German Book Sales Stall, Drop 5.5% So Far in 2010

In German Buch News by Siobhan O'Leary

By Siobhan O’Leary

Much as the weather was unseasonably cold in Germany in May, book sales experienced a bit of a chill in comparison to last year. Due in part to the fact that there was one fewer shopping day this year and that the May 1st holiday fell on a Saturday — meaning stores were closed on a typically busy shopping day — sales dropped a total of 6.5% over May 2009. According to Buchreport, only about 4% of that is attributable to the reduced shopping days and overall sales for 2010 thus far are down an average of 5.5% over 2009.

June, however, is expected to show signs of improvement, with an extra shopping day over 2009 and a very promising start to the latest release in the Twilight series, Bis(s) zum ersten Sonnenstrahl (Rising Sun), which hit #1 on the bestseller list in Der Spiegel the day it went on sale. This all assumes, of course, that shoppers will be able to drag themselves away from the World Cup!

About the Author

Siobhan O'Leary

Siobhan O’Leary is a literary agent, translator and writer based in Berlin. She previously worked in the Foreign Rights department of the Crown Publishing Group (Random House) and at the publishing consulting firm Market Partners International.