Benedikt Föger: “Books are still too cheap”

“We are satisfied that the book market has remained relatively stable despite the increase in prices,” says Benedikt Föger. He is president of the Main Association of the Austrian Book Trade (HVB) and head of the Czernin Verlag. The industry can look back on a mixed year: sales of books, audio books and e-books amounted to 350 million euros. The number includes stationary and online retail (including Amazon). This means an increase of 0.8 percent compared to 2022.

According to Föger, it is “worrying” that “only” 22 million books were sold, 4.9 percent less than in 2022. The increase in sales came about because prices rose by 4.6 percent. A book cost an average of 15.32 euros in 2022, compared to 16.03 euros in the previous year.

Higher prices will also be necessary this year due to rising energy and personnel costs and high inflation, says Föger: “Books are still too cheap compared to other products.” Reading is a socially important cultural technique that should not be lost in the face of competition from streaming and social media: “It is important that people read more.” But how is that supposed to work when books are becoming more and more expensive? “Publishers also have to live; the price of books is increasing slowly anyway.”

Five percent are e-books

Which books were best received in 2023? Every third book sold was fiction (32.9 percent), every fifth was a children’s and young adult book (20.3). These two areas increased the most at 5.2 and two percent, respectively. Advice books (18.9 percent) and non-fiction books (11.8) were also popular. Science topics were less in demand. The share of e-books in total sales has been stable at five percent for years, says HVB managing director Gustav Soucek. There are two peaks in sales: “One at Christmas, when many readers are given away, and one at the holiday season, when people don’t want to carry the books with them in their suitcases.”

The Christmas business was not very encouraging this year: sales fell by 4.3 percent and the number of books sold fell by 7.1 percent. In view of these figures, Föger repeats the already known demand to reduce the VAT on books from ten to five percent: “That would help everyone, the publishers, the booksellers and the authors.”