Category: Norway

With the “attention economy” the latest buzzword excuse for perceived falling book sales, how is it Scandinavia is seeing both video and book streaming rise simultaneously?

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The rise and rise of audiobook and ebook subscription streaming across the Scandinavian countries has been mentioned here at TNPS so often it hardly needs rehearsing again. But this week the tremendous interest in digital reading in northwest Europe takes on new significance as we learn that video-streaming is still rising in these same countries, Read More …

Is the Frankfurt Book Fair responsible for a 40% drop in Norwegian fiction sales in April?

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Denmark’s publishing industry journal BogMarketed has an interesting take on plummeting fictions sales in Norway. Amid suggestions from some quarters that audiobooks may be to blame for the collapse in fiction sales in Norway last month comes an improbable but not implausible explanation. New figures from the Publishers’ Association show an alarming decrease of 39% Read More …

Norwegian online bookstore wins Finland’s Dragon’s Den variation Polar Bear Pitching with an icy proposition

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Most people reading this will know of the TV series Dragon’s Den, or Shark Tank, or any of thirty localised variations of the show where entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to risk-averse investors. Originating in Japan as Money Tigers, Dragons Den has been reproduced around the globe from Afghanistan to Vietnam, and occasionally publishing opportunities Read More …

Storytel wants to reduce visibility on hot romance and erotica because they are too popular

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Cupido is a Norwegian site dedicated to all things sensual, and now that includes podcasts. This month Cupido is launching what apparently translates as Cupido Handsfree – a great double-entendre if accurate. To mark the event Cupido tells us that 4,500 of Storytel’s 100,000 titles are categorized as “sensual”, referencing a report in the left-wing Norwegian Read More …

Storytel partners with airline and ups its reading game with Ztory buy out. Spotify gets into podcasts. Others discuss digital fatigue

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It sometimes seems like the US book market and the rest of the world are on different planets. “Capitalizing on Book Publishing Trends in 2019” is the title of a free webinair from Book Business later this month. I did think about signing up, but when they wanted my address and telephone number as compulsory Read More …

In case you missed it – The past week on TNPS

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The past seven days on TNPS – here’s what you missed.   Dubai Audio Library “the largest Arabic audio library in the world” Dubai Audio Library “the largest Arabic audio library in the world” Self-published comic book to become Netflix series – Again Self-published comic book to become Netflix series – Again Saudi Arabia’s 4th Read More …

As Norway bucks the Scandinavian trend, preferring print bought offline, TNPS asks: Do the smaller book markets really have anything to fear from Amazon?

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A new report, Art in Numbers, from the Norwegian Cultural Council observes 88% of fiction and 75% of non-fiction is consumed in print via Norway’s high street stores, in stark contrast to neighbouring Sweden where streamed audiobooks and ebooks are the trend. Trine Stensen, CEO of the Norwegian Bookstores Association, explained, That the physical bookstore Read More …

Evidence mounts for an Amazon Sweden launch this year, but no sign publishers need worry yet

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Amazon has been in talks with a number of Swedish logistics companies, including PostNord, as it continues to explore its Scandinavian options. While Amazon has of course not confirmed a date, the expectation seems to be later this year, which is in keeping with speculation I explored here at TNPS back in March: Sweden’s Nextory Read More …

Shortlist of 5 announced for World’s Best New Library

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35 libraries from 19 countries were in the running, but just five have been shortlisted for the annual prize to be acclaimed 2018 Public Library of the Year, awarded to a public library that is either newly built or set up in premises not previously used for library purposes. The jury consists of members of Read More …

Warsaw, Minsk, Bucharest, Bratislava, Lillehammer, St. Petersburg, Dublin, Kiev, Madrid, Lisbon – the European book fair season is under way

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Although we have had significant European book fairs already this year, it is in May that things really step up a gear, as winter is laid to rest, spring has sprung and thoughts turn to a summer of books. May started with the Thessalonika fair in Greece (85,000 visitors) and the Tanpinar festival in Turkey, Read More …

9 out of 10 Norwegians read books. 3 out of 4 buy from physical book stores. 7 out of 10 ebooks read in Norway are English language

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Norwegians are buying more books than two years ago, according to a new survey released this week by the country’s Publishers’ Association and Bookstores Association. Some 74% of the respondents buy from bricks and mortar stores, up 3% on the 2015 figures. But 44% have bought online, up 5%. Audiobooks are of course up too, Read More …

Is Sweden’s Storytel worth more than the entire Norwegian book market?

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That’s the intriguing claim made over at Norway’s trade journal Bok365 this week as it reports Storytel’s market capitalisation has increased by 45% this year. Asserts Bok365: Storytel AB alone now has greater market capitalization than the entire Norwegian book industry. Bok365 puts Storytel’s latest valuation at SEK 5 billion ($602 million), which as Bok365 Read More …

Nordic Council Children’s and YA Literature nominations announced at Bolgna

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At the International Children’s Book Fair in Bologna this week the 12 nominations for the Nordic Council’s Children’s & Young People’s Literature Prize were announced. The winner will pocket DKK 350,000 ($58,000) on October 30th at a special ceremony at the Oslo Opera House. The Nordic Council awards a total of five prizes each year Read More …