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Italian e-book production and the number of people purchasing digitally has risen to its highest level. This is the result of new research by the Italian publishers association, Associazione Italiana Editori (AIE).
The third annual survey, conducted in May 2013 for AIE by analysts Editech, showed that in that month 60,589 e-books were available in Italy, representing 8.3% of all titles available. This figure is 93% up on 2012’s survey (31,416 e-books; 4.4% of all titles).
The report says that 3.1% of the adult population (14+) had read at least one e-book in the previous 12 months, which equates to 1.6 million people—a rise of 45.5%.
A smaller percentage of respondents (1.8%) said they had actually purchased an e-book in the past 12 months, yet this was a 63.1% rise on 2011, when just 1.1% said they had bought a digital book.
Men were by far the bigger e-book users (61.5% of men read an e-book to 38.5% of women), yet women were the bigger readers overall, with 51.7% having read at least one book (“p” or “e”) in the previous year.
Price might have something to do with the increase in e-book sales. The average e-book selling price in May 2013 was €10.44 (£9) , a 6.6% drop from May 2012 (€11.07). The overall a.s.p. for print books in Italy in May was €18.
E-reader sales have grown a massive 650% in the last three years—from €16m in 2010 to €120m in 2012. Yet much of that rise was in 2010 to 2011 (540%); growth in 2012 year on year was a far shallower 16.5% (€103m to €120m). Tablet sales, however, have continued to rise sharply, up 69% in 2012 to €798m.
Though the study shows a rise, Italy has a relatively small e-books market. AIE estimates that in 2012, digital comprised between 1.8%–2.1% of Italian publishers’ approximate €3.2bn in revenue.
The digital bump will not plug the print decline in Italy. Print sales through Nielsen BookScan (which covers approximately 60% of the Italian market) in 2012 were €1.32bn, a drop of 7.8% year on year. There is some cheer in the first quarter 2013, however, with revenues in the period declining a shallower 4.4%.
Italians are not optimistic about the overall economy reviving. Nielsen’s Global Consumer Confidence Index quarterly report, released on 23rd July, showed Italians have a confidence rating of 41—compared to a global average of 91 (and the UK’s 79). That is the second-lowest among the 58 countries rated, behind only Portugal’s 33.