Press
Interview with Dr. Michael Roesler-Graichen, Börsenblatt
Bio: Dr. Michael Roesler-Graichen
What have you been busy with lately?
Before travelling to China I am (was) preparing some special issues of our book industry review Boersenblatt – the first about the German markets of specialist information and academic publishing, particularly medical and legal publishers. The second is dedicated to service providers for the book industry, the third to the latest developments in crime fiction.
Although new media and other factors have diverted many readers, the German book market is still very stable, and even grew by 1% in 2016. What do you think are the major reasons behind this?
A shrinking number of readers are buying more books, and the average price of books has risen during the last years. Especially young readers and elderly people are interested in purchasing books. Due to the demographic change in Germany until 2030 people above the age of 60 will account for 35 percent of the whole population. This means there could possibly be an increasing potential for book buyers.
Do you think the German book market will continue to grow in a similar way?
Given that the diversion by smartphones and streaming platforms will not reach unprecedentend peaks the book market may recover. The sales figures of the first quartal 2018 signify a positive tendency.
Do you think reading promotion can help recover lost readers?
Reading promotion can prevent the loss of more readers and book buyers. The crucial point though is to address former readers with reading actions if they have left behind themselves the whole book ecosystem. A solution could be reading apps on smartphones that stimulate purchasing books – no matter whether printed or digital.
In 2016, books for children and youths grew 9% in Germany. Can you give us an analysis of the factors behind such significant growth?
Digital media shape the life of young people in Germany to a considerable extent but not totally. Physical books still exert an unbroken attraction. And a lot of book purchases for children and youths are triggered by parents who want to animate them to read or to read them stories out.
To what extent does Boersenblatt monitor the international book market? Which markets and in what areas of development are its primary focus?
The focus of our review are undeniably the German language markets but we monitor also other European markets like France, UK or Italy and give overviews of the US book market. Other book markets like China are also of interest – in connection with activities of the Frankfurt book fair or in the context of their performance as guest of honour at the book fair. Our main target groups are German booksellers and publishers that want to be informed about current tendencies in retail, strategic turns, publishing technology, digital media, copyright and other matters. An issue of extraordinary importance for all market players is the new data ruling of the European Union – the General Data Protection Regulation – that becomes effective in Germany in May.
Dr. Michael Roesler-Graichen will be speaking at the StoryDrive conference in Beijing (28 May - 1 June 2018).
