A snapshot of the sector: figures, trends and prospects
Report 2011

A modest plus sign returns to the book market in 2010, but with a few signals of uncertainty in 2011. After two years of decline there is a return to growth in the book sector (+0.3%), confirmed as the largest of the content industries in Italy. Readership among Italians has risen, reaching a figure of 26.4 million (+ 1.7 per cent over 2009). The market for e-books began in 2010 and grew in 2011, both in terms of titles (up 329%, from 1,619 titles in Italian in January 2010 to 6,950 last December) and turnover. Still non-existent in 2009, it is estimated to have reached a value of 1.5 million euro in December 2010. This is still a small share of the whole market (0.04%) but one which is inevitably destined to grow in 2011, both in the number of Italian titles accessible on e-readers (already 18,000 in September 2011) and turnover, reaching around 3-4 million euro by the end of 2011. This is all happening in the context of a new legislative background, with the approval in July 2011 of the renewed law on consumer prices for books which ended a situation of uncertainty for operators.Total market sales of 3.4 billion euros 

• 3.4 billion euro, total market sales
• E-books: 1.5 million euro sales and 0.04% of the market
• Good performance from the digital market overall: it represents 9.9% of the total 
• Sales channels: consolidation for trade (+4.2%), with the traditional bookshop in the lead (+2.6%), and a boom in online bookshops (+24.5%) 
• Readership is on the rise in Italy: in 2010 26.4 million Italians read at least one book per year; 968 thousand more than the previous year 
• Production: drop in titles (down to 57 thousand), new books (122 million copies) and copies overall (208 million)
• Exports: fewer books but more rights sold abroad
• What about the first half of 2011? Positive: +2.1% overall in trade channels with some signs of uncertainty

For more infos read our 2011 report.