BUCH, a company which reports sales data for the German book industry, released its preliminary results for 2022. It found that book sales, both at bookstores and online, was cumulatively down 2.15% compared with 2021. The total number of books sold fell 3% from the previous year.
Among categories, sales of nonfiction books fell the most compared with 2021, dropping 8.7%, while self-help books saw a 6.8% drop in the period. Sales of children's and young adult books slipped 3.3%. Fiction and travel books saw the biggest gains, with sales up 4.3% and 13.4%, respectively.
The year 2022 posed "a major economic challenge" for the industry, said the report, which continued, "the industry is now facing new hurdles due to procurement bottlenecks plus rising production and energy costs." Inflation was blamed for reduced foot traffic at bricks-and-mortar stores and lower sales.
The report went on to note, "it deserves great recognition that publishers and bookstores have shown their resilience despite these developments and are continuing their commitment to books and cultural diversity unabated."
The top selling books of the year were the German translation of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and the thriller Mimik by Sebastian Fitzek in hardcover fiction. Kurt Krömer’s Du darfst nicht alles glauben, was du denkst: Meine Depression (You Must Not Believe Everything You Think: My Depression was the bestselling nonfiction title.
