going forward, including potential weaker customer purchasing power, increased market share of audiobooks, need to develop new distribution channels to reach new customers and supporting the increased digitization of the book market.