According to data published by NielsenIQ and GfK Market Intelligence, there will be 23 million buyers of new Books in 2024, a figure down 10% compared to the previous year. Last year, 356 million new books were sold (-3%), or an average of five books per inhabitant. A sale which is also decreasing in the United Kingdom (- 2%), Italy (- 2%), Belgium (- 2.5%) and Switzerland (- 3%), but increasing in Portugal (+ 6 %) and in Spain (+ 6%). In France, new books are at the top of sales with a 78% market share, far ahead of second-hand books (18%) and digital books (4%).
-
2 General literature driven by romance
First segment of the book market in France: general literature (novels and essays) which concerns more than one book in three and which shows an increase of 3%, an increase due in particular to the success of the romance sector.
After a flourishing year 2023, marked by the releases of the latest “Asterix” and “Gaston Lagaffe”, the sale of comics and manga is down 8.7% due to “the absence of renewal and flagship series”. As for children's books, they too were sold less (-4.5%).
-With 603,000 copies sold, “The Maid” was the best-selling book in France in 2024. This first volume in the series of psychological thrillers by American author Freida McFadden has been translated into 40 languages around the world. and sold more than six million copies. In France, the other books in the top 5 for 2024 sales are: “The Midwife of Auschwitz” by Anna Stuart (500,000 sales), “A Wild Animal” by Joël Dicker (425,000), “Angélique » by Guillaume Musso (416,000) and “Houris” (Prix Goncourt 2024) by Kamel Daoud (391 000).
France
Books
