France's publishers saw 2% print drop in 2020, says SNE

French publishers’ print book sales probably dropped by only 2% in 2020 when compated to the year before, according to preliminary figures provided by Vincent Montagne, president of the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE).

This represents “a surprising stability”, he told an online audience for the SNE’s traditional New Year event this month, and “is encouraging for 2021”. The gathering usually comprises speeches followed by a champagne reception, but this year was moved online because of the coronavirus crisis.

Noting that foreign rights sales had fallen due to postponed publishing programmes abroad, Montagne said that comic books were the big success in France last year, with a 6% year-on-year sales increase. Juvenile educational books followed with a rise of 4%, while tourism books were the big loser, with a sales drop of 40%.

On other issues, Montagne said he was confident that the Paris book fair, Livre Paris, would be held physically at the end of May instead of in its traditional March slot; that the long-awaited book sales tracker mechanism would start operating in France in 2022; and that a fund would be created in 2021 to pay authors whose publishers had folded.

A survey by the Odoxa polling agency showed that a third of French people read more during the first lockdown in the spring, the second one in the autumn, or both, Montagne added.

For the immediate future, despite speculation to the contrary, he “could not imagine” the government would opt for a third lockdown and once again label books as non-essential items.

In a televised press conference last week, French Prime Minister Jean Castex did not rule out further measures, if necessary, to combat the new British and South African variants of the coronavirus. But he implied that the government is unlikely to order another lockdown, unless the current curfews prove to be ineffective.