About Börsenblatt

Börsenblatt

The Börsenblatt — "Wochenmagazin für den Deutschen Buchhandel" (weekly magazine for the German book trade) — is the book industry's newspaper, the association organ of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, published in Frankfurt am Main by the MVB GmbH. Founded on January 3, 1834, it is the magazine with the highest number of advertisements and circulation in the German book trade: 7,000 copies weekly (IVW). For nearly two centuries, the Börsenblatt has informed the professional audience — and private readers — about the book market's news: the publishers, the bookstores, the titles, the trends. Since January 2013, it appears in weekly alternation as the "Börsenblatt Magazin" and the "Börsenblatt Spezial."

Overview

The journal serves the book trade's professionals: the publishers, the booksellers, the agents, the wholesalers, and the industry's service providers. The editorial program covers the book market's full agenda: the industry news (the mergers, the personnel, the strategies), the title business (the new releases, the bestsellers), the bookstore practice (the marketing, the events, the digitalization), and the policy (the fixed book price, the copyright, the cultural policy). The weekly rhythm — the Thursday issue — structures the trade's week: the news, the lists, the debates.

The bestseller lists — the Börsenblatt's public face — include the audiobook best list, the non-fiction best list, the fiction and non-fiction bestseller lists, and since spring 2018 the independent charts of the smaller, independent publishers' titles. The "Börsenblatt Magazin" — the general trade journal — and the "Börsenblatt Spezial" — highlighting the trends within the various product groups — alternate weekly: the magazine for the overview, the special for the depth. The homepage — the current industry reports — carries the daily news between the weekly issues.

History

The January 3, 1834 founding — nine years after the Börsenverein's own 1825 founding — made the Börsenblatt the book trade's organ from the start: the "Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel" (until 2002), the trade exchange newspaper. The 19th century — the German book trade's golden age, Leipzig as the book city — filled the pages: the publishers' announcements, the book fair reports, the trade's self-organization. The journal appeared once a week, later twice a week, and even daily for many years: the trade's daily newspaper in the book cities.

The fixed book price — the trade's defining institution — deserves its telling. The Buchpreisbindung — the law fixing the retail prices of books — protects the book trade's diversity: the small bookstores surviving against the discounters, the publishers investing in the risky titles, the readers finding the full range. The Börsenblatt's policy coverage — the price law's defenses, the European challenges, the digital extensions — carries the trade's existential debate: the fixed price as the cultural policy's instrument. The 1834 founding's world — the hand presses, the Leipzig book city, the trade's self-organization — contrasts the digital present: the Amazon platform, the e-book lending, the audiobook streaming — yet the journal's mission endures: the book trade informing itself, weekly, since January 3, 1834 — through the Empire, the Republics, the division, and the reunification. The post-war Frankfurt — the book fair's rise, the publishing industry's Wirtschaftswunder — gave the Börsenblatt its modern form: the Buchhändler-Vereinigung (1947) publishing, the MVB (2003, renamed MVB GmbH 2018) continuing. The 2013 relaunch — the Magazin/Spezial alternation — modernized the weekly: the generalist magazine one week, the product-group special the next. The editor-in-chief — Torsten Casimir, previously heading the Rheinische Post's feuilleton — and the general manager — Ronald Schild — carry the journal.

Coverage and Content

The editorial program follows the book market's year. The industry coverage treats the trade's business: the publishers' strategies, the bookstore chains and independents, the mergers and insolvencies, the personnel. The title coverage — the new releases, the bestseller lists — serves the trade's core: the books. The bestseller lists — the journal's market barometer — deserve their detailed telling. The fiction and non-fiction bestseller lists — the weekly rankings of the best-selling titles — move the trade: the publishers' marketing, the bookstores' displays, the readers' choices. The audiobook best list — the spoken books' chart — tracks the audio boom: the streaming, the downloads, the CDs. The non-fiction best list — the Sachbuch's ranking — serves the knowledge market. The independent charts — since spring 2018, the smaller, independent publishers' publications — give the indies their stage: the titles the big lists overlook, the diversity the fixed price protects. The lists' methodology — the sales data from the bookstores — makes them the trade's trusted currency: the publishers, the agents, and the media quoting the Börsenblatt's numbers. The "Börsenblatt Spezial" — the product-group issues — deepens the list journalism: the children's books, the paperbacks, the gift books — each segment's trends, titles, and players. The product-group specials — the "Börsenblatt Spezial" — highlight the trends: the children's books, the fiction, the non-fiction, the paperbacks.

The Börsenverein — the journal's association — deserves its telling. Founded in 1825, the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels is the book trade's umbrella: the publishers, the booksellers, the wholesalers organized — the Frankfurt headquarters, the Leipzig history, the regional associations. The Börsenblatt — the association's organ since 1834 — is the members' newspaper: the trade's internal communication made public. The association's institutions — the Frankfurt Book Fair (the world's largest book fair, the October rights marketplace), the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (the Paulskirche ceremony), the German Book Prize — give the journal its event calendar: the industry's ceremonial year. The MVB — the association's service company — publishes the journal alongside the VLB (the books-in-print directory, the trade's bibliographic backbone), the Buchjournal (the bookstores' customer magazine, licensed to the Groothuis agency from the 2025/26 turn), and the buchhandel.de platform: the trade's infrastructure, print and digital. The digital coverage — the e-books, the audiobooks, the platforms — tracks the transformation: the Amazon challenge, the Tolino alliance, the digital lending. The fair coverage — the Frankfurt and Leipzig book fairs — documents the industry's gatherings: the rights business, the public festivals.

Organization and Ownership

The Börsenblatt is published by the MVB GmbH, Frankfurt am Main — the Marketing- und Verlagsservice des Buchhandels, a subsidiary of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (under the Börsenverein Beteiligungsgesellschaft). The managing director of MVB is Meike Knops (since 2024). The editor-in-chief is Torsten Casimir; the general manager is Ronald Schild. The Buchjournal licensing — the 2025/26 turn — deserves its note. The Buchjournal — the bookstores' customer magazine, started 1985 from the 1978 "Lit" literature journal, quarterly, in some 900 bookstores across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, 100,000-copy print run planned from 2025 with the integrated Kids & Teens section — moved with the 2025/26 turn to a new publishing home: the MVB licensing the title to the Hamburg Groothuis agency (Gesellschaft der Ideen und Passionen), the book-industry specialist. MVB managing director Meike Knops's rationale — the continuous reinvention since 1985, the new business model, the content and visual relaunch, yet the growing challenge of developing the customer magazine alongside the other MVB offerings — made the licensing the right step: the largest chain-independent customer magazine for books in the German-speaking world finding its new home. The Börsenblatt — the trade's newspaper — reported the move: the industry's media landscape reshaping. The ISSN 1611-4280 marks the bibliographic identity.

The business model follows the association-press pattern: the subscriptions (7,000 IVW-audited weekly copies), the advertising (the publishers' title ads — the highest ad volume in the German book trade), and the association's backing. Detailed revenue figures are not publicly confirmed.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital home is boersenblatt.net — the portal carrying the current industry reports, the bestseller lists, and the archive. The MVB's buchhandel.de — the industry platform — integrates the trade's services: the VLB, the shop, the news. The digital strategy follows the B2B logic: the print weekly (Magazin/Spezial alternation) for the deep trade coverage — the industry, the titles, the lists — the portal for the daily reports.

As the book trade's newspaper — founded 1834, the Börsenverein's organ, published by the MVB — the Börsenblatt remains the industry's weekly companion: the news, the lists, and the debates — weekly in print, daily on boersenblatt.net.