The German book market developed well in 2021 despite Corona. This emerges from preliminary figures published by the German book trade association on Thursday in Frankfurt. Sales for the most important sales segments were 3.2 percent above the previous year. Business was even better than before the corona pandemic: Compared to 2019, book market sales increased by 0.8 percent. The stationary bookstores suffered from the store closings in the spring and were unable to make up for the losses. They closed with a sales decrease of 3.1 percent compared to 2020 and 11.5 percent compared to the pre-Corona year 2019. “The book proved to be crisis-proof during the pandemic. People have a great need for good stories, for reliable information, advice and inspiration”, commented the head of the Börsenverein, Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, on the figures.
The biggest increases were recorded for children’s and young people’s books, they brought in 9.4 percent more sales than in 2019. Fiction (plus 4.2) and non-fiction (plus 1.6 percent) also increased compared to the year before the pandemic. The best-selling novel of the past year was according to Media Control “About People” by Juli Zeh. Followed in second place “Playlist” by Sebastian Fitzek, Lucinda Riley took third place with “The Missing Sister”. Among the non-fiction book titles, “Pfoten vom Tisch!” first place by Hape Kerkeling, Ferdinand von Schirach with “Everyone” came second, and “The smallest common reality” by Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim came third.