Experts in the field of culture and those involved in the publishing industry consider the price of books to be the most influential factor in determining the state of the book market and believe that the price of books has a direct relationship with the reading per capita index in the country. This analysis, of course, has opponents who have tried to challenge it by comparing the price of books and, for example, the price of pizza and sandwiches, etc., but despite all this, the exponential increase in the price of books in the last few years is not an issue that can be ignored. He ignored the purchase of audiences who generally belong to the middle and lower deciles of the society.
Examining the state of the book market and the upward trend of book prices in the last five-six years and visualizing a graph that divides the space of the cultural economy and moves forward with an increasing slope can provide us with clear analytical parameters. In this context, the latest and most recent analytical statistics published by the Iranian Institute of Books and Literature is “Book Publishing Statistics in December 1400”.
According to the information of this report, the average price of the books published this month was equal to 71 thousand 176 Tomans. It should be noted that this figure is the average price of books in all eleven Dewey groups; And for example, the price of textbooks and practical sciences in this month was equal to 99 thousand 354 Tomans and 88 thousand 556 Tomans, respectively.
Examining the average price of books in December of recent years (1395 to 1400) brings us to a graph that tells the story:
The status of the book market. In the table below, you can see the comparison of the growth percentage of book prices in December of each year compared to the previous year:
The state of the book market, paying attention to the slope of the inflation graph between the years under review, as well as the information in the above table, confirms the increasing growth of inflation in recent years; An incident that, at least in the last two years and under the heavy shadow of Corona, has aligned the majority of experts and critics with the theory of the direct effect of prices on the inflamed conditions of the book market.
A year-by-year review of the book’s statistical information also shows similar results. In the following tables and graphs, the average price of books in the years 1995 to 1999 and the first 10 months of 1400 are compared, and the exponential slope of inflation in them is almost equal to the graphs above.
The state of the book market Another statistical parameter in the study of the publishing economy is to pay attention to the average price of each book page. This figure, of course, is not constant among different publishers, but the annual average review of this index by itself provides significant useful information:
The state of the book market “Inflation” in the mirror of the virtual exhibition
The sales results of the second virtual book exhibition in Tehran, which was held in February this year, and the comparison of the sales statistics of this event with the first edition last year, can be a clear proof of the growth of inflation in the book market.
With the end of the second period of this event, Ali Ramezani, the CEO of Iran Book and Literature Institute; It announced a 33% increase in the amount of sales and a 2.4% decrease in the number of copies sold compared to the previous year. According to the published information, the audience purchased 1,331,530 copies of books worth 852 billion 43 million 791 thousand 607 Rials by referring to the system of the recent exhibition. While in last year’s exhibition, 1 million 364 thousand 565 copies of books worth 640 billion 516 million 690 thousand 984 Rials were bought by book lovers.
Publishing industry on the eve of the new century
Inflation and the increase in the cost of living in recent years have naturally had various factors, which in the field of publishing can be attributed to factors such as the increase in the price of paper as the main input for book production, the increase in printing costs due to the increase in the price of items such as film, zinc, ink, binding, etc. Attributed.
The cultural consumption of a society, despite its special importance in the promotion of public culture, is not considered one of the basic necessities of life, and unfortunately, individuals and households facing economic hardships, first of all; They remove cultural goods from their monthly and annual shopping baskets. This fact makes the field of culture more vulnerable than other fields, and for this reason, the economy of culture always deserves special attention and support.
In recent years, cultural management has tried to help the industries active in this cycle by allocating funds and injecting subsidies in various parts of the publishing cycle and also supporting the purchase of books in the society. Nevertheless, the average book price has almost tripled compared to 5 years ago, and this is while the economic pressures in other areas of livelihood are doubly affecting the book market situation, and reciprocally; The continuation requires double support. Undoubtedly, the realization of plans; Especially by moving towards self-sufficiency in paper production, it can play a significant role in improving the book market at the beginning of the new century.
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