Issue 01 · October 2026

THE SULFUR
DISPATCH

A briefing on world publishing, translation and the presses that shape it.

The big picture

A trade under pressure — but not everywhere.

Europe’s publishers saw net revenue fall 1.2% to €24.6 billion in 2025, and, adjusted for inflation, the sector has lost nearly a third of its value since 2007 (Federation of European Publishers, at Frankfurt). Yet Italy’s trade market grew 3.2% in value to €1.03 billion in the first nine months of 2026, with unit sales up 2.6% to 68.4 million (AIE / NielsenIQ BookData), and Germany’s Thalia lifted sales 4.5% to €2.3 billion.

Africa remains the sleeping giant: UNESCO estimates its book industry earned $7 billion in 2023 against a potential of at least $18.5 billion. In Sweden, the publishers’ association told every MP the sector is worth SEK 26 billion and employs 12,300 people.

Frankfurt & the fair circuit

A changing of the guard: Joachim Kaufmann takes over the Frankfurt Book Fair after two decades under Jürgen Boos, and says he will begin by listening (read). On the fringe of the fair, the European innovation platform Chaptrly.eu launched, and a shared Brazilian publishers’ booth made its debut in Hall 3.1.

• São Paulo Biennial: about 760,000 visitors, with exhibitors’ average daily revenue up roughly 57% on the last edition.
• Beijing: 2,835 copyright agreements across 82 countries — but rights trading is giving way to IP licensing, streaming commerce and transmedia.
• Paris Book Market: over 330 international publishers in its fifth year, with a first guest-of-honour programme.
• Guadalajara: Italy, as guest of honour, brings 61 authors and 33 publishers, with a tribute to Umberto Eco.
• New fairs: a new book fair opens the door to Mozambique, and READ Barcelona held its second edition.

AI & ethics

Authors’ groups — the UK Society of Authors, the Authors Guild, the Creators’ Rights Alliance and societies in Australia, Canada and New Zealand — back a global charter for the ethical use of generative AI. It calls for transparency, consent-based systems that respect rightsholders, risk assessments, staff training and disclosure when AI content makes up a material part of a work.

• A Proyecto451 review of 40+ publishers’ AI policies finds two camps: licence the catalogue to AI firms, or keep it in-house to build proprietary tools.
• Quebec’s De Marque partners with ElevenLabs so publishers on its Cantook platform (1.8 million titles) can make audio editions in 90+ languages.
• A Norwegian debut novelist handwrote his entire book to prove it was not written by AI.
• Frankfurt’s programme examined AI’s impact on translation.

Audio, comics & platforms

• YouTube is reportedly exploring an audiobook service, possibly in 2027 (WSJ).
• Spotify launched audiobooks in Norway with 350,000+ titles — without the country’s three largest publishers.
• BookBeat reports nearly 1.3 million paying subscribers in 10 European markets and argues against content exclusivity.
• Storytel opens Storytel Books, a print-book store with subscriber discounts, in Sweden.
• Marvel × WEBTOON launch a subscription comics platform on 16 November, replacing Marvel Unlimited; Crunchyroll Manga expands to 11 more markets.
• Japan: audiobook.jp passes 3.5 million members, becoming the country’s “third book format”.
• South Korea: after the NewToki piracy site was shut down, new paying users of formerly pirated titles rose roughly eightfold (Naver Webtoon).

Business & deals

• Bonnier Books acquired Copenhagen’s Jentas Books (commercial fiction and digital, in nine languages).
• Italy’s Grafica Veneta bought UK printers CPI Books and CPI Antony Rowe, roughly doubling its revenue.
• Japan’s Media Do sold its Firebrand publishing-technology businesses, including NetGalley, to Montreal’s Valsoft for $20 million.
• Bertelsmann is building a print-on-demand service for very short black-and-white runs in Germany, due April 2027.
• Milan’s Morellini launches MR Verlag, a German-language imprint.
• Poland’s Empik opened its 400th store; Madrid’s 80-year-old Pérgamo bookshop must leave its premises.
• Türkiye’s Kibo launches Kibo Index, a retail sales tracker covering 20–25% of the market.

Asia, Latin America & beyond

• China: short-video and livestream platforms accounted for 40.53% of book sales in 2025, and publishers are investing in imprints to build reader loyalty.
• Brazil: PublishNews examines the consignment model — around 50% discounts, paid only after sale — and argues that better data sharing could improve it.
• Closed ecosystems: one PublishNews column blames incompatible retail ecosystems, not technology, for slow ebook and audiobook innovation.

Arabic literature & translation

Saudi platform Samawi has passed 35,000 Arabic titles from 400+ publishers (25,000 print-on-demand, 10,000 ebooks, 1,100 audiobooks). Three translators discuss building readerships for literature translated from Arabic, Greek and Swahili; a new collaborative future is taking shape for Beirut’s Arabic-language book fair; and in Paris, two festivals — Maghreb des Livres and Rive Noir — spotlight African literature.

Policy & freedom to publish

• The IPA backs PRH Grupo Editorial in a freedom-to-publish case in Mexico.
• Belgian book professionals are calling for a zero VAT rate on print books, ebooks and educational materials as a rise from 6% to 9% is proposed.

Prizes

The National Book Awards finalists (25 titles chosen from 1,912 submissions) include Fady Joudah’s Exhibit G in poetry, Abdelrahman ElGendy’s Huna in nonfiction, and Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s Pure Men (tr. Lara Vergnaud) in translated literature. Salman Rushdie receives the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the ceremony on 18 November. Separately, The Women’s Prize Trust and Chanel partner to support emerging US writers.

SULFUR EDITIONS

Publishing house & culture cooperative · Paris. Sources: Publishing Perspectives and the outlets it cites (Livres Hebdo, Boktugg, PublishNews, ActuaLitté, WSJ and others).