In 2015, for the first time in four years, sales of printed books in Britain once again rose slightly, by 0.4%, from 2.748 billion pounds to 2.760 billion pounds. By contrast, at the same time and for the first time in seven years, digital sales (eBooks, audio downloads, online subscriptions) decreased by 2%, from 563 million pounds to 554 million pounds. In addition to the United Kingdom, The Markets – Global Publishing Summit, the conference to kick off the Frankfurt Book Fair, will also put the spotlight on six other book markets in 2016 which are Brazil, Flanders and the Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. On Tuesday, 18 October 2016, important publishers, strategists and industry experts from these countries will present their markets and offer analyses, visions, professional contacts and personal tips. The one-day conference is organized by the Frankfurt Book Fair in cooperation with the US trade magazine Publishing Perspectives.
UK book market poised for changeÂ
The world’s fifth largest book market (after the USA, China, Germany and Japan) is maintaining its position. In 2015, total sales in the British book and publishing industry rose from 3.311 to 3.314 billion pounds. At 17%, the digital sector’s share remains unchanged from the previous year. In terms of categories, academic and reference books hold the lead with 32%, followed by children’s books (24%) and textbooks (17%). These figures were published in early May 2016 in The UK Publishers Association’s Statistics Yearbook 2015
It is worth noting that the figures for digital sales only include traditional publishers, and not the growing self-publishing market. In fact, according to Nielsen Book UK, self-published eBooks have a 22% share in the digital book market which was 16% in 2014.
 In 2015, domestic sales (print and digital) rose by 3% to 1.893 billion pounds. The largest jumps in sales were seen in non-fiction/reference books (+9%) and textbooks (+13%). Fiction sales were also up slightly, by 1.6% over 2014. Blockbusters such as Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train (Doubleday), Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman (Heinemann) and EL James’s Grey (Arrow) played a decisive role in this growth.
With revenues of 1.42 billion pounds and a quota of 43%, the United Kingdom is the world champion in book exports. Education, science and ELT (English Language Training) account for the major share – namely, two thirds – of this. The share of digital products remained at 15%, and Europe continues to be by far the most important target market, followed by the regions South Asia and Middle East/North Africa.
