The four largest publishing houses on the local market, Polirom, the All group, Humanitas and Curtea Veche ended last year with EUR13 million in revenue, a little less than in 2010. Demand for books sold via bricks and mortar bookstores did not increase; on the other hand, there was a growing interest in discounted books sold online and in those made available in digital format.
On a market estimated at EUR100 million, the representatives of the publishing houses say that the strategy to boost sales includes publishing attractive titles for consumers, promotions and direct sales at book fairs.
“The power and upkeep bill is leaving Romanians with less money to spend on cultural products, which does not allow the book market to grow,” believes Silviu Lupescu, general manager of the largest publishing house in Romania, Polirom.
The company ended last year with 19.5 million lei (almost EUR4.5 million) in revenue last year, up from EUR4.1 million in 2010.
Book spending puts Romania last among the European Union countries because a Romanian spends EUR5 on books every year on the average.
“A several percent increase in sales on the previous year is not a significant rise in demand for books but merely a slight rebound. The book market remained low, at about 40% less than in the pre-crisis years,” Silviu Lupescu said.
Polirom portfolio’s includes Romanian and international authors like Nabokov, Hemingway, Lessing, Fowles, Rushdie, Saramago and Salinger. It works with bookstores and wholesalers throughout the country and in the Republic of Moldova.
A number of publishing houses have pursued a conservative strategy in order to survive over the last three years. Most of them cut the number of titles and print runs and distributed the books to bookstores that guaranteed on-shelf promotion.
The book market, which includes newsstand (books bundled with various newspapers and magazines) editions, was estimated at EUR112 million in 2010, down about 15% on 2009, according to the data provided by Diverta bookstore chain.
Last year’s book market – newsstand editions not included, amounted to about EUR60 million, Diverta officials said.
“This year’s estimates are hard to make and greatly depend on a potential increase in consumers’ incomes, especially of those categories seriously affected by salary cuts (such as teachers i.e.) over the last few years. It is also up to the funds allocated to libraries, drastically cut in recent years,” Lupescu said.
The publishing houses’ investment in online commerce lead to 6% to 40% of their sales being generated by online orders. Gabriel Scinteia, chief operating officer of All Publishing Group says that 6% or 7% of All’s sales were made via the Internet. The All group posted EUR2.3 million revenue last year.
Books retailed online come with discounts. The other publishing houses, too, created websites to sell their books online and discounts may go to as much as 40% when buying over the Internet, as in Teora’s case.
“The All group forecast growth of 10%-15% in sales via bookstores this year. This would actually mean a rebound because we saw significant decline on the segment in 2011, compensating via direct sales channels,” Scinteia said.
As far as overall sales are concerned, he hopes to see the same level as last year.
He added turnover was not a good indicator to use in assessing whether the book market was going up or not because the discounted books and electronic books have created a new market, which is more attractive to readers price-wise and more visible for the authors who become better known and see readership numbers go up.
These two major changes on the market are reason for decline as far as publishing houses are concerned now, and the future does not look too bright for hardbacks, which used to sell in the thousands not so long ago.
On top of that, looking around on the major retail streets or in malls, the book market may appear to be dwindling.
The lack of bookstores weakens the market, believes Iren Arsene, owner of the Curtea Veche publishing house:
“There is no hope of new book retailers on the market. There are bookstores and supermarkets but unfortunately no bookstore chain emerges to even things out.”
Curtea Veche posted RON12.9 million (almost three million euro) sales last year, while in 2010 sales stood at EUR3.9 million.
“We sold almost 1.5 million books last year, except newsstand editions,” said Iren Arsene. The company published 150 titles and made 15% of its sales to online customers.
Curtea Veche’s owner says the publishing house’s policy is cautious, focusing on reprinting certain titles and promoting authors to whom consumers respond. (EUR1=RON4.3783)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)