ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ

This chart represents the ten best-selling books in France in 2024, by number of physical copies. The thriller "The Cleaning Lady" by Freida McFadden climbed to the top of the ranking with more than 603,000 copies sold in France in 2024. The book sector in France remains significantly supported by sales of comics and manga. However, it is observed that contemporary novels, regardless of their genre, still occupy a large part of the most significant readings in the absence of major releases for comics or manga. This may have been the case in 2024, unlike in 2023 with the release of a new volume of Asterix.

A slowdown in the literary market that raises questions

However, while the book market in France is doing relatively well with high production, a decline in sales volume can be noted over the past two years (-5.7 percent in 2022 and -3.5 percent in 2023) and a fragile stability in sales value (-3.8 percent in 2022 and +0.9 percent in 2023). Structural problems in the industry that could explain this trend, with a rise in book prices linked to the cost of paper and distribution expenses, might worry professionals in the publishing world. However, they seek to reassure by describing this as a simple return to normal after the explosion of manga sales (-17 percent in volume in 2023) and comic book sales (the second largest editorial segment) during the 2020 and 2021 years. The progressive and continuous growth of the secondhand market (13.8 percent of sales volume in 2023) is another factor in this relative decline for publishing houses and various distributors.

Pass Culture reform, audiobooks: transformations in the sector

While recent economic developments in the sector do not seem to overly worry publishers and distributors, the change in readers' consumption habits could be another matter. Demand for audiobooks and podcasts is increasing year by year (12.5 percent of readers in 2024 listened to at least one physical audiobook), and AI enables various increasingly accessible auditory experiences. Consequently, a new segment is opening up in the French literary industry. Thus, more and more distributors are developing their audiobook access offers (such as Vivlio for Cultura) to compete with GAFAM and other major companies (Apple Books, Google Play Books, or Spotify Audiobooks) to meet the share of French people listening to audiobooks. On the other hand, debates around the Pass Culture to make it benefit live performances more could also affect manga and comic book sales, which have a particularly young audience. The desire expressed by some stakeholders to condition the amount of the Pass Culture on social or territorial criteria may also be a source of concern for specialized distributors.