The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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French grow books and sales

27.06.08 Barbara Casassus

French publishers increased their annual book sales by 3.5%, or 2% after inflation, to nearly €3bn in 2007, according to figures released by the French Publishers Association, Syndicat National de l’Edition (SNE).
 
This brought the increase over the five years since 2003 to 14%, compared to a 50% drop for  music discs over the same period. A total of 486 million books were sold in France last year, 3.6% more than in 2006 and a cumulative 14.8% more between 2003 and 2007. The sale of rights came to €131m, or 4% of the total.
 
A total of 75,000 titles were published in 2007, 7.5% more than in 2006. Half were new books, with a rise of 6.3%, and half were reprints, with a rise of 8.7%. The number of copies of new books sold increased by 10.4% overall, new books going up by 5.3% and reprints by 19.6%.
 
Sectors on the increase included children’s books, thanks notably to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, illustrated and practical books, fiction, non-fiction and comic books. Declining were school textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps and atlases.

International Barbara Casassus France