A press release from the Swedish Publishers Association this week reports that for the first time an analysis has been made of Swedish literature exports, and the value of SEK 340 million ($36 million) has been attributed to the sector.
Fiction led the charge both in overall value and in the number of contracts.
Swedish Publishers Association CEO Kristina Ahlinder was unable to say whether the value was up or down compared to previous years as there is no comparable historic data to draw upon.
22 literary agencies, 19 from Sweden, contributed data, which Ahlinder believes to represent 90%-95% of the market.
Fiction led the way with 1,199 contracts valued at SEK 273.7 million ($29 million). Children’s books ranked close behind in the contract stakes, with 1,006 recorded, but the value dropped dramatically, to just SEK 20.7 million ($2.2 million).
Industry journal Boktugg calculates the average children’s deal was worth SEK 40,500 ($4,300), compared to SEK 187.500 ($20,000) for adult fiction.
For non-fiction the numbers were 264 contracts with a total value of SEK 22 million.
Ahlinder said.
In the long term, it would be interesting to get with countries, language areas and more literature categories. Over time, we will also be able to follow different trends.
Via Boktugg.
For context, Sweden has a population of just 10 million.
