518 new books published in Malta in 2021

In 2021, a total of 518 new book titles were published in Malta by 53 local active book publishers, with the figure remaining stable on the previous year.

NSO data reveals that this figure remains 18% below the number of new titles released in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

84.7% of the publications were produced by large publishing entities – considered as those with 11 or more ISBNs. English and Maltese were the languages in which most books were published, with 64.2 per cent and 47.2 per cent of publishers publishing titles in these respective languages

In 2021, most publishers have worked with three or less editors and/or authors. Indeed, survey findings showed that 79.2 per cent and 64.2 per cent of them engaged three or less editors and authors respectively

Similarly to the previous two years in this time series, the largest share of revenue from local books sold last year was generated from trade publishing (68.1 per cent). Books in the trade publishing category are those books that are not intended for teaching in schools and educational institutions.

Moreover, the largest share of revenue was generated from printed books. In this regard, revenue from the sale of printed books stood at 86.1 per cent, while that from digital books amounted to 13.9 Last year, the easing of the pandemic restrictions resulted in a relative increase in revenue generated from in-store shopping. Accordingly, revenue from brick-and-mortar sales climbed from 59.5 per cent to 67.9 per cent year-on-year.

In 2021, the total revenue generated from sales and licenses of trade and educational books was estimated at €3.6 million, an increase of 4.9 per cent when compared to 2020.