Also in 2010 the Group confirmed its leadership in the book market with overall revenues for the year of € 413.9 million, compared with €423.1 million in 2009, a fall of 2.2%.
Trade books (fiction, non-fiction, divided between general and children’s) accounted for 72.6% of revenues (71.2% in 2009), educational publishing 19.2% and art, architecture and cultural heritage the remaining 8.2%.
Production in 2010 saw 2,379 new titles (2,449 in 2009) and 5,341 reprints (5,137 in 2009), a total of 51.4 million copies (51.6 million in 2009).
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
| (in €m) | 2010 | 2009 |
| Book sales | 405.8 | 414.3 |
| Other revenues | 8.1 | 8.8 |
|
|
413.9 | 423.1 |
| Operating costs | (345.2) | (341.6) |
| Gross operating profit | 68.7 | 81.5 |
| Amortisation and depreciation | (2.1) | (3.3) |
| Operating profit | 66.6 | 78.2 |
Operating profit was affected by losses suffered by the Random House Mondadori joint venture in markets heavily exposed to the international financial crisis, such as Mexico and Venezuela.
Adjusted to take account of non-recurring items, operating profit for 2010 was in line with that of the previous year.
Despite a fall in overall consumer spending, the trade books segment of the Italian book market grew in 2010 by 1.8%.
In this context the Mondadori Group maintained its leadership with a value market share of 27.1%, markedly ahead of its main competitors, as can be seen from the following tables.
| Publisher | Market share 2010 | Market share 2009 |
|---|---|---|
| Mondadori | 14.3 | 14.5 |
| Einaudi | 5.2 | 5.9 |
| Sperling & Kupfer | 2.1 | 2.4 |
| Piemme | 4.6 | 4.3 |
| Other Mondadori Group companies | 0.9 | 1.3 |
| Total Mondadori Group | 27.1 | 28.4 |
| RCS Group | 11.9 | 12.6 |
| Gems Group | 10.6 | 9.3 |
| Giunti Group | 7.7 | 5.8 |
| Feltrinelli | 5.4 | 4.0 |
It should be noted that the market shares shown refer only to medium-large bookshops and do not include sales through big retail chains.
The following table provides a breakdown of revenues by publisher:
| Books |
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| (in €m) | 2010 | 2009 | % change |
| Mondadori | 132.9 | 140.7 | (5.5%) |
| Einaudi | 48.8 | 49.8 | (2.0%) |
| Sperling & Kupfer | 23.3 | 22.8 | 2.2% |
| Piemme | 46.0 | 43.9 | 4.8% |
| Mondadori Electa | 33.8 | 40.3 | (16.1%) |
| Mondadori Education | 79.8 | 81.7 | (2.3%) |
| Book distribution | 43.4 | 37.8 | 14.8% |
| Other revenues | 5.9 | 6.1 | (3.3%) |
| Total consolidated revenues | 413.9 | 423.1 | (2.2%) |
Edizioni Mondadori
In 2010 Edizioni Mondadori generated revenues of €132.9 million, a fall compared with the previous year of 5.5%.
Of special note in 2010 were the significant response to the novel by Antonio Pennacchi, Canale Mussolini, winner of the 2010 Premio Strega, which achieved sales of 300,000 copies during the year, and also came 2nd in the 2010 Premio Campiello; and the publication, around the world, on 28 September, of the new novel by Ken Follett, La caduta dei giganti, with sales of more than 600,000 copies.
In Italian fiction, special mention should be given to two authors: Alessandro D’Avenia, Bianca come il latte, rossa come il sangue, which sold more than 170,000 copies and Chiara Gamberale, whose novel Le luci nelle case degli altri, published at the end of October, sold 70,000 copies.
Also of note was Alessandro Piperno who, after the success five years ago of Con le peggiori intenzioni, returned with a much anticipated new novel Persecuzione (60,000 copies), the first of a two-volume work entitled Il fuoco amico dei ricordi. Excellent results were also confirmed for authors such as Daria Bignardi, Un karma pesante (with sales of over 110,000 copies) and Mauro Corona, La fine del mondo storto (120,000 copies).
In foreign fiction, of particular note were the sales of John Grisham with Io confesso (200,000 copies), Patricia Cornwell with Il fattore Scarpetta (190,000 copies), Sophie Kinsella with I love mini shopping, the sixth book in the successful romantic saga (180,000 copies), and Madeleine Wickham with La compagna di scuola (80,000 copies). First-time novelist Maria Dueñas with La notte ha cambiato rumore highlighted the great interest in Spanish fiction recently established by the huge success of Carlos Ruiz Zafòn, whose new novel Il palazzo della mezzanotte sold more than 250,000 copies.
Among the new non-fiction titles, the autumn successes of Corrado Augias, with I Segreti del Vaticano (270,000 copies), and Pietro Citati with Leopardi (60,000 copies), were confirmed.
Two established names form the world of Italian journalism, Bruno Vespa and Aldo Cazzullo, celebrated the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy with, respectively, Il Cuore e la spada and Viva l’Italia!
Special mention, with regard to the Strade Blu series, should be made of the excellent results achieved by the Almanacco dell’Unità d’Italia by Carlo Fruttero and Massimo Gramellini, La Patria, bene o male which in a short time reached sales of 100,000 copies, and the success of Nicola Gratteri and Antonio Nicaso with La Malapianta, 90,000 copies.
Other successful titles included Il tempo che vorrei, the latest novel by Fabio Volo, which, two years since its first publication in 2010, sold more than 250,000 copies, taking the total to around 800,000 copies. The comic skills of Luciana Littizzetto, at the top of the Christmas bestsellers list with I dolori del giovane Walter, reached a total of 400,000 copies sold in just over a month, while Impero, the popular history volume by Alberto Angela, sold more than 150,000 copies.
In the paperback sector the Oscar Mondadori titles saw a marked increase in revenues (+9% in sales) thanks above all to the premium price Oscar Granby Bestsellers series, generating more than €25 million (cover price). Stand out events in the period were the publication for the first time as an Oscar Mondadori paperback of two long-awaited titles such as Gomorra by Roberto Saviano and La solitudine dei numeri primi by Paolo Giordano, which achieved combined sales of 500,000 copies in the paperback edition.
Confirming a conservative market trend that rewards the classics and well known authors of children’s books, there was a very good performance by the new paperback series for primary school-aged children, Oscar Junior, with the launch of 35 titles and sales of over 260,000 copies in 2010. There was also an excellent result for David Grossman’s Ruti vuole dormire e altre storie, an illustrated book for very young children.
Giulio Einaudi editore
In 2010 Einaudi generated revenues of €48.8 million, a fall of 2% on the previous year.
Revenues from all channels were slightly down on the previous year, while there was an inversion in the trend in sales of rights for add-on sales initiatives, where there was an increase of 16% on 2009.
Among the different editorial lines, there was a good performance in Italian fiction, thanks also to the success of Michela Murgia at the Premio Campiello with Accabadora, with a rise of 12% and a positive result also in paperbacks, where the increase was of 6.8% compared with 2009.
The titles published in 2010 that proved most successful on the market included: Io e te by Niccolò Ammaniti (over 420,000 copies), La parola contro la camorra by Roberto Saviano (over 93,000 copies), Momenti di trascurabile felicità by Francesco Piccolo (over 97,000 copies), Prima di morire addio by Fred Vargas (over 72,000 copies), I traditori by Giancarlo De Cataldo (over 75,000 copies) and Ogni cosa alla sua stagione by Enzo Bianchi (over 75,000 copies). Among the bestselling titles in the year there was also Accabadora by Michela Murgia, published in 2009, with sales of over 170,000 copies.
Sperling & Kupfer
2010 revenues by Sperling & Kupfer amounted to €23.3 million, an increase of 2.2%.
Among the most successful titles were, in fiction: Mister Gregory by Sveva Casati Modignani, which sold more than 200,000 copies, those linked to the Patty phenomenon (more than 300,000 copies), and the short story collection by Stephen King, Notte buia, niente stelle.
There was continued appreciation for the novels of Danielle Steel and good results for first-time authors Guillaume Musso, Kate Morton and Anne Fortier, in foreign fiction, and the two young adults novels Wings by Aprilynne Pike and Eternità by Rebecca Maizel.
There were excellent results for the Frassinelli imprint with the critical success of the Pulitzer prize-winner Richard Russo, a good performance by Elsa Chabrol with La sposa conveniente, the new novel by Valerio Varesi in the Il commissario Soneri series, the book of poetry (with DVD) by Alda Merini, the extraordinary success of the long seller by Clarissa Pinkola Estès Donne che corrono con i lupi (which has now sold more than 400,000 copies) and excellent performance by Nicholas Sparks’s catalogue titles (no new titles in 2010).
In non-fiction 2010 was an especially brilliant year thanks to three titles in particular: C’era una volta in Italia by Antonio Caprarica, Ho sognato un mondo senza cancro by Franco Mandelli and Notte di stelle by Margherita Hack, all with sales of over 35,000 copies. There was also a good performance by other titles, which allowed the company to gain market share in its segment.
Edizioni Piemme
In 2010 Piemme generated revenues of €46 million, thanks to the combined effect of an excellent performance in non-fiction (+5% on 2009) and religion (+4.7% on 2009), which compensated the marked fall in fiction (-26%, the result of the loss of sales of the latest hardcover by Khaled Hosseini) and paperbacks (-3,3%).
The significant increase in revenues from the Stilton line (+15.3% on 2009) and the launch of the new Paperback Junior series, with the young adult Freeway line, more than made up for the shortfall by Il Battello a Vapore (-11.6%) in the junior segment.
The results of the main titles in the various product lines highlight: in fiction, the new thriller by Michael Connelly, La lista (102,000 copies, the author’s best selling title), Anosh Irani with Destini di vetro (35,000 copies). Another thriller by Dennis Leahne, L’isola della paura, (on which the film Shutter Island by Martin Scorsese was based), which, with sales of 24,000 copies, was the outstanding title in the new Linea Rossa thriller series. In romantic fiction, of particular note was the new book by Sarah Pekkanen, L’amore non è il mio forte (22,000 copies).
The extraordinary success of the year in non-fiction was the current affairs title Terroni (115,000 copies) by Pino Aprile, followed by Il sussurro della montagna proibita by Siba Shakib (34,000 copies) in the series of first-hand witness titles.
The company’s top selling adult title was in the religion segment, Profumo di lavanda by Paolo Brosio (127,000 copies), followed by the surprising I segreti di Medjugorje by Livio Fanzaga and Diego Manetti (28,800 copies).
In paperbacks there were excellent results for the launch of the second book by Khaled Hosseini, Mille splendidi soli (104,000 copies) and other titles, such as Il bambino senza nome by Mark Kurzem (35,000 copies) and Toccami il cuore by Dalila Di Lazzaro (26,700 copies).
The junior sector provided, with the Stilton line, both the big Christmas success of Sesto viaggio nel regno della fantasia (174,000 copies), and premium price titles such as Viaggio nel tempo 3 (109,000 copies) and stories by new protagonists from the world of Stilton such as Il principe di Atlantide (83,000 copies). There were also notable sales for the book celebrating Stilton’s tenth anniversary, Caccia al libro d’oro (52,000 copies).
The Il Battello a Vapore imprint confirmed its success with the GOL! Series, part of the new Freeway line, dedicated to young adults, and books such as Il bacio dell’angelo caduto by Becca Fitzpatrick (17,000 copies) and Il diario di Carrie by Candace Bushnell (16,400 copies).
Art books and exhibition organisation
The revenues of Mondadori Electa in 2010 amounted to €33.8 million, a fall of 16.1% compared with the previous year.
The downturn was felt particularly by the books area, where there was a slump in the bookshop channel, while in the cultural heritage sector the fall was more contained, above all by the loss of a number of concessions with important bookshop revenues, while revenues from exhibition organisation held up. Revenues in the sponsorship segment were unchanged compared with 2009.
Among the different editorial lines in the books sector there was a fall in the sale of Art books, due, in the first instance, to an ongoing decline in orders that began in 2007. There was also a fall in the sale of Architecture books compared with 2009, the result of a slowdown in premium price products, also in the instalments channel.
A poor performance was also recorded in Illustrated books (-28%) despite a series of titles such as Dolomiti by Reinhold Messner, I dieci comandamenti per non far peccato in cucina by Fabio Picchi, and Mafia by Massimo Picozzi, all of which sold very well.
In the Cultural Heritage area revenues amounted to €24.9 million, including the share of revenues from exhibition catalogues, a marked decline (-13.7%) compared with the previous year.
Mondadori Education
In 2010 Mondadori Education generated net revenues of €79.8 million, a shortfall of 2.3% on the previous year.
With a 13.1% market share, Mondadori Education confirmed its position as Italy’s second player.
Primary school adoptions continued to be positive, in line with the previous year, due to the five-year block on new adoptions, which has on the whole been respected. The varied extra-curricular offering allowed the company to achieve good levels of sales.
There was a slight fall in the 1st level secondary school segment, the result of a bigger loss of catalogue courses, offset by better average results for new titles. There were very good results for Grammatica della lingua italiana by Marcello Sensini, the new edition of Geoviaggi and the new history course by Beniamino Stumpo.
In the 2nd level secondary segment there was a slight increase in the company’s market share. The introduction of the reform, which both added and eliminated subjects of study, modified the syllabus for history and other subjects, has seen Mondadori Education confirm and, in some cases, improve, its results in the market segments in which it has traditionally been strong. As a result, sales were very positive in the humanities and there were good results in science and law.
Attention remains closely focused on spending caps, which has resulted in a further fall in cover prices.
The educational market continues to be conditioned by new legislation:
- art. 5, legislative decree 137, 1/9/08, made into law 169, 30/10/08, obliges teachers to keep newly adopted texts for five years in primary schools and six years in secondary schools;
- art. 15, legislative decree 112, 25/6/08, made into law 133, 6/8/08, requires that only online versions of books downloadable from the internet or mixed versions be adopted from the 2011-12 academic year onwards.
It is very difficult to make forecasts regarding the spread of these new technologies in day-to-day education, however there are clear signs of evolution (the introduction of interactive multimedia boards, the interest of teachers in digital and interactive editions of textbooks and the, still sporadic, use of tutoring platforms) that demand that publishers make huge efforts in planning and design to update their offering.
By the end of 2011 Mondadori Education will launch a catalogue digitisation programme that will make it possible to download a considerable number of titles and will also consolidate its already considerable investments in the creation of digital content associated with single works (Libropiuweb).
The reform of the 2nd level secondary school from the beginning of the 2010-11 academic year has resulted in substantial changes to the timetable, the introduction of new subjects, the elimination of others and a change of around 40% in the syllabuses in all subjects. The delayed publication of the guidelines for the new syllabuses, after the date fixed for the definition of textbook adoptions (17 May 2010), in fact left the market with space which the aforementioned reform blocking adoptions should have closed for at least six years.
e-Books
On 7 October 2010, at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Trade Books area launched its e-book catalogue: 1,200 titles, in the epub format, of which 400 were new titles and 800 from the backlist.
At the end of the year the Mondadori e-book catalogue had reached a total of 1,500 titles, including 150 from Harlequin-Mondadori, distributed by the leading Italian e-commerce stores (Bol.it, Feltrinelli.it, Mediaworld.it, Biblet.it, Ibs.it, Bookrepublic.it).
With average prices 40% lower that the printed editions for new titles, and 25% lower for backlist titles, the most successful were La caduta dei giganti by Ken Follett, Io e te by Niccolò Ammaniti and La solitudine dei numeri primi by Paolo Giordano.
In the closing months of 2010 Edizioni Piemme released its first iPad apps through Apple’s iTunes store: a total of 9 apps linked to the Geronimo Stilton character.
Distribution and logistics
Distribution revenues for third-party publishers grew in 2010 by 14.8%.
The main reason for this was the publication of the new book by Giorgio Faletti, Appunti di un venditore di donne, published by Baldini e Castoldi Dalai.
The positive performance of the EL brand, a subsidiary of Giulio Einaudi Editore, continued with an increase in revenues of 12.8%.
The logistics business saw an improvement compared with the previous year in the number of shipments and volumes delivered, respectively of 3.4% and 1.5%.
There was a fall in the delivery cost per copy of 4.3%, thanks to a high level of cost control of the principal warehouse activities.