More than 25 percent of traditional bookshops in Denmark have disappeared since the turn of the century. Even when online book retailers are taken into account, the number has dwindled by 20 percent, Metroxpress reports.
Olaf Winsløv, the head of the Danish booksellers’ association Boghandlerforeningen, told Metroxpress that the development wasn’t an indication that Danes are necessarily buying fewer books, but that the decline of specialist retailers was bad news for less-well-known authors.
“Supermarkets are good at selling Jussi Adler Olsen and other bestsellers,” he said.
“But they don’t introduce their customers to debut authors or ones who maybe sold 1,200 copies of their second book and are now ready with their third.”
Removing VAT unlikely
Winsløv suggests that removing VAT on books, as in Norway and the United Kingdom, or introducing a reduced rate for books would help to reverse the trend.
“In these countries they have a VAT exemption or low VAT rate as a cultural political aid to literature,” he said.
Metroxpress writes that the political will to remove VAT on books is currently lacking at Christiansborg.
