Commentary: In an age of doom scrolling, Asia’s book market is thriving

In much of Asia, reading is reinforced by education systems, politicians and personal ambition, says Karishma Vaswani for Bloomberg Opinion.

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SINGAPORE: The internet was supposed to kill off books. But across much of Asia, a booming market tells a different story. 

The region doesn’t have a special affinity with reading. Demand is being driven by something more practical: a desire to get ahead. It’s also underpinned by rising literacy, an expanding middle class and the wider adoption of English as a second language.

Textbooks, exam preparation materials and self-help titles are among the bestsellers. Promoted by social media, and in some cases encouraged by political leaders, books aren’t just a pastime – they’re tools for economic advancement.

Other countries struggling with weakening reading levels should take note. In much of Asia, reading is reinforced by education systems, politicians and personal ambition. That helps explain why books have proved more resilient here than in some other parts of the world. 

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Reading doesn’t survive just because people love books – it survives when systems make it necessary.

And while that’s depressing for those of us who read for pleasure, the data show that the strategy is working. Asia-Pacific is now the world’s largest publishing market, generating an estimated US$400 billion to US$420 billion in combined print and digital revenues in 2024, according to fresh figures from the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFRRO).

The region is forecast to expand 8 per cent to 10 per cent annually through 2030, more than double global growth rates. Even as newspapers and magazines decline, books remain resilient, making up about 60 per cent of traditional publishing revenues.

CONTRAST WITH WESTERN MARKETS

The contrast with Western markets is stark. The American publishing industry generated about US$32 billion in revenue in 2023 to 2024, and the United Kingdom roughly US$9 billion. Europe and North America together now represent less than a quarter of global publishing revenues on a comparable basis. 

Literary festivals across India and Southeast Asia are helping to boost interest, while physical books have quietly become status symbols in some circles, even in this digital age.

India is the clearest example of how much potential there still is. The publishing market is estimated at just over US$11 billion, notes IFRRO, and is projected to grow strongly through the end of the decade. The country is also the world’s second-largest market for English-language books, although literature in regional languages and dialects is also flourishing. 

Global hits such as Arundhati Roy’s memoir Mother Mary Comes To Me (recently shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Nonfiction) and Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb Of Sand (which won the 2022 International Booker Prize) show the appetite for Indian literature is strong, even beyond the region. 

China shows how state policy can actively shape reading habits. Its publishing market, estimated at more than US$200 billion, dwarfs others.

The government has made reading a policy priority by introducing regulations to promote it, expanded reading spaces and launched nationwide campaigns. President Xi Jinping wants China to become a cultural powerhouse by 2035. Books are a part of that – even if what people read remains tightly controlled. 

Social media, often blamed for the decline of books in other parts of the world, is helping to amplify the habit. Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, has become a major channel for book discovery and sales, integrating e-commerce directly into its platform. Influencers and livestreamers now promote titles to millions of viewers.

BookTok in countries like Australia, the US and UK often focuses on young adult and genre fiction but those sold on Chinese platforms span a much wider range, including educational titles and self-help works.

NOT THE END OF THE STORY

It’s encouraging that this is happening in large economies like China and in emerging markets with historically strong reading cultures such as India, but this is by no means the end of the story.

Surveys suggest that on average, Asians read fewer books than their counterparts in the West. In fact, India is the only Asian nation that makes it to a top six list of countries that read the most per capita and that statistic likely reflects only the habits of the middle and upper classes.

Embedding reading more firmly in education systems, the way that Asia’s enormous school and university systems have done, could help to generate a steadier demand. Measures such as Xi’s top-down directive, prioritising reading in education policy and viewing digital platforms as partners in the marketing and sales, could also help.

Governments must act to build on the steady progress. Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong set a good example for this year’s World Book Day when he took to social media to talk about how reading had shaped his life. More politicians should follow suit.

Despite remarkable progress, the region is home to around 46 per cent of the world’s illiterate youths and 61 per cent of illiterate adults. Boosting literacy levels, especially in less developed parts where access to books and education remains scandalously low is a priority.

Reading forms critical thinking that helps our societies advance, innovate and, indeed, govern. It remains one of life’s deepest sources of intellectual and personal enrichment, as your columnist can attest. If that habit fades in the next generation, the loss will be felt not just in our culture, but in how all of us think and act.

That would be a bleak ending indeed.

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