The e-book market - Italy (2023)

1.2 The global market

The size of the global e-book market is estimated at $**.** billion in **** and is expected to reach $**.** billion by ****, with an annual growth rate(***) of *.** percent over the forecast period.

Technical development and sophistication of reading devices that provide an experience similar to reading a physical book are the key factors driving the market. Other factors include the growing adoption of smartphones and the multilingual capabilities of e-books.

Global e-book market World, ****-****, in billions of dollars (***)

Geographically, North America dominates the market for e-books, which have become a natural choice for North American consumers because of their rapid accessibility and portability. During the holiday season, in particular, there is an increase in tablet and e-book purchases. The growing demand for digitized comic books, produced by publishers such as DC Entertainment and Marvel, is influencing market dynamics

Asia-Pacific, on the other hand, is expected to be the market with the fastest expansion during the reporting period. That region includes key markets such as China, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea and Singapore.

As forEurope, several countries emerge including Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy, each with their own specificities. European publishing, in general, is worth ** billion euros in ****: **% of the ...

1.3 The Italian market

The value of the miscellaneous market in billions at cover price (***) decreased by *.*% in **** compared to ****, which corresponds to ** million less spending. However, compared to ****, the market grew by **.*%, which corresponds to *** million more spending.

The value of the miscellaneous market in millions of copies sold shows a similar trend: -*.*% compared to **** (***).

Book market at cover price Italy, ****-**** aie.co.uk

Looking at the market trend, distinguishing between print books, e-books and audiobooks, the following observations can be made. As already pointed out, the total value of the total market is the decrease in ****, in particular e-books see a decrease of -*% compared to ****. In contrast, audiobooks turn out to be theonly category with an increase in ****. Print books also experienced a decrease, amounting to -*.*%.

Value trend of the book market by category Italy, ****-****, in millions of euros aie.co.uk

in order to have a clearer understanding of the size of the e-book market, the market share of the * categories is shown: printed books, which clearly make up the majority of the market, e-books , which note a share of *.*%, and finally, there are audiobooks with*.*%. Market share by category Italy, ****, % aie.it

In Italy, the digital ...

1.4 Impact of covid-19

In ****, as a consequence of the covid-** pandemic, cultural consumption almost halved in Italy: -**% of average monthly household spending in December **** compared to December ****. It is clear that this figure has been substantially affected by those activities that have been completely or partially stopped by the restrictions imposed to counter the contagion. Indeed, cinema (***).

As forpublishing, **** saw a slight growth of *.*%, withItaly as the third largest in Europe, after Germany and the United Kingdom.

In view of the forced closures that characterized the year ****, we can see a decline in the number of printed books published (***), an increase of *.* percent over ****. This is for printed books; for e-books, theincrease in availabletitles over the previous year is * percent.

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The following is thetrend in average monthly household spending on books from **** to ****. It shows a slight decline in ****, which is physiological for the period, but not as excessive as spending in other cultural sectors, which were evidently hindered much more by the exogenous event of the pandemic.

Average monthly household expenditure on books Italy, ****-****, in current euros istat.it

2.1 Demand in Italy

According to thesurvey conducted by Pepe Research for AIE, in **** ** percent of citizens aged **-** say they have read at least one book, paper or electronic, or listened to an audiobook in the past ** months, three percentage points higher than in **** (***).

By distinction by age group, the largest percentages of readers fall between ** and ** years old, they are lower in the more adult **-** age group.

Percentage of readers by age group Italy, ****, % aie.co.uk

Based on the format chosen, readers who excluisively favor reading in print are **% (***), **% use all formats and **% use only e-books and audiobooks, a percentage that is increasing, in **** they were *%.

The landscape sees print still at the center of the book market, but it is less predominant than in the past. At the same time, the growth can be attributed to new audiences who are appealing to reading mainly through digital and consuming genres and products outside the more traditional literary canons.

Breakdown of readers by format Italy, ****, % aie.it

2.2 Demand drivers

The reasons that lead readers to approach the e-book format are clearly related to the advantages inherent in the digital nature of the product. So, the main advantages related to e-books are given below.

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2.3 The geographical distribution of demand

The percentage distribution of readers present in each Italian region in **** is shown below. As can be seen from the map, the North and the Center have higher percentages of readers. In particular, Trentino-Alto Adige has the highest percentage, with **.* percent of readers. As for the Islands, Sardinia reports **.* percent readership compared to Sicily's **.* percent, which on an overall level comes in as the lowest figure in all of Italy.

2.4 New trends in demand

The bookmakers: the influencers of reading

In the digital world, a new hashtag among lifestyle, make-up, and cooking influencers is gaining popularity among the younger generation. First appearing on TikTok during the lockdown, #BookTok unites all reading lovers to talk and recommend new reads to each other. It is a phenomenon that has expanded like wildfire, recording ** billion views worldwide and holds great promise forpublishing **** as well.

This new way of sharing one's passion for reading allows users to express themselves and engage with other readers. It blends the love of books and creativity, taking advantage of the video effects and viral sounds offered by the app. Prominent writers, libraries, and publishing houses have also joined this movement.

These reading influencers have helped bring young people closer to books, enabling them to discover new titles but also the great classics. The most popular genres on social are romance, fantasy, and dystopias. But in addition to satisfying readers' tastes, this trend has also helped many writers. In fact, books published even ten years ago have recently entered the best-selling list in our country. The peculiarity that allows these influencers to have a following is the way in which they narrate books. Expressiveness ...

3.1 The e-book stores

The competitive structure of e-book stores in Italy is characterized by the presence of a few large international and national players that dominate the market, as well as a variety of smaller, more specialized stores.

Major stores such as Amazon, IBS, and La Feltrinelli offer a wide assortment of titles and often lead the market in terms of variety, availability, and ease of use.

Stores such as Mondadori and Kobo stand out for their specialized offerings and their integration with specific e-book readers.

Other smaller or niche stores, such as Macrolibrarsi and Il Giardino Dei Libri, compete by offering unique selections or focusing their offerings on specific genres or themes.

This competitive structure reflects a combination of broad access to generalist titles and specialized offerings, allowing consumers a wide choice based on their individual preferences.

The following are the main stores where e-books can be purchased, along with their offering characteristics.

3.2 The value chain

The following are all the steps that create value in the e-book industry, from content creation to final purchase.

3.3 The main players

The main Italian publishing houses active in the e-book market are listed below:

Feltrinelli s.p.a: founded in **** in Milan by Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, is one of the leading publishing houses and bookstore chains in Italy. Originally focused on publishing, Feltrinelli later expanded into retail bookstores, becoming a significant presence in the Italian cultural landscape. Offering a wide variety of books, music, films, and other cultural products, Feltrinelli bookstores are known as meeting places and cultural exchanges. The company has also expanded its operations in the online sector and continues to be an important reference point in the world of publishing and retail of cultural products in Italy

Mondadori retail s.p.a: founded in **** by Arnoldo Mondadori, ranks among the most important Italian publishing houses In addition to book publishing, Mondadori is also active in the magazine sector, both in Italy and internationally. Its wide range of publications includes books of various genres, magazines, and digital content. it is known for its influence in the Italian cultural scene and its leading role in the publishing market. Mondadori is also active in the retail sector with a chain of bookstores spread throughout Italy.

Giunti editore s.p.a: founded in Florence ...

3.4 Reading preferences

Several names stand out among the most widely read contemporary Italian authors in **** .

Alessandro D'Avenia - "What Hell Is Not": coming-of-age story of a character with a complex past; Paolo Cognetti - "The Eight Mountains": hymn to friendship and mountains; Donatella Di Pierantonio - "Arminuta": a story of ultimate resilience; Lorenzo Marone - "A Normal Boy": a book about friendship, family and love; Giuseppe Catozzella - "Don't tell me you're afraid": a true story on the theme of immigration; Fabio Geda - " In the sea there are crocodiles": tells the story of Enaiatollah Akbari, a boy fleeing from the Taliban; Giacomo Mazzariol - "The Sharks": a book about becoming an adult set during the summer of adulthood.

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Regarding e-books, the Kobo Book Report **** provides a ranking regarding Italians' preferences.

"The Letter Carrier": tells of a **-year-long family affair set in ****s Salento - Francesca Giannone; "ELP": a work that puts two cases and two investigations under one sign - Antonio Manzini; "Altas, The Story of Pa' Salt": seven-sister series by Northern Irish writer drawing to a close - Lucinda Riley; "The Wrong Child": Nordic murder mystery from **** - Camilla Làckberg "Intimate Life": author dissects the mind of a ...

4.1 Supply analysis

E-books are for all intents and purposes books in digital format, as the word itself indicates. It should be specified that not all textual documents in digital format are e-books. In fact, the latter does not merely present the content of the paper document, but also tries to replicate its form and functionality, so as to make reading as similar as possible to turning the pages of a book.

Although digital books lack some features much loved by readers in paper books, such as for example the smell of paper and the beauty of the object itself, they offer other kinds of advantages. For example, with e-books one can change font and font size to better suit one's eyesight, or take advantage of the built-in vocabulary and translator, which allow clicking on individual words to display their definition or translation. There are also activities that can be done on both paper books and ebooks, although in different ways, such as taking notes, highlighting and annotating.

With respect to where to read ebooks, there are several options that lead to different reading experiences.

The most complete experience is achieved by using e-readers. These are ad hoc digital devices created to read e-books, ...

4.2 The prices

The price of a digital book is clearly lower than a paper book.

Seventy percent of e-books for sale on Amazon are priced between $*.** and $*.** (***).

The average price for Italian e-books is around €*.**. However, there are significant price differences depending on who publishes the digital book:

-e-books published by structured publishers cost an average of €*.** and up, although these prices are often capped by offers and can go as low as €*.** on some online stores;

-e-books published by selfpublishers and independents average a lower price, around €*.**.

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Below are the prices of some e-books in Amazon's Kindle store.

4.3 New supply trends

Rise of advanced eBooks

In ****, the use of advanced eBooks, which integrate text with multimedia components including photographs, videos, and interactive features, is expected to increase.

Readers can experience reading in a more engaging and interesting way through these improved forms. Although artificial intelligence-based storytelling does not yet match the quality and emotion of a human narrator, it works quite well for specific genres.

Publishers and writers now have additional opportunities to produce dynamic and interactive eBooks thanks to technological improvements such as enhanced e-reader features and the extensive use of HTML*. To increase and diversify their income, authors continue to come up with new ideas.

There are more options than ever for authors to get creative in increasing their income, such as serial fiction, NFT, and Substack. This is especially pertinent in categories such as children's books, textbooks, and recipes, where interactive features and visual aspects enhance information.

Increased personalization

The reading experience on a digital device is becoming increasingly personalized.

Personalized suggestions based on customers' interests and reading patterns are expected to be emphasized by eBook platforms and vendors in ****.

The enthusiasm may have been triggered especially by the release of ChatGPT in late November, and some insiders anticipate ...

5.1 The legislation

Tax aspects related to the sale of e-books on specific portals

The most widely used mode of selling e-books is definitely indirect assignment. This mode of sale is chosen by authors who want to devote themselves totally to writing, leaving the commercial and economic aspects to third parties. Through indirect assignment, the author assigns the right of economic exploitation of the work to third parties. The author of a work, in fact, is entitled to assign to others the right to economically exploit that work by selling it to end customers. This mode of sale presupposes the payment of a percentage on each sale to the author of the work.

The author of an ebook owns the copyright in the work from the very moment of its creation. Of course, in order to prove this to third parties, registration of the work with the SIAE would be required. The exploitation of copyright is not subject to the application of VAT, so there is absolutely no need to open a VAT number to become an author, publish and distribute your work.

The sale of ebooks indirectly, through the transfer of copyright is regulated by Law No. ***/****. This legislation provides that the author ...

6.1 Segmentation

• Feltrinelli s.p.a
• Mondadori retail s.p.a
• Giunti editore s.p.a
• Adelphi
• Amazon
• Apple