During its General Assembly, the National Publishing Union revealed the figures for the paper and digital book market (2023-2024).
Please note that to date, no figures on the audiobook market are official. The SNE is also calling on publishers to communicate on this segment of digital audiobooks. The 2022 figures are here
Modest growth
The year 2023 was marked by modest growth in publishers’ turnover, driven by the increase in book prices in a context of persistent inflation.
Here are the highlights:
The total turnover of publishers reached 2,944.7 million euros (M€). This is a growth of 1.2% compared to the previous year. According to publishers, this figure is mainly due to the increase in book prices.
Note that sales by “mail order” including e-commerce represent 9.1% of total sales.
Copyright fees increased by 1.43% compared to 2022. Their amount stands at €521.1 million in 2023, compared to €513.8 million in 2022.
Furthermore, publishing houses saw a 3.4% increase in the number of contracts for the transfer of translation and co-publishing rights compared to 2022.
A drop in volume
On the other hand, the number of copies sold decreased by 1.9%, with a total of 439.7 million copies.
However, if we compare these figures to 2019 (before the pandemic), the book sector remains growing by 4.9% in value and 1.1% in volume.
Fewer books published
Between 2022 and 2023, the number of new releases dropped by 5%, from 38,743 titles to 36,819 titles.
This trend is reflected in publishers’ practices, with a total drop of 18% between 2018 and 2023.
Top 3 Editorial Segments
General literature remains the leading sector in terms of turnover, with €627.8 million.
Comics occupy second place despite a 4.3% drop in value, mainly due to a decline in manga.
The youth sector remains in third position, with a 1.9% increase in value and a turnover of €385.4 million.
The place of the paperback book
Publishers’ revenue from pocket-format books increased from €417.2 million in 2022 to €425.8 million in 2023.
This is an increase of 2.08%, for a total of 114.6 million copies sold (- 2.25% compared to 2022).
Focus on the digital book
In 2023, the global e-book market generated a turnover of 283 million euros (M€). This is a slight decrease of 0.77% compared to 2022.
This trend is mainly observed in the professional and academic publishing segment, which represents the greatest weight.
The turnover of this segment fell by 4.6%. This would be linked to the decision of certain organizations to make their publications available in open data.
Furthermore, the significant growth of digital publishing in the field of literature (+14.5%) is partly explained by the omnipresence of Romance which is gaining more and more followers.
On the other hand, the rest of the general public publishing sector (children’s books, comics, practical works, documents, news, etc.) saw a drop of 1.2%.
Digital school publishing, for its part, is on the rise (+5.8%).
Discover below the distribution of sales by medium.
Digital books represent 10% of publishers’ turnover
In 2023, digital book sales (€283 million) represent 10.1% of publishers’ total book sales turnover (€2,796.3 million).
In the professional and academic segment, digital sales (€185.9 million) constitute 44.5% of the total turnover of publishers’ book sales (€417.6 million).
For example, sales of digital books represent 6% of total sales of literature publishers.
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The full study can be viewed or downloaded below
