Denmark to abolish VAT on books in effort to get more people reading
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/20/denmark-to-abolish-vat-on-books-in-effort-to-get-more-people-readingOpen linkView original on piefed.caSyndicated from the fediverse. Read and engage on the original instance.
View original on piefed.cahttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/20/denmark-to-abolish-vat-on-books-in-effort-to-get-more-people-readingOpen linkView original on piefed.ca
22 replies
Now watch the price not drop
I've been using the soundleaf app with a self-hosted audiobookshelf server and it's been a game changer for accesing books without those insane ebook markups.
For publishers ebooks pay 25% royalties compared to the 50% of print books at bookstores. Sustaining a company on selling items for 25% of $20 is unrealistic. So, I would say you are not the one getting the worse deal.
Books are not massively profitable.
25% of $20 when the cost to the hoster is almost zero...
Why do you think that hosting is the only cost?
I don't, but the other costs, like management, promotion, formatting, etc., are shared by traditional print books.
Typesetting, ISBN registration, image editing (if any), royalty processing, platform specific promotion, and more are not shared.
I'm not saying they should be greedy. I'm saying we shouldn't underestimate the effort of producing and selling an ebook. Most publishers are barely profitable due to how the industry works.
Is VAT the reason why people don't read in Denmark??? Seems odds, TBH.
Eh, dunno about denmark, but Norwegian books are like 3x the price of the same book in German. That's mostly because it's a small market that still needs translation, though. Doubt fiddling with the VAT will make much difference.
But if price was a concern, aren't libraries an option? Buying new books isn't very common, at least not in North America, where our bookstores have all but disappeared.
I'd be surprised if there was a strong or growing market anywhere in the EU.
Yeah, it's not looking good. There are still bookstores, but more and more it feels like a niche thing.
There has been no VAT on books in Norway, including e-books, since 2015. Norway scores very high on books read per capita, about double that of Denmark.
Any european author recommendations? 😳
Joe Abercrombie comes to mind, bri'ish author, writes grimdark fantasy featuring amusingly dark and broken characters.
Reading Best Served Cold right now, finished the first three books last month. They're good but my gods he's obsessed with people's mouths.
Sir Terry Pratchett, the man so funny and insightful, he waa knighted.
On an slight tangent living in Worcester I am looking forward to this!
https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/25384892.worcester-city-art-gallery-display-discworld-artworks/
Jo Nesbø, if you're into crime/police novels.
@agavaa @Sunshine second this
Oh so many!
What are you into? Which country (I am personally partial to Russia, France, Italy)? Translated into English? Classics or recent?
For a nice laugh read Blindboy Boatclubs books, my partner banned the most recent one from the bedroom because I was waking her with my prolonged laughs
The Kalevala is great.
Astrid Lindgren Frans G. Bengtsson, especially Röde Orm Thorbjörn Egner
From the top of my head