Market Data

Here you will find information on current figures about the German book and trade magazine market.

Every year, the reference book "Buch und Buchhandel in Zahlen" (Book and Book Trade in Figures) provides compact and comprehensible information about all countable and calculable facts and relationships in the producing and distributing book trade – the second largest book market worldwide.

"The Corona Pandemic has hit the book industry as hard as the entire economy, but at the same time it has shown that people are looking for answers, new perspectives and support in books – and above all that they can find them. Even in times of crisis, books are firmly anchored in society. So far, the year 2020 has impressively demonstrated this. Since reopening, the industry has been able to continuously reduce the unavoidable losses from the weeks when bookstores were closed in almost all German states. You will be able to read up on how the year 2020 will end in "Buch und Buchhandel in Zahlen 2021", writes Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, Head of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, in the welcome address to the current issue.

"The book industry is building on a solid year 2019, in which the industry's sales rose by 1.7 percent. But: the number of book buyers has fallen again after an increase in 2018. The challenge publishers and bookstores are facing is to pave the way to the book of their dreams without barriers – no matter how unconsciously they may be. This is what the industry is working on".

contents

+ economic situation of the book trade

+ current book reading and book buying behaviour

+ key business figures for publishing houses and book trade

+ data on production and price development

+ e-book market in Germany

+ information on trade in goods and rights with foreign countries

review copies

We will be happy to send journalists a review copy of the current issue of "Buch und Buchhandel in Zahlen" on request.

the poster for the book

The most important and interesting figures from "Buch und Buchhandel in Zahlen 2020" are also available as infographics "Im Bücherwald". You can download the poster as a printable PDF file free of charge here. We will be happy to send you a printed copy in A1 format, folded to A4, on request.

Do you have questions about developments in the German-language book market that are not answered by "Buch und Buchhandel in Zahlen"? Then please, send us a message with your specific research request. We will immediately check whether we can provide you with the desired information via a special evaluation based on the current stock of titles in the German books in print database Verzeichnis Lieferbarer Titel (VLB).

The information service on trade magazines Zeitschriften-Informations-Service (ZIS) provides information on almost 1,600 trade magazines, scientific journals and cultural magazines from more than 300 publishing houses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The service includes information on publication dates and important publishing house data and is available online via the German books in print database Verzeichnis Lieferbarer Bücher (VLB) and its public research platform buchhandel.de as well as an annually updated catalog.