Book publisher sales volume distribution in France 2010-2018, by book genre

This statistic displays a breakdown of book publisher’s sales volume in France from 2010 to 2018, by genre. It shows that the children's literature segment continuously accounted for approximately one fifth of books sold during this time period. In 2018, youth literature amounted to 14 percent of publishers’ revenue.

A surprisingly stable market

It would be incorrect to consider that the emergence of new media such as video games or social networks would have damaged the book industry. As a matter of fact, the revenues recorded by publishing houses have remained relatively stable over the past few years. The same is true for Hachette, one of the most prominent French publishing houses, which recorded profits amounting to 190 million euros in 2018.

The advent of digital reading

In 2019, more than a third of French readers claimed to have read twenty books or more over the past 12 months, five percent of them had done so via an e-book reader. Although still an alternative, digital books have become highly popular among French readers, who quickly adopted the flexibility and adaptability they offered. The value of digital book sales has quadrupled between 2010 and 2017 alone.