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Book Culture in Germany
Ever since the invention of Gutenberg's press in the 15th century, the printed book has been an integral part of German culture. With Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible into German in 1534, print took on an unprecedented relevance for the literate in German society. Over the next centuries, oral tradition gradually gave way to the printed word. One major milestone was following publication of some 200 folk tales collected and transcribed by brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1812. Grimms Märchen bridged the gap between spoken and printed cultures and contributed to a sense of common identity in the 300 duchies and kingdoms that comprised the Germanic territories at the time. Until the 19th century, it was this fractured political and economic structure that severely impeded the development of a unified German book culture, as each fiefdom had its own laws, currency, boundaries and dialects, hampering the development of laws protecting copyright and freedom of expression. Germany’s turbulent and divisive 20th century was no help either.
After the Second World War, when Germany was split into East and West,
both countries developed their own book publishing and literary cultures.
The former was characterized by strict political censorship that gave
rise to a thriving underground literary scene; the latter developed along
free-market lines that spawned a diverse and experimental body of work.
High literacy rates in both countries ensured that books were well accepted
as leisure time entertainment on both sides of the Wall. After unification
in 1990, German publishers east and west had to integrate their disparate
publishing industries and find a common way forward.
Today, Germany is home to more than 2,600 publishers. While 30 German publishers post annual sales exceeding 50 million euros, none truly dominates the market. Many small companies also contribute to the astonishing variety of literature available to the public. More than 80,000 titles are published in the German-speaking countries Austria, Switzerland and Germany each year — including more than 60,000 original publications. In fact, more books are published in German each year than in any language save English and Chinese. Popular literature and nonfiction books top the list, followed by children’s books, school books and academic texts. About one in ten books published throughout the world is originally written in German, and more works have been translated into German than into any other language, suggesting a reading public avid for international as well as home-grown literature. The professional organization of the book trade is the German Publishers and Booksellers Association in Frankfurt am Main, which was founded 175 years ago in Leipzig. It brings together 6,774 book-trade operations from all tiers of this industry: from publishing houses and retail booksellers. It is also responsible for organizing the Frankfurt Book Fair, which takes place every year in October. Booksellers German readers have it good. More than 6,000 bookstores furnish them
with literature throughout the country. In any of these bookstores, all
900,000 available titles may be bought off the shelf or ordered. The book
trade in Germany probably has the most modern equipment of any retail
sector. Practically all book shops from Internet giant amazon.de to the
tiny neighborhood bookshop work electronically and have electronic access
to book catalogues. The most important tool of the trade is a book list,
which contains practically every single title available in the German-speaking
area. In addition, book wholesalers in Germany, each stocking more than
300,000 books, can supply bookstores with titles requested by customers
practically overnight. Moreover, ordering books by mail or online is increasingly
popular in Germany.
One unique feature of the German book market is that any given new book will cost the same no matter where in the country you buy it. German book retailers, from the largest chain to the smallest mom and pop store, are prevented from discounting books by a book price fixing law (Buchpreisbindungsgesetz), which has been in place in Germany in some form since 1878. The system is founded on two basic principles: that a book should cost the same wherever it is bought, and that unlike shoes and clothes, the price charged for it should stay the same all year round — that is, discounts are not allowed. Under this arrangement, a publisher usually sets the price of a given book, allowing the bookseller a profit margin of about 30%. According to State Minister for Cultural Affairs Julian Nida-Rümelin, the fixed-price law is the best way to ensure the necessary breadth and variety of books available in Germany. The law provides a strong market for new publications, a swift, reliable distribution system and allows trained personnel to offer expert advice to customers. He says countries that do not have such a law publish markedly fewer books and can support far fewer bookshops and publishers. "A system where there is competition over prices only works for the best-selling books: the rest are seen as 'bad quality,'" says Markus Gerlach, a German expert on book prices. "This argument is quite unacceptable when it comes to a book of poetry or an essay."
Unlike other countries, Germany has no large national library that has existed for centuries. It was not until 1913 that the newly founded Deutsche Bücherei (German Library) in Leipzig brought together all literature written in German under one roof. Although there were two official German libraries while Germany was divided, under the Unification Treaty of August 1990, the two libraries were merged into the Deutsche Bibliothek. This central archive of all writings in German serves the same function as the U.S. Library of Congress. It stocks approximately 14 million volumes. Germany has some 13,500 public libraries, and many cities and communities operate bookmobiles that serve suburban areas and villages. Book groups, virtual salons and city wide reading programs along the lines of those started in the U.S. have gained great popularity in Germany over the past decade. Images from dpa and Frankfurt Book Fair. Links
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