Aotearoa New Zealand trade publishers' revenue increased 0.8% last year, according to The Book Industry Market Size Report 2021, a new study from the Publishers Association of NZ/Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ). Books+Publishing reported that the results show "the overall book market grew 0.7% to NZ$304.3 million [about US$185.3 million] last year, with unit sales down 0.8% to 21.1 million over the same period. Compared to the last pre-pandemic year of 2019, trade sales were up 6.7% and overall book sales were up 3.7%."
Bricks-and-mortar bookstores accounted for 72% of book sales (up 4%), followed by direct sales to schools and libraries (19%, down 3%) and online retailers (8.1%). Print is still the most popular format for reading, accounting for 92.5% of the country's book market value. Te Reo Māori unit sales grew 40% in 2021 to a total of 485,000, following a 24% jump in 2020. Books in te reo now account for 2.2% of total unit sales in New Zealand.
Nielsen BookData New Zealand territory manager Nevena Nikolic said the country's publishing industry "once again proved to be resilient in the face of the many pandemic-related challenges.... On top of which were added, inflationary pressures, paper shortages, and further supply-chain issues. Many of these issues affected publishers globally so were not unique to New Zealand but were exacerbated by our geographic location and further distance from the main supply warehouses based in Australia."
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The Booksellers Association of the U.K. & Ireland has released programming details for the annual BA Conference and Gardners Trade Show, to be held September 18-19 in Hinckley, Leicestershire.
"We are delighted to welcome booksellers and publishers back to the BA Conference and Gardners Trade Show this September," said BA managing director Meryl Halls. "This year's program offers a range of networking and learning opportunities, with bestselling author Graham Norton delivering the author keynote, and James Daunt sharing his unique global bookselling insights. Our popular Skills Labs will also be returning, offering booksellers tailored training opportunities to help propel and equip their bookshops for the current retail landscape. After several challenging years, we hope this year's event offers booksellers the chance to come together to share stories, offer insights, and reconnect as a community."
Nigel Wyman, sales and marketing director at Gardners, added: "The trade show is one of our favorite events in the calendar, we can't wait to get together with both our existing, and new customers once again. We have built a stellar line up of guest authors, and over 50 exhibitors on board, including some non-book suppliers. The Gardlink team will be on hand for all of your stock control and epos needs. We are delighted to be working with the BA on this event once more. We firmly believe the partnership between Gardners and the BA gives booksellers a value packed few days."
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Nicholas Pearson is leaving his role as publishing director at Fourth Estate "following a redundancy process," the Bookseller reported. Pearson joined the publisher in 1996 after short stints at Orion and Faber & Faber. For nearly 20 years he has edited and published Booker Prize-winning author Hilary Mantel. He was also Doris Lessing's editor for the last years of her writing life, and has published Jonathan Franzen, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Alan Garner.
"Working for all of these writers, and the many others not mentioned, has been the greatest privilege of my life. I will miss them, and wish them and my colleagues success in the future," Pearson said.
David Roth-Ey, executive publisher at Fourth Estate and William Collins, commented: "I want to thank Nicholas for his outstanding contribution, over nearly three decades, to Fourth Estate and his authors. We wish him every success for the future." --Robert Gray