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Books and Publishing
At the beginning of the 21st century more than 900,000 deliverable titles are available to the readers of the German-speaking area.
Out of the about 100,000 new publications launched every year on the market by Germany, Austrian and Swiss publishers, approximately 5,000 come from Austrian publishing houses. In a survey conducted by Buchmarketing GmbH Wien in 2000 1,002 domestic publishing houses were counted; the overwhelming majorities are small publishers issuing titles with print editions between 1,000 and 5,000. More than 80% of the Austrian publishers list less then 50 titles. In a listing of the 100 largest publishing houses of the German speaking area, Österreichische Bundesverlag ranks 49th with annual sales of about 32.7 million Euro (status 1999), while the biggest private publisher, Ueberreuter, is placed 64th (sales of about 24 million Euro in 1999). The Austrian total book market registered sales of about 872 million Euros in 2000.Recent date from reading research show that in general entertainment-oriented reading has decreased, while non-fiction boasts significant growth rates.
Book Price Fixing
The previous contractual scheme, according to which publishers in the German-speaking are fixed uniform retail prices binding for booksellers, was replaced by the “Federal Act on Book Price Fixing” (Federal Gazette I No. 45/2000).
The Austrian regulations now stipulate that the retail prices for Austria be fixed by the publishers and the importers and those importers be bound by the prices of the publishers in their state of origin (e.g. Germany). Cross-border electronic trade in books is however exempted from this provision. The Federal Act will at first remain effective until June 30th, 2005, extension for on unlimited duration is new under discussion.
Subsidies for Publishers
A subsidy scheme for publishers publishing high-quality Austrian literature and non-fiction has been in place on the federal level since 1992. The sectors eligible for support include fiction, poetry and essays, books for children and adolescents, as well as non-fiction (contemporary history, cultural history, visual arts, music, architecture and design). Moreover, activities that support the advertising and marketing of these books are subsidized. Currently, about 35 Austrian publishing houses are regularly receiving subsidies under this support scheme for publishers.
This promotion measure has greatly facilitated the publishing of important Austrian books. Moreover, it constituted an essential contribution to the consolidation of the publishing sector in Austria.
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