By Andrew Richard Albanese, Editor-in-Chief
Among the week’s headlines: two reports shed light on the pressures facing independent bookstores in France; a major Japanese publisher launches an initiative in India; industry stats shed light on the book markets in Norway, and Russia; and book clubs are flourishing in Brazil.By Carlo Carrenho, Contributing Editor
French Indie Bookstores: Loved by Readers, Pressured by Economics
According to publishing expert Fabrice Piault on LinkedIn, a survey commissioned by the Syndicat de la Librairie Française—the French Bookstore Union—found strong support for independent bookstores among their customers, who represent 26% of the French population. Among them, 38% describe themselves as supporters of local commerce, and 33% report increasing their reading time in recent years (an average of 12.2 books per year). The survey also found that 36% have increased their purchases from independent bookstores since the introduction of France’s minimum delivery fee for online book orders. Meanwhile, in a separate LinkedIn post, Piault highlighted a Xerfi 2026 study showing that French independent bookstores have faced increasingly difficult trading conditions following the Covid-era rebound of 2020–2021. Activity has stagnated or declined, he notes, with operating and personnel costs rising faster than revenue.
These two studies highlight a paradox that extends well beyond France. Independent bookstores enjoy strong public affection, and the readers who shop there tend to be among the market’s most engaged book buyers. Yet, as e-commerce grows, bookstores are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain economic viability in an industry built around vast numbers of titles and relatively low margins. The finding that France’s minimum delivery fee for online book orders has encouraged more consumers to buy from independent bookstores may strengthen the case for further regulation. According to Actualitté, the Centre National du Livre is examining the possibility of a tax on major online bookselling platforms to help offset competitive pressures on independent booksellers.
Attack on Piracy? Kodansha Heads to India
Nikkei reports that Kodansha will establish Kodansha India in July 2026 with Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) and local firm IJ Kakehashi Services. Kodansha will hold an 81% stake in the venture, with DNP owning 14% and IJ Kakehashi Services 5%. The company plans to publish about 200 titles annually in English and Hindi, including manga such as Attack on Titan and Blue Lock, while also expanding into children’s books, merchandise, and events. Nikkei notes that this is the first time a major Japanese publisher has established a local company to print and sell paper books and manga in India.
Kodansha’s decision to establish a local publishing operation in India suggests a growing willingness among Japanese groups to publish directly in foreign markets rather than rely solely on licensing. In a detailed Note post, analyst Hiroki Miyano highlights the economics behind the strategy, arguing that manga is often more expensive in India than in Japan, a factor that encourages piracy. According to Miyano, Kodansha believes local manufacturing and distribution could reduce prices by roughly half.
The Gender Gap Narrows in Germany
According to Börsenblatt
, women continue to make up the majority of Germany’s publishing workforce, accounting for more than 56% of employees according to the 2024 labor market microcensus. The German trade magazine also draws on its “The 100 Largest Publishers” ranking for the 2025 reporting year, covering more than 500 publishing executives and managers. Long-term data from the rankings show that women’s representation on publisher management teams has risen from 12% in 2005 to 35% today, while gender parity among senior managers has remained broadly stable, with women holding around 50% of leadership positions, unchanged from the previous year.
Germany’s progress reflects a broader challenge across global publishing: while women often represent a majority of the workforce, gender balance tends to decline at the highest levels of leadership. Women remain underrepresented, particularly in CEO roles across the publishing industry. Germany’s figures suggest movement in the right direction and provide a necessary benchmark for other markets, where progress toward gender equality in leadership has been slower. It’s better late than never.
Searching for Arab Publishing Data? Start Here
Livres Hebdo reports on an International Alliance of Independent Publishers mapping study of public book policies in the Arab world, led by Syrian publisher Hani Al-Telfah and partly coordinated by Samar Haddad. Based on responses from 11 countries to a questionnaire sent to 200 professionals, the study points to fragmented policies, weak inter-ministerial coordination, outdated legislation on digital issues, piracy, limited support for public reading, and opaque subsidy allocation.
The study is particularly valuable because reliable data on the publishing sector across the Arab world and the MENA region remains scarce. Market statistics, policy analysis, and industry research are often difficult to access or simply unavailable. By providing a comparative view across multiple countries, the report helps fill an important information gap and could encourage publishers, institutions, and governments to invest in more research, reporting, and data collection.
Audiobooks Grow in the U.S. Amid Diverging Reports
The Audio Publishers Association reports that US audiobook sales reached a record $2.43 billion in 2025, up 9% year-ove- year, with more than 750,000 active titles, a 43% increase. Consumer adoption also continued to expand, with 58% of US adults—an estimated 157 million people—having listened to an audiobook. The report highlights growing concerns around piracy, particularly on YouTube, while Audio First revenue rose 50% to $136 million.
The APA figures suggest that audiobooks remain a strong growth segment, even if 2025 growth slipped below double digits. The results also present an interesting contrast with the Association of American Publishers’ 2025 StatShot report, which found digital audio revenue increasing by just 2.1% for the year.
Norway’s Book Market: Fixed, Concentrated, and Growing
Bok365 reports that Norway’s book market grew 4.6% in 2025 to NOK 6.11 billion ($641 million), according to new industry statistics from the Norwegian Publishers Association. Adult nonfiction sales rose 20%, adult fiction 10%, and children’s and YA books 9%, while new Norwegian fiction increased 33% and Norwegian nonfiction 26%. Audiobook listening rose 9% to 15.5 million listens. The school market declined 14.1%, even as its digital share grew to 44% up from 40%.
In value, the Norwegian digital audiobook market reached an estimated retail value of NOK 644.1 million ($67.6 million) in 2025, up 7.6% from the previous year, even though newly published titles generally cannot enter subscription services immediately. Because access through a subscription platform is treated as a form of discounting under Norway’s fixed-price system, publishers must typically wait until the fixed-price period has expired before making audiobook editions available through subscription models. The report also highlights the concentration of the Norwegian publishing sector: Cappelen Damm held a 33.5% market share in 2025, followed by Gyldendal Norsk Forlag (26.1%); Aschehoug (15.8%); Bonnier Norsk Forlag (6.1%). Together, the four largest publishers accounted for more than 80% of the market.
In Russia, Books Are Selling; Bookshops, Less So
Knizhnaya Industriya reports that Russia’s book market grew 11.1% in 2025 to RUB 150.27 billion ($2.09 billion), according to the latest Book Market of Russia report—although the study notes that much of the increase was driven by higher book prices and inflation. The print market rose 9.7% to RUB 107.98 billion ($1.50 billion), while e-books and audiobooks expanded 25.4% to RUB 23.72 billion ($330 million) and digital self-publishing grew 24.7% to nearly RUB 9 billion ($125 million).
Publishing output, meanwhile, declined 2.8% to 100,374 new titles, even though total print runs increased slightly, by 0.9%, to 372.7 million copies. In terms of retail, online sellers increased their share of print book sales to 57.5%, up from 54.5%, while traditional bookstores continued to lose ground, with sales falling 1.2% and 338 store closings against 135 openings in cities of more than 100,000 residents. According to Knizhnaya Industriya, Russia’s Book Distributors Association President Svetlana Zorina said at a recent conference that unit sales in the the first quarter of 2026 in physical bookstores fell 18.8% compared with the same period a year earlier.
With official inflation at 5.59%, the 2025 figures suggest the Russian book market still achieved real growth despite the impact of the war and an increasingly restrictive regulatory environment. Publishers have faced rising compliance costs alongside higher production and distribution expenses, including the review of backlists, revisions to published works, and the withdrawal of titles affected by new censorship and content regulations.
Down Under, ISBNs Are Booming
Books+Publishing reports that data from Bowker’s Books in Print shows continued growth in Australian publishing in 2025. A total of 8,205 publishing entities were recorded, up from 6,917 a year earlier and 4,561 in 2019, while the number of new titles reached 36,972, an increase of 4,849 year-over-year, and up from 28,154 in 2019. The figures cover both print and ebook editions. Paperback titles increased to 55% of output in 2025, up from 48% in 2019, while hardcovers from grew to 13% from 9%; and ebooks and other digital formats grew to 26% from 23%. Ebook titles carrying ISBNs nearly doubled over the period to 9,692 from 5,229
What is particularly notable in the Australian figures is not only the growth in titles but also the sharp increase in the number of publishing entities. Bowker product marketing manager Andrew Kovacs told Books+Publishing that “AI tools may have made it easier for creators to publish, contributing to higher title output.” However, the growth may also point to the expansion of self-publishing and other activity taking place outside traditional publishing houses. The fact that 12,495 publishers released just a single title during the seven-year period points in that direction.
Brazil’s Book Boxes Think Outside the Bookstore
According to Exame
, Brazil’s Clube de Literatura Clássica (Classic Literature Club), founded in 2020 by Lucas Fischer Zapelini, reached R$28 million ($5.48 million) in revenue in 2025 and projects R$30 million ($5.87 million) in 2026. Based in Rio Grande do Sul, the classic literature subscription publisher says it serves about 28,000 subscribers across Brazil, and has shipped more than two million books and published 120 titles, with an annual plan priced at R$89 ($17.43) per month.
Brazil has become a particularly fertile market for subscription-based reading clubs. Unlike traditional book clubs that allow members to choose from a list of titles, many Brazilian services send subscribers a curated book selection each month, often in an exclusive edition accompanied by additional items and perks. The country’s largest club, TAG, also originated in Rio Grande do Sul, while other examples such as Leiturinha focus on children’s publishing. The model remains a trend worth watching, especially given Brazil’s continental scale and logistical challenges, suggesting potential for similar or even stronger growth in more developed book markets.
What Else Caught My Eye
A broken spine: More than 55,000 copies of Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry will be pulped and reprinted in France after the title was misspelled on the spine with an extra “T,” turning the book into Heatted Rivalry. According to Actualitté.
A taxing debate: Germany’s publishing industry is pushing back against reports of a possible increase in VAT on books, arguing that the country should consider moving toward a zero rate instead. According to Börsenblatt.
A two-button revolution: Kobo executive Erik Rigters argues in a LinkedIn post that the company’s two-button Remote is not merely an accessory but part of “the new reading,” making it easier to read in bed, on treadmills, and in other situations where turning pages on the eReader can be cumbersome.
A bookstore countdown: The number of bookstores in Japan has fallen below 10,000 for the first time, reaching 9,993 locations nationwide. According to Yomiuri Shimbun.
An easy bestseller: A Swedish TV investigation has raised questions about the sale of roughly 80,000 copies of a book by far-right Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson, examining transactions between his publishing company and a party-owned subsidiary partly funded by public money. According to Dagens Nyheter.
A founding lager The New York Public Library has partnered with a local brewery to create “Liberty Lager,” a beer inspired by a recipe recorded by George Washington in 1757. According to The New York Public Library.
A pirate extradition: South Korea has received a Japanese national accused of operating a major manga and webtoon piracy site, marking the first extradition of a Japanese citizen under the Japan–South Korea extradition treaty. According to The Mainichi.
The writer of this column, while serving as publisher of Thomas Nelson in Brazil, once discovered with his team a typo on a book spine only after several thousand copies had already been printed. The book blocks could be saved, but every cover had to be reprinted. It was an expensive lesson. The writer of this column also once interviewed the late Carolyn Reidy at the Frankfurt Book Fair, then the only female CEO among the Big Five publishers. Given a rare opportunity to ask a profound question about competitiveness, he instead asked whether the industry would be more competitive if more women occupied CEO positions. Reidy was too polite to answer with a direct “yes,” but the question was clearly a no-brainer.