2021 was another successful year for book sales in Sweden, as shown by the compilation of statistics for 2021 in the report that the Swedish Publishers 'Association and the Swedish Booksellers' Association are now publishing.
In total, book sales increased by 6.3 percent or SEK 301 million in 2021 and the value of the book market thus exceeded SEK 5 billion for the first time.
However, the increase should be seen in relation to the pandemic's initial year, 2020, when the physical book trade in particular met a large decline due to pandemic restrictions.
All sales channels are increasing
In 2021, all sales channels in Sweden increased their sales.
The largest increase was in digital subscription services (audio books, e-books) with 16.2 percent.
But the physical book trade also increased by 4.3 per cent and the online book trade / book clubs increased by 2.9 per cent.
Even the smallest channel, the grocery trade, increased marginally by 1.3 percent.
In two years, total sales of books have increased by 15.5 percent in 2020 and 2021. This increase corresponds to an increase in kronor of approximately SEK 685 million.
Printed books sell
For the printed book, the pandemic has been favorable at the same time as the number of streams in the digital subscription services has continued to increase.
Sales of printed books increased by 4.0 percent in kronor in 2021 and accounted for about 3/4 of the market.
The books that sold best in 2021 in kronor were Delia Owens' "Where the crayfish sing".
The second best-selling work was Lucinda Riley's "The Missing Sister", followed by David Sundin's "Best in Test: 199 Tests for Home Use".