Book Sales In Europe Higher

It seems that books sales in Europe have increased during this recession.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/business/worldbusiness/16books.html?_r=1

Is this a cultural difference between the US and Europe?

We best migrate to Europe.

At least some people still read!

Book buyers in Europe are in a slightly stronger position financially compared to Americans in the current recession. A brief calculation based on stock price indices shows this quite clearly. Since the May 2008 peak, indices have dropped by these amounts:

In Europe:
Germany's DAX : -43%
UK's FTSE 100 : -40%

In America:
Dow Jones IA : -44%
S & P 500 : -47%

Those are a good indicator of personal disposable incomes and 'feel good' factors in the economy. I expect other leading indicators, like jobless numbers and house repossessions, would reveal the US to be in deeper negative territory compared to Europe...

Oh goodie - because I sent all my British cousins copies of my book. Hopefully they'll read them, because the postage is ridiculous!

I think it might be that the Europeans cable is lousier than ours, so they have turned in desperation to books. Where is Monty Python when we need it?i

You pay to watch TV in the UK--not a bad idea.

Hey there Alice; it's always good to hear from you. I agree with you on that one.

Richard Stanbery wrote:

I think it might be that the Europeans cable is lousier than ours, so they have turned in desperation to books. Where is Monty Python when we need it?i

Richard, I take this comment as an assumption.
There are no tent cities where I live.
Many firms have gone to a 4-day work week to avoid mass layoffs. Public transportation is good and being used. Food prices have decreased. Everyone has health insurance. People still have money because most have lived without relying on credit cards.
Things are tougher everywhere, but it is all relative. Tough times in one market may appear to be better in another. It all depends on what set of standards one uses to take a measurement.

Books are selling but with reduced prices. In bad times, more people visit the cinema and the movie industry thrives. Reading doesn't diminish in bad times, however how much one will spend is another matter. One finds that people share books with one another. Used books are a hit and the libraries are full. How to function in this environment is what most of us are concerned about. How best to promote and sell our books is an ongoing question. Forums such as this can help with creative ideas.

When we lived in England, we had a TV and dvd player. Our kids lived about a block and a a half away so we went there to watch TV. If we wanted a movie we had our dvd player.

We got mail notice that we were requred to have a TV license. We ignored it as we were not watching TV at our place. We got more notices and dire warnings about what would happen if we did not have a TV license.

Finally, Dave wrote them a nice letter saying we were not lawbreakers--just visitors and watched TV at our kids' house.
We received a warning that they would verify that.

We received notice that elderly people were becoming victims of
official looking thieves who gained access to their homes by posing as officials.

Dave went out running one morning tripped and fell . He was bunged up. That night after dark he came back from the kids' house. I was in the kitchen washing dishes when in came Dave with a "TV Inspector."

I gave the TV Inspector my fiercest look and said, "I know what you are. You are nothing but a thief and you can get out of here right now!"

He was quite surprised and so was I--He was a TV inspector!

Alice,
In the USA, people have cable and pay a fee for that. Without cable, the viewing is limited. I don't know about England, but in Germany everyone who owns a TV pays a monthly viewing fee. That means that there are very few commercials since TV stations have support. There are some TV stations who are self-supporting and they are primarily funded by commercials. One way or another, we all pay for quality viewing.