Itävaltalainen Agnes on ollut Seinäjoen kaupunginkirjastossa vaihdossa kuukauden. Alla hän kertoo Itävallan kirjamarkkinoista.
Hallo! Greetings from Austria. I’m currently doing an internship at the Apila library and want to talk about the book industry in my country. By working in a bookstore, I learned that the German-speaking bookmarket is a fast-paced industry. Three times a year we order the upcoming releases for the next seasons. The busiest times in the year are Christmas and Easter, but also autumn, when the kids go back to school.
Booktok, New Adult and Romantasy
Trends, TikTok, and Bookstagram dictate selling numbers more than ever. In just two years, a whole new genre popped up, and it still grows constantly. “New Adult” books are everywhere; it doesn’t even matter which language they are. They basically sell themselves in English and German. A branch of New Adult is ”Romantasy”, which is not really something new but also getting more and more popular.
German books
Books in German are bound to the price the publisher decides. So to compete with the growing sales numbers of English books, which are usually cheaper, they focus on design and quality. They produce books that people would want to collect and own. Books that are so pretty, people don’t mind spending more money on them. Another rather new trend is sprayed edges. People are collecting the first editions with the more and more intricate patterns and pictures on the edges.
Online competition and e-readers
The bookstores also have to compete with online platforms. Most of them have a website where you can order and reserve books, or you can come to the store and order a book that isn’t in stock at the moment, and it will arrive within two to three days.
E-reading is another take on making books more available around the clock. Many bookstores sell e-readers, and the e-books are bought through the bookstore’s online shop.
I hope I could give you a little insight of the austrian bookmarket. Thank you for reading!
Agnes