European Book Publishing Statistics 2023
The total annual sales revenue of book publishers in Europe in 2023 was approximately € 24.4 billion, according to the survey conducted by FEP. This represents a small increase from 2022 (23.9), the result of mixed outcomes across countries. The largest markets in terms of publishers’ turnover were Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain. While total turnover is back to the peak level of 2007, this is only in nominal terms: considering inflation, there has been a loss of turnover in the same period of more than 30%. The total market value is estimated at € 35.3 billion (from sales of European publishers’ books), for a total consumer expenditure of some 36-39 billion €.
A total of about 585,000 new titles were issued by publishers in 2023
A total of about 585,000 new titles were issued by publishers in 2023, a small increase on 2022, also the result of different situations in each country. The figure was taken from different sources, some of which included new editions or non-commercial titles, and was rounded conservatively.
European publishers held about 14 million different titles in stock (some 3.3 million in digital format), the countries reporting the largest availability being the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain; this figure has been spiked by the surge in digital publishing, the digitisation of back catalogues, the growth of print-on-demand services and the surge in self-published titles, as well as other phenomena. The countries reporting the largest new titles output were the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and France. Employment remains an area where it is difficult to gather reliable data. The entire book value chain (including authors, booksellers, printers, designers, etc.) is estimated to employ more than half a million people.
