Italian books are more and more translated abroad: in the last four years (2014-2018) the number of titles exported grew by +36,5%, while titles imported decreased by -10,7%.
According to the Observatory on import and export of translation rights in 2018 in Italy, run by the Italian Publishers Association (AIE), the internationalization of Italian publishing sector is proceeding successfully: in 2018, the rights of 7.883 titles have been sold abroad (+9% compared to 2017), while 9.358 titles have been acquired (+0,7% compared to 2017).
The study, presented in occasion of Più Libri Più Liberi Book Fair in December 2018 at the event “Perché l’editoria italiana piace sempre di più all’estero?” organized in collaboration with Aldus, showed that this positive trend also applies to small and medium publishers, that in the last year registered an increase both in selling (+7,2 % compared to 2017) and buying rights (+2,7%).
Looking at books genres, Children and YA (39%) and Fiction (25,4%) are those most sold abroad, even if the former decreased by 5.1%, compared to 2017.
Co-editions plays an increasingly important role in the internationalization: in 2018, Italian publishers created 2.095 co-editions in partnerships with foreign colleagues (+86,5% with respect to 2017). Most of co-editions fall into the Children and YA books genre (62,7%), followed by Illustrated books (19%) and non-fiction (15,7 %)
Which are the main countries where Italian titles are exported? Looking at 2014-2018 period, Europe is confirmed as the main marketplace for selling Italian rights (60,4% of titles sold), while Middle East is the marketplace with the highest growth (5,1% of titles sold, equal to +231,1% compared to 2014).
Data provided by AIE Research Department.
The full presentation (in Italian) available on Giornale della Libreria website
