Apr. 1 – Children’s books Made in Italy continue to revive the glories of Carlo Collodi and Gianni Rodari, gaining more and more support abroad. This was confirmed by the Observatory established by the Young Publishers Group of the Italian Publishers Association (AIE). For the past five years, the Observatory monitors the import / export of book rights, also thanks to an online questionnaire filled out by publishers. In 2014, 2,167 publishing rights were sold, for a + 6.8% growth that is better than the average of the last period (+ 5.2% per year since 2011). In parallel, the rights purchased from other countries slow down, amoungint to 840 in 2014, for a decline of 4.4%. This is a trend that, since 2012, has led to the gradual increase of the gap between import and export, which today amounts to over a thousand titles, all for the benefit of Italian books and authors. A growing number of titles is now “thought” as a book that can have an international outlet. In 2002, only 31.5% were developed within such a framework, today it’s 92.4%. “The reasons for this peculiarity regarding children’s book are simple: in the past 30 years, solid investments were made – in authors, graphic designers, illustrators and marketing rights. All this became more efficient and aggressive, giving due credit to Italian ‘quality’ copy services – commented the head of the AIE Research Office, Giovanni Peresson – Italian children’s books are appreciated in Europe (which represents 63% of total exports), but also in emerging countries such as South Korea, the Balkans, Turkey, Poland, Hungary, and even Africa, which aren’t exactly the first publishers that come to mind. These countries account for between 25% and 30% of exports in the past two years, thanks to a series of targeted missions, meetings, participation in trade fairs and initiatives like that of the Fellowship at the Small Publishing Fair of Rome Più libri più liberi.’ All this was developed by AIE with the Italian Trade Agency.” The AIE-sponsored research also reveals less positive aspects. In fact, despite 36% of book rights have been bought by publishers in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, only 6% of the titles was actually sold in those countries. (Red)
