Books are now enjoying their biggest renaissance since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the fifteenth century, says the CEO of Penguin Random House, Markus Dohle.
Unlike many other industries now suffering from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, the book-publishing industry is still growing, Dohle told Frederick Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council, in a March 8 Front Page event.
âCOVID has only accelerated all these trends: more consumer spending, more physical books, more audience around the world, more kidsâ booksâ30 percent [growth] last year in the United Statesâand, of course, the audiobook is still the format of the hour,â Dohle explained.
Why Dohle wants to âchange public perceptionâ of books
Dohle began his career with Bertelsmann, the German media conglomerate that owns Penguin Random House, as a project manager, later supervising printing companies from Colombia to Russia. He was eventually transferred to New York in 2008 to oversee Penguin Random House at a time of great uncertainty in the industry.
âWhen Kindle started [in 2007], everyone was freaking out. Everyone thought, âthis is the end of the literary community as we know it,ââ he said. But Dohle said he chose, in that moment, to grow the company both in digital and in print.
âI made a bet on print, when all the experts were saying printed books would be gone,â he said. âI invested a lot into the print format. We donât care in which format our readers want to read. We want to reach as many readers as possible, so itâs not an âeither-or.ââ
One reason book publishing is doing so well, explained Dohle, is digital fatigueâespecially since the onset of the pandemic.
âPeople are in front of screens all the time,â he said. âThey like printed books. Even kids are not making that leap and wanting to read on a screen.â
Today Dohle supervises some ten thousand worldwide employees, sells books into two hundred countries, and publishes around fifteen thousand new titles annually.
âSo many people said the book business is in trouble, which is actually not true because since the digital transformation of media started twenty years ago, every year, the book business was growing. But in the public eye, the book business was like this old thing that was always in trouble,â Dohle said. âI wanted to change the public perception of books and reading in long form.â
After a bet on print, a gamble on the Obamas
Dohle outlined several reasons for why he believes âthis is the best time in publishingâ since Gutenberg invented the printing press nearly six centuries ago: Consumers stuck at home due to the pandemic are spending more money on books than ever before; global literacy rates and the general population are rising; physical and digital books share a âhealthy co-existenceââphysical books accounted for 80 percent of total distribution in 2020âand audiobooks are expanding. It âgoes back to the tradition of the campfire. Listening to stories is part of our DNA,â said Dohle.
During the pandemic, he said, âwe gained a lot of readers, converted a lot of non-readers into readersâespecially kidsâand we are sure that with a growing population on the planet and increasing literacy, this business is set for more growth going forward.â
In 2019, Dohle took a $65 million gamble on Barack and Michelle Obama, buying global rights to the former president and first ladyâs works in the biggest nonfiction deal in publishing history.
âOf course, I wanted to publish the presidential memoirs. There was not really a plan B for me,â he said, explaining that Michelle Obamaâs Becoming has already sold more than fifteen million copies worldwide.
âThree months ago, we published the first volume of [Barack] Obamaâs A Promised Land and weâve already sold more than seven million copies,â he said. âItâs already the bestselling presidential memoir of all time.â
Dohle called the Obamas âgreat storytellersâ and their books âinstant classics.â Asked if the gamble paid off, he replied: âWe are really in a good place. If we donât make money when we publish the bestselling presidential memoirs of all time, then we are really in trouble.â
Yet 50 percent of the roughly fifteen thousand titles that Penguin Random House publishes each year donât even cover their costs, said Dohle. âWe invest in ideas, and every book is like its own startup. Many of them fail.â
Book publishersâ role in supporting fact and truth
Given the increasing polarization of American politics and the decline in free speech around the worldâas noted in the most recent survey by Freedom HouseâDohle said that âbooks might matter more than ever before.â
âIn a world of social media, snippets of never-ending news cycles, in a world where facts and the truth are not really popular anymore, we as book publishers think our assignment is more important than ever,â he said. âWe believe in facts and the truth, complementing the social discourse with a deep dive, a well-researched discourse on topics.â
As for whether the book bubble will burst once the pandemic is over and people will return to their pre-COVID habits, Dohle said itâs anybodyâs guess.
âThatâs why weâre called âRandom,ââ he quipped. âEverything is random in this business.â
Larry Luxner is a Tel Aviv-based freelance journalist and photographer who covers the Middle East, Eurasia, Africa, and Latin America. Follow him on Twitter @LLuxner.
Further reading
Image: Penguin Random House's Chief Executive Officer Markus Dohle attends German media group Bertelsmann's annual news conference in Berlin, Germany, March 28, 2017. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke