Merkel memoirs are among the top three most successful books in 2024

This is the book “Freedom” by former Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and her co-author Beate Baumann was the third best-selling book in Germany last year.

The success of the “Memories from 1954 to 2021” have contributed significantly to increasing non-fiction sales by almost eight percent in 2024said the German Book Trade Association in Frankfurt am Main on Thursday. The best-selling hardback book was “Aging” by Elke Heidenreich. “The Calendar Girl” by Sebastian Fitzek followed in second place.

According to the stock exchange association, sales in the book industry last year remained stable. With an increase in sales of all central sales channels of 0.8 percent, the trend continued the number of books sold fell slightly, but the increased prices ensured the small increase in sales. The bookstores recorded two percent fewer sales, but were still able to achieve an increase in sales of 0.9 percent.

Non-fiction achieved the greatest sales growth compared to the previous year with almost eight percent. Fiction also grew noticeably by four percent, which is mainly due to the popular new genres “Young Adult” and “New Adult”. Children’s and young adult books stagnated with a slight increase of 0.5 percent.

There were losses in sales for travel books (minus eight percent) and guidebooks (minus four percent). The stock exchange association took the numbers from the data from the Media Control trading panel.

“The industry continues to feel the effects of general purchasing reluctance and uncertainty, and cost pressure continues unabated with increasing bureaucracy,” commented Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, head of the German Book Trade Association. “Facts, knowledge and inspiring stories are essential tools for understanding and coping with complex and crisis-ridden reality.”