French book sales dipped 1.6% last year

The total value of French publishers’ book sales slipped by 1.61% in value from €2,837m to €2,792m last year, according to newly published figures from the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE).

The number of copies sold also shrank by 1.05% from 434.5 million to 430 million. The decline was expected, partly because of the brisk performance for school textbooks in 2016 as a result of a curriculum reform, the SNE said. Also to blame were the presidential and parliamentary elections between April and June, which encouraged publishers to delay release of promising titles until the rentrée littéraire after the summer holiday and Christmas.

Comic books were the biggest exception. They scored a 13% increase in sales to €227m, buoyed by the release of Asterix et la Transitalique. General literature rose by 2.7% to €602m, maintaining its lead in the French book market with a 22.7% share.

E-book sales rose by 9.8% last year, boosting their share of the book market from 6.79% in 2016 to 7.60%.

Although editorial production rose by a slight 1.1% from 103,534 titles in 2016 to 104,671 last year, publishers were more cautious on print-runs, reducing the number of copies by 7% for new titles and 5% for re-prints. 

Foreign translation rights and co-publications also provided some light relief to the mainly bleak year, with sales rising by 9.4% to represent 7.6% of publishers’ totals. Childrens’ books led the field, and were followed by comic books and fiction. World rights accounted for more than one contract in three. Chinese remained by far the largest market among the principal languages for translations, with English ranking sixth after German, Spanish, Italian and Korean. 

Overall sales have picked up this year, daily newspaper Le Monde quoted SNE president Vincent Montagne as saying. Even May, which is peppered with public holidays and usually drains consumer spending, "restored booksellers’ smiles", he added.

The SNE figures are drawn from a sample of 160 publishers out of the association’s total membership of 660, and some 650 editorial brands.

Its general assembly also re-elected Montagne, who is chairman and c.e.o. of Media Participations, for a fourth two-year term as SNE president. He was the sole candidate.