Global Print Book Trends
The United States print
book sales are flat from a year ago. Actually, they were down 2% at the end of
April. Globally, they are virtually unchanged. In 2022, the top 10 markets
outside the US sold 614 million printed books. Same as 2021.
But the details show
some interesting things. India, the size of more than four United States (based
on population), only registered 36.2 million print book sales. The US, in the same
period, declined 6.5% to 788.7 million print book sales.
On the bright side,
Mexico was up a whopping 15.3% and Australia rose substantially, by 8.2%.
Now, all of these sales
numbers are according to Nielsen Book Data, which may capture 75-80% of all print
book sales. They miss book sales that are sold outside of bookstores, Amazon,
and big retailers, including those sold at events or by authors directly.
If you are curious
about the biggest print book markets outside of the US they are as follows: UK,
Italy, Australia, Spain, Brazil, India, Mexico, Ireland, South Africa, and New
Zealand. Why China, Germany, Russia, or Japan are not there, I am not sure.
Worldwide, it looks
like Colleen Hoover was the overall best-selling author. She was tops in
Australia, Ireland, Brazil, New Zealand, and South Africa. She kicks butt in
the U.S. ands was the top fiction author in India and the UK.
In terms of format,
children’s books and YA did the best in Australia and New Zealand, where 46% of
all print sales in each country came from that category. In Mexico, 42% of
print sales came from adult fiction, tops amongst the 10 countries. For adult
fiction, Spain led with 33% of its print book sales coming from that category.
So, what does this all
mean? For today’s American author, maybe nothing. He or she struggles to sell
over a few copies of their book in an over-saturated market. But, it is good to
see what travels well. Authors make more money when their books get translated
to other languages or when the English edition is sold overseas.
Keep in mind, six out
of seven book titles in the US are not traditionally published. These are self-
or hybrid-published. Many of these books’ sales fly under the radar. So, who
really knows how many books are ever sold?
Need
Book Marketing Help?
Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning
blog, can be reached at [email protected] He is available to help authors promote their
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experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him
be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!
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About Brian Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter
@theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and
raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and
Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer
and IBPA’s The Independent. This
award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts
over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by
BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018
as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by
www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades,
including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book
publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with
many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with
best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen,
Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard,
Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C.
Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a
panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA,
Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction
Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland)
Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association.
His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal,
USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News
(Westchester) and The Washington Post . He has been featured in The
Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald . For more information, please consult:
www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum .
