Record year for print book sales in India

Glimpse of TCM (including academic market)

The readers bought almost all categories of books to get them through 2021, whether those books entertained with stories, helped with school or work, facilitated new hobbies, improved the self, distracted with activities, simply comforted with words. India print book market posted another year of growth, across both volume and value.The Total Consumer Market (TCM) of print book sales is up 25.4% by value and 28.4% by volume, comparing CY2021 Vs CY2020. The TCM market in BookScan has tracked volume sales of 38.2m and value sales of INR 12.8bln.The Average Selling Price (ASP) in the TCM has dropped by 2.5% comparing CY2021 vs CY2020. The ASP was INR 314 in CY2021, whereas it was INR 337 in CY2020.

Trade Market (Excluding academic market)

The trade market in 2021 has seen more spending on books than ever before, with total volume reached 26.6m and value at INR 8.3bln.The trade market has grown 27% by volume and the value is up by 23% when compared to CY2021 Vs CY2020.The ASPs were dropped by 3% in CY2021 compared to CY2020.The ASP was INR 314 in CY2021 whereas it was INR 324 in CY2020.

Adult Fiction

The fiction market has rebounded big time in 2021 and achieved its highest volume and value since 2011. Nielsen BookScan has tracked 5.3mln by volume and INR 1.5bln by value. Fiction genre has grown 26.6% by volume and 27% by value comparing CY2021 Vs CY2020. In CY2021, the Fiction genre has contributed 20% by volume and 18% by value in the total trade market. The bestselling frontlist title in CY2021 was “400 Days” by Chetan Bhagat, which has sold more than 66,000 copies worth INR 12mln whereas the overall bestselling title in Fiction category was “Alchemist,” which has sold more than 1,22,000 copies worth INR 28.1mln.

Adult Non-Fiction Trade

Adult Non-Fiction Trade continues to be the biggest genre in the Trade market. It contributed 55% by the volume and 56% by value in the total trade market. Nielsen BookScan has measured 13.8mln by volume and INR 4.7bln by value. The Adult Non-ficiton trade market has grown 21% by volume and 23% by value compared to CY2021 Vs CY2020. The ASP in CY2021 was INR 339 whereas it was INR 344 in CY2020, which is a drop of 1.5%.The bestselling FL title CY2021 was Sadhguru’s title “Karma: A Yogi’s Guide to Crafting Your Destiny” which has sold more than 1,12,000 copies worth INR 24.9mln whereas the overall bestselling Nonfiction trade title in CY2021 was “Ikigai” sold more than 2,28,000 copies worth 75.9mln. The top three sub-genre are “Self Improvement:General”, “Popular Psychology” and “Mind,Body & Spirit: General”.

Children, Young Adult

Children, Young Adult market has shown similar trends like other genres and was gone up 39.5% by volume and 27% by value compared to CY2021 Vs CY2020. Nielsen BookScan has tracked 6.5mln by volume and INR 1.8bln by value.The ASP has gone down maximum in children genre during CY2021 among other genres. The ASP in CY2021 was INR 286 and it was INR 315 in CY2020.The reader’s spending has increased in the five largest categories, “Children’s Fiction”, “Novelty & Activity Books”, “Young Adult Fiction”, “Picture Books” and “Children’s General Non Fiction.”Children Fiction sub-genre has again become the top selling category and contributed 43% in 2021. The best frontlist title in CY2021 was Diary Of Wimpy Kid:Big Shot and it has sold more than 15,000 copies worth INR 6.6mln. The overall bestseller in the children category was Grandma’s Bag of Stories sold more than 97,000 copies worth INR 18.4mln.