Published book titles in Iceland 1991–2010 Source: The Icelandic Publishers Association. These figures are based on ICPA Annual Book Registry, counting books that are meant for the public
market. Thus, they do not include all sorts of more specialized material, as well as some books published independently by authors, etc.
800 700 600 500 400 300 200
10
20
09 20
08 20
07 20
06 20
05 20
04 20
03 20
02 20
01 20
00 20
99 19
98 19
97 19
96 19
95 19
94 19
93 19
92 19
19
91
100
As stated before, the majority of Icelandic publishing houses are situated in Reykjavík, or over 90 percent.10 The biggest publishing house by far is Forlagid, which has four imprints – Mál og menning, Vaka-Helgafell, JPV and Idunn. Bjartur/Veröld is the second biggest publisher. Smaller publishing houses with diverse publications include Uppheimar, Opna, Ormstunga, Sögur and Salka. Many more publishers also have their home in the capital, including more specialized publishers of grassroots and non-commercial literature like Nýhil and Ókeibæ(!)kur, visual arts and photography publishers such as Crymogea and Útúrdúr, educational and academic literature such as Námsgagnastofnun and University of Iceland Press, children´s literature such as Æskan, Edda and Unga ástin mín, and so on. Independent publishing is also quite common in Reykjavík. For further information on publishing houses see appendix.
The Icelandic Publishers' Association market is immensely popular and seems to be un affected by the economic crisis, actually it's quite the opposite – attendance reached a record high in 2010, the market has tripled in scale these past five years, and sales have never been higher.
According to Statistics Iceland there are five titles published per every 1.000 Icelanders, while similar statistics for the other Nordic countries are 2 to 2.5 per 1.000 inhabitants. The average print run of fiction is 1.000 copies, which would for example equal a million copies in the USA.
30 mil. €
Turnover in book publishing 2002–2009 Turnover (without VAT) according to VAT-returns. According to exchange rates 7th Jan. 2011. Source: Statistics Iceland
35 mil. €
25 mil. € 20 mil. € 15 mil. € 10 mil. €
108
Reykjavik
UNESCO City of Literature
9 20 0
08 20
07 20
06 20
05 20
20 04
3 20 0
20 02
5 mil. €