Books, in 2023 the market is holding up but the alarm comes from costs

Of the same opinion, Marco Zapparoli, president of Adei, the Association of Independent Publishers. «For now, it has been the supply chain that has shouldered the increase in costs, without passing it on to consumers, because retail prices have increased by 3-4%, while for publishers, printing a book costs about 30% more, mainly due to the cost of paper, which has also grown by 50%».

Encouraging signs in 2023, the crux of excessive production remains

«2023 is giving encouraging signs, but the issue of excessive production remains to be resolved. At the Turin Book Fair (from 18 to 22 May, over 1,600 scheduled events), Adei presents a comic, It’s easy to say greensigned by Andrea Coccia and Martoz, to shed light on the contradiction of a sector that overproduces novelties, while at the same time proposing valid contents on the green economy», comments the president of Adei.

Literature for children and young people has experienced great growth in recent years, driven by manga and works for the little ones, and is becoming a flagship of the sector. In bookshops, one third to half of the offer is dedicated to young people.

On the subject of young audiences, the president of Aie underlines the impact of social networks, especially TikTok (the hashtag #BookTokItalia recorded almost two billion views in 2022), on the sale of books. «They are today’s equivalent of word of mouth. Of the top ten titles sold last year, three, starting from the first in the standings, are linked to a word of mouth on TikTok», comments Levi, who recalls how Italy is a country of strong readers, capable of compensating for a general situation which remains of “emergency reading”.

Requests to the Government

Among the requests addressed to the Government, we range from the Paper bonus, to give productive relief to the supply chain, with a 30 million fund that would offset the increase in the cost of paper, to the world of education. In fact, the president of IEA is asking that the 130 million euros, which the state already allocates in the budget for the compulsory purchase of secondary school books, reach families in difficulty more quickly, “because the right to study must always be guaranteed » concludes Levi.