Book sales decline dramatically

Book sales tumbled nearly 11.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to business research group GfK. The deline in sales was largely attributed to the shuttering of mail-order firm ECI and bookselling chain stores Polare, despite many Polare locations reopening under new management. Roughly 7.8 million physical copies of books were sold across the Netherlands. The drop was slightly offset by a 29 percent increase in e-book sales. Electronic copies sold in the country edged over 426,000. Nearly five percent of all books sold in the Netherlands is in an electronic format, the researchers said. Revenue from book sales dipped 10.2 percent to 102 million euros. Top performing genres included guidebooks and theology, up 0.2 and 2.9 percent respectively. Meanwhile, fiction sales took a 14 percent hit in the first quarter of the year. The research firm anticipates a better performance in the market during the second quarter.