Book sales down in 2024

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).