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The crisis has also affected the book market. In 2010 the Greek books' market value decreased by 6.7% as compared with 2009 and everything indicates that this trend will worsen. Clearly, the behavior of readers - buyers has been influenced by the economic crisis in Greece. According to the results of the sector poll carried out by ICAP, the total domestic books' market (in value) varied within the period 1999 to 2010 as the average rate of change was -1.38% while in 2010 the decrease was 6.7% as compared to 2009 .

The crisis has had its impact on all areas related to books, and primarily on the publishers. As became evident from the study of BIBLIONET AD, the publishing of new titles continues to decrease. While in the period 2004-2008 it registered an increase at an average annual growth rate of 6.13%, in 2009 the number of new titles published strongly declined, a fact which reflects the direct impact of the economic crisis on the sector since 2009, before the height of the crisis was reached.

With regard to the preferences of buyers-readers, the category "Theoretical Sciences» covers 24.7% of total volume of new titles, followed by the categories "fiction" and "children's books", with 23.8% and 20.1% respectively.

According to the survey, the book industry includes organizations and companies or legal entities from the public sector, which together with the traditional publishers form the books' market. This market is characterized by excessive centralization, keeping in mind that 80% of the publishing companies are concentrated in Athens and another 10% - in Thessaloniki. The main factors affecting demand are the price of books, educational level, the rapid development of technology, the spread of new means, which compete with the book in terms of entertainment and leisure, limitation of the latter, the public costs associated with books and some demographic and linguistic factors.

Regarding the production process in publishing books only few companies are involved in all stages of production (prepress, print and post printing). In addition to printed materials issued at their own expense, vertically integrated companies often provide services to third parties. For some of them the percentage of the activities carried out for third parties (eg printing, graphic design) even exceeds the percentage of activities carried out on their own account.

Finally, in a sample of 30 companies for which economic data had been released for the period 2009-2011, it became clear that the combined assets of the companies in the sample have slightly decreased (1.8%). Their own capital therefore decreased by 3.2% in 2010 as compared to 2009. Total sales of the companies in the sample fell by 8.9% in 2010 as compared to the previous year. Their gross profit decreased by 9.8% and operating results by 76.3%. Finally, their profit before tax decreased by 75.95 percent during the biennium.

At the same time in tune with the tough times, which the country is going through, the Union of Writers is about to celebrate the World Day of Poetry – 21^st of March with music nights and readings of poetry with political themes.

The programme offers:

Wednesday, 21^st March, Bacaro (No.1 "Sofokleos" St. and No. 11 "Aristidou" St.), 20.00: Musical evening "poetry with a compass". Aliki Kayaloglou will read poems by famous poets. Organized jointly by the Writers' Union and the National Book Centre.

Wednesday, 21^st March, the Ethnographic Museum in the town of Kozani (No 9-11 "I. Dragoumi" St., Kozani), 20.00 o’clock: Poetic evening dedicated to the poets Yiannis Varveris and Argyris Hionis, members of the Writers' Union. It is organized jointly by the Society for literature and art of the Kozani area, the literary magazine "Paremvasi" (Intervention), the Municipal Regional Theatre of the city of Kozani, the Forum «National University "George Parakimenos"», "Cooperative bookstore" and the Writers' Union.

Thursday, 22^nd March, Ionian Centre (No. 11 "Lisiu" St., Plaka) 19.30: Within a manifestation of "political-poetic protest", members of the Union of Writers will read poetry with political themes from the times of Homer until today. The evening is dedicated to the poet from the resistance Nikiforos Vretakos, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Friday, 23^rd March, Centre for addiction treatment (No. 24 "Sorvolu" St.) 18.00: The poetesses Marigot Aleksopoulou, Iro Nikopoulou and Athina Papadaki, members of the Writers' Union, will read poems to the young people in the centre.

Friday, 30^th March, the Acropolis Museum (No. 15 "Dionisiou Areopagitou" St.) 19.00: An event dedicated to Sappho and her poetry. Translated poems of Sappho will be read and her works will be presented for which music has been written. This is organized jointly by the Writers' Union and the Acropolis Museum.

The peak of this year's poetic events will be a protest procession under the slogan "A different protest, armed with poetry, against the crisis", which will be held on Wednesday, 21^st March at 12.00 in the centre of Athens with the participation of members of the Union of writers.

World Poetry Day is of Greek origin and was initiated by ​​the poet Mikhail Mithras. In 1998 the Writers' Union carried out his idea and ​​established the Poetry Day, choosing the date for its celebration to be 21^st March, the day of the vernal equinox. In 2001, following a report of the famous Greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos (president of the Writers' Union and Ambassador of Greece in UNESCO at the time) the international organization set 21^st March as World Poetry Day.