French publishers end five-year sales decline

After five straight years of decline, French book publishers reported sales increases in 2015 of 0.6% to €2.267bn in value and 3.5% to 436.7 million in number of copies, the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE) has reported.

E-book sales accounted for €164m of the total last year, while translation rights rose 2.3% and have bright prospects for the coming months, since France will be guest of honour at the Frankfurt book fair in 2017, said Vincent Montagne, who was re-elected for a third two-year term as SNE president and is chairman and c.e.o. of Media Participations.

The “recovery is good news for (French) publishing, but we must not lower our guard,” he told the annual general meeting. Challenges include the “mirages” of digital and free access and attacks against copyright in France and Europe, he added. The professions of publishing, content production and creation “are called into question.”

New textbooks for the reformed four-year college or lower secondary education curriculum over the next two years are helping boost production for some houses, according to Sylvie Marcé, president of the SNE’s educational publishers committee and c.e.o. of Belin.

One problem facing publishers was that the education ministry did not give them details of the new curriculum until October or November, depending on the subject, which “is extremely late, since the texts had to be with the printers in March” to be ready in time for the new school year in September, she said.

Looking ahead, Antoine Gallimard, chairman and c.e.o. of the group’s holding company Madrigall and SNE vice-president, told The Bookseller that Gallimard’s sales in 2016 should be some 10% higher than in 2015. Strong performers are children’s and literary titles, he said.

Alain Kouck, chairman and c.e.o. of Editis, expects a similar increase in turnover in 2016 to 2015.