French book sales fell 1.6% in 2017

French publishing sales fell in 2017 by 1.6% in value to €2.79 billion (A$4.4bn), according to figures from the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE), reports the Bookseller.

Sales by volume shrank by 1.05% to 430 million, from 434.5 million in 2016. The SNE said the decline was ‘predictable’, partly because 2016 sales were especially strong due to national school curriculum reform that had boosted textbook sales.

Despite the overall sales decline, several areas showed growth. Comic books experienced a 13% increase in sales to €227 million (A$358m), in part due to the release of the 37th book in the ‘Asterix’ series—Asterix et la Transitalique—in the latter part of 2017, while sales of health and wellbeing books were up 9% compared to 2016.

Sales of general literature, which accounts for at least 22% of the market, rose by 2.7% to €602 million (A$950m), while sales of children’s books, representing 12.8% of the market, were down by 6.6% to €340.4 million (A$537.5m).

Ebook sales grew by 9.8% last year, and now represent 7.6% of publishers’ book sales.

Foreign translation rights sales, which accounted for 7.6% of publishers’ net revenues, rose in 2017 by 9% to €137.9 million (A$217.7m).

The French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE) figures are drawn from a sample of 160 publishers out of the association’s total membership of 660, and up to 650 editorial brands.

Category: International news