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the Germanmarket is around 90,000
tonnes per year.
The cooperation with Salzer
Papier opened the door not only to
the European book paper markets but
also to a whole new kind of operations
method. Paper machine 6 in Schongau
had previously been used for large
orders, but the book business is
different: the print runs are often small.
“In Germany, the first edition of a
book is often only a couple of thousand
copies, whichmeans that we only need
to use two paper reels,” Mayer says.
The first edition is always a
hardback. A large share of the books
on sale are hardbacks; they are a
fairly familiar sight in book shops
in Germany. That is not the case in
Turkey.
People in Turkey read paperbacks
Sales Manager
Mert Ecer
is currently
reading a copy of Andre Agassi’s
biography Open. Like most of the
books printed in Turkey, his copy is a
paperback. “It's because of the high
prices involved. This forces publishers
to publish their books as cheaper
paperbacks,” Ecer says. Only high-
quality books, such as art or coffee table
books, are published as hardbacks.
Printed books are valued highly
and are very popular in Turkey, a
country that is located both in Asia
and in Europe. The number of books
published increases year on year. In
2013, more than 42,600 titles were
published in Turkey, and in 2014
the volume had already increased
to more than 44,600. Ebooks have
not been very popular as of yet.
“We Turks prefer traditional printed
books, because you can flick through
them andmake notes in them,”
Ecer explains.
The future of the printed
book seems promising: Turkey’s
population of 78 million is young and
continuously growing. At the same
time, there are more andmore people
who know how to read and write.
This favourable development has
boosted sales of book paper. Of the
paper grades offered by Ecer, Turkish
publishers favour two grades: UPM
Book creamy 2.0 and 1.8. Both of these
are uncoated natural white papers.
Mert Ecer has successfully
promoted the sale of UPMBook
creamy in the book paper market. The
total sales volume in Turkey is 25,000
tonnes per year. His efforts have been
noted, and he was selected as UPM’s
Europe Paper Sales Business Hunter
of the Year in spring 2015.
The nomination came as a total
surprise to him. A salesperson at
heart, he was naturally pleased with the
title, but he refuses to take all the credit
for the success. “It was the entire team
at UPM’s Turkish sales office that did it.
I’m very happy and proud to be part of
the team,” Ecer says.
Success breeds success, and this is
also true in the world of books. David
Lagercrantz continued to narrate the
lives of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth
Salander so credibly that his Swedish
publisher has already announced that
he will write at least two more sequels.
It is not likely that the good news
will end here, since hardbacks are
always followed by paperback editions.
It is also likely that the novels will be
printed on paper manufactured at
UPMSchongau.
Print proudly holds its ground. The world's
largest and most widely publicised book fair
is held every October in Frankfurt, Germany.
New German editions of Stieg Larsson's
Millennium trilogy have recently been
printed on UPM Book creamy paper.