French publishers’ income down 1.3% in 2014

26 June 2015 Books+Publishing

French publishers’ net income fell by 1.3% to €2652m ($A3842m) in 2014—the fourth year running that French publishers have recorded a decline, reports the Bookseller. Book sales dropped by 1.7% to €2517m (A$3645m) in 2014, with literature down 4.5% and children’s books up by 0.6%. Sales of digital books increased by 53.3% to €161.4m (A$234m) in 2014 and account for 6.4% of publishers’ sales. For professional publishers, digital represents more than 50% of turnover, compared to just 2.9% for general trade publishers. The French Publishers Association has blamed the drop in sales on ‘a gloomy picture for school textbooks pending primary and lower secondary school reforms, difficulties for some sales outlets, a rise in sales of secondhand books, and expectations not being met for certain market segments’, according to the Bookseller. The book trade publication Livres Hebdo has described 2015 sales as ‘encouraging’.

Category: International news