Book publishing continues to grow across the country, according to the Publishers Association of New Zealand, Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ).
PANZ launched the Book Industry Market Size Report 2021 at its conference this week. The report highlights key findings from survey results and looks at the shape of Aotearoa New Zealand Publishing.
The book market remains buoyant. Trade publishing has grown 6.7 per cent on the pre-pandemic level. In addition, Te Reo Māori publishing rose with over 40 per cent growth in sales year on year from 2019.
The rest of the book market has remained constant with similar data emerging from last year. The market grew three per cent in 2020 and held steady across 2021 with a further 0.7 per cent growth. New Zealand educational content sold domestically grew by six per cent. This reflects the increased importance of New Zealand curriculum content to educators across the second year of the pandemic.
Print remains strong
Physical books show no sign of disappearing anytime soon. Over 90 per cent of New Zealand’s book market value is in print formats. Both digital and print formats have seen nearly 10 per cent growth on 2019 values.
Nevena Nikolic, territory manager, Nielsen BookData New Zealand, says, “The New Zealand 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.
“Also, many of these issues affected publishers globally so were not unique to New Zealand. However, they were exacerbated by our geographic location and further distance from the main supply warehouses based in Australia.”
Post-pandemic, PANZ has focused on rebuilding export markets, which provide vital income for New Zealand authors and publishers. The export market saw a one per cent growth in exported titles. Australia continues to be the dominant export market for the book trade. It showed 10 per cent value growth. In education exports, China just edged out the United States as the key export market holding 33 per cent of all export revenue for the first time.
PANZ president Graeme Cosslett, says, “PANZ has a vision for a thriving, sustainable and inclusive publishing industry for local and global readers. Whilst the global pandemic continues to present challenges, the New Zealand publishing industry has held steady when compared with 2020.
“This report is a testament to our vision at PANZ and the enduring appeal of books. It shows our industry remains resilient, sustainable, and in reasonably strong heart.”
