Conditions and Survival: Views on the Concentration of Ownership and Vertical Integration in German and Swedish Publishing

Anna-Maria Rimm

doi:10.1007/s12109-014-9353-8

Abstract

This paper compares publishing in two European countries with fixed respective free book prices: Germany and Sweden, when it comes to the phenomenon vertical integration. Concentration of media ownership is a central issue in today’s global publishing industry and large international media groups are consolidating at a fast pace, taking over more and more links in the value chain of books. One of the foremost examples is Amazon—established in Germany and fast expanding in Europe, but not yet present in Sweden. This paper presents a broad overview of the two markets and interviews with several actors in the German and Swedish book trades are analyzed and compared. Amazon’s impact on the respective book markets as well as strategies for independent publishers are discussed. The question whether concentration of media ownership in the book trade affects publishing and distribution of “quality literature” is also raised.

Highlights

A central issue in today’s global book publishing industry concerns concentration of ownership
Does vertical integration affect market developments? Is it a problem? What strategies do independent publishers use in order to survive in a market dominated by a few large publishing groups? How are fixed book prices regarded, which were abandoned in Sweden 40 years ago but still exist in Germany? How is global giant Amazon regarded, which is expanding in Europe at a fast pace?
Publishing groups have to move their positions forward among retailers.’’22 Since this development has been noticeable in Sweden in the last decade, it is more than probable that just like in Germany it is rather an international retailer and distributor—Amazon—that moves its position forward and leads the development to an increasing vertically integrated book market

Summary

Introduction

A central issue in today’s global book publishing industry concerns concentration of ownership. In the book trade many—both large and small publishers and booksellers— believe that vertical integration creates private monopolies, restrains competition and skews prices It is supposedly barring smaller players from reaching out with their products, which by extension leads to bestsellerism, cuts back the range of published books and reduces what many people call ‘‘literary quality.’’ Concentration of ownership in book publishing is important in another central way: vertically integrated publishers have an advantage in terms of the information they have access to by being able to control and collect metadata. Does vertical integration affect market developments? Is it a problem? What strategies do independent publishers use in order to survive in a market dominated by a few large publishing groups? How are fixed book prices regarded, which were abandoned in Sweden 40 years ago but still exist in Germany? How is global giant Amazon regarded, which is expanding in Europe at a fast pace?

Method

Background

Findings

Conclusions