Drop in sales and attendance: while the Comédie du livre opened in Montpellier, the first quarter was tough, particularly in Occitanie. Small bookstores, more flexible, withstand the shock better.
After being redeployed in the confined intimacy of Covid, the book market is closing again under the combined stranglehold of the purchasing power crisis and digital technology which is gradually taking over paper. The big brands are not those who suffer the least: the Gibert bookstores have just been placed in receivership, without this impacting the Montpellier store, independent and not affected by the measure.
This is especially the case of Sauramps who worries as the Comedy of the Book opens. The historic Clapas brand, whose shelves are emptying while awaiting a solution from the shareholder, will be absent for the first time during the three days of dedication planned from Friday May 22 in the Peyrou gardens.
The health crisis had revived the sector
“We have no visibility”confides an executive. On April 21, the management published an online petition in order to appeal as widely as possible to the owner of the building it rents, very close to the Comédie, to demand work to bring premises deemed “obsolete” up to standard. The cumulative losses of the brand, already taken over in 2017, would amount to 3.5 million euros.
The health crisis and successive confinements had paradoxically given new color to books in France. A turnover started to rise again until 2023. Then a relapse, confirmed and even accentuated at the start of the year by the international context and the oil shock.
“The big booksellers suffer more because they have more expenses”
“We really have the impression that even when people want a book, it’s not their main concern,” observe Alexandre Syssau, patron of the bookstore de l’Avenir, is Sommières. “It’s obviously linked to the context and this is felt on the average basket and attendance, even on Saturday, market day. On book sales, I would say that we are at minus 15%. We compensate on stationery and library purchases.”
Same feeling for Stéphane Savajols at the Le Papyrus bookstore, in Marvejols: “I think that the big historical booksellers are suffering more because they have more expenses in terms of salaries and rents in the city. We, small independents, are resisting better thanks to the diversification of our activities – stationery, gifts, relay point –. This and customer loyalty limit our decline turnover at 5% in the first quarter while some colleagues who only do books are at 15%.”
The development of second-hand books
The Lozérien peaks “la concurrence très rude d’Amazon” and the explosion of second-hand books: “Associations offer them for sale and the number of second-hand fairs is growing.” For Alexandre Syssau, the phenomenon is also linked to “too many releases (more than 6,000 per month, Editor’s note), which drowns out good books in the crowd. People naturally turn to second-hand products which now concern books that have been out for sometimes less than three months.”
Bestsellers 2025: Virginie Grimaldi and David Foenkinos at the top
Which French authors have sold the most copies in 2025? According to the list revealed by our colleagues from Le Figaro, Virginie Grimaldi comes out on top with 1.3 million books sold, including her latest opus Les Heures Fragiles (Flammarion).
She is ahead of another author, Morgane Moncomble, whose romances (Hugo Roman editions) have sold 900,000 copies. A genre that is a hit with young readers.
David Foenkinos completes the podium (800,000 copies) with his “feel good” novels including the latest opus, Tout le monde loves Clara (Gallimard). Another heavyweight of the French novel, Mélissa da Costa is right on his heels with 750,000 copies sold.
Next come the big names in the French-speaking thriller, led by Franck Thilliez (700,000), led by his latest Noferville, Joël Dicker (625,000) who released Un animal sauvage, Michel Bussi (480,000) with his Shadows of the World and Olivier Norek (450,000). The former policeman delivered a top-notch performance with The Winter Warriors, his first non-police work which evokes the heroic resistance of the Finnish army in 1939 against that of Stalin. Nominated for the Goncourt, he obtained the Renaudot for high school students.
Marie-Bernadette Dupuy (550,000) and Laurent Mauvignier (500,000) complete this top 10. The latter with the Goncourt 2025, La maison vide.
In Occitania, the cumulative turnover of booksellers had already collapsed by 15% in two years (61 million euros compared to 70 in 2023). “We are 3 to 4% above the loss of turnover observed nationally”specifies Marc Bernard, book economy project manager at the Agence unique Occitanie culture, an organization financed by the Region and the Drac and which supports and advises professionals in their installation and their activity.
One of the regions best equipped with booksellers
The number of points of sale (278) has, however, continued to increase slightly in recent months with another dozen creations, notably in Hérault (6) and PO (4), particularly in the rural and peri-urban fabric.
“We observed a wave of creations during and just after the Covid pandemic then it stabilized, précise Marc Bernard. Our region is one of the best equipped with bookstores alongside Brittany and Auvergne. This leaves few white areas.”
According to the economist, the structural crisis currently shaking the book world, against a backdrop of takeovers and concentration of publishers, will favor “a new model of bookstores with few charges and a reduced stock of books to gain flexibility”.
The single price of the book in question?
Some observers point the finger at the single price of books in France which, by overprotecting books and points of sale, would end up worsening the fall in the market. For us, the development of the electronic version would be hampered in particular by a price very close to that of paper during the first year of edition. In the United Kingdom, digital represents a third of the market.
According to some studies, a quarter of French people plan to further reduce their cultural spending in 2025. “Small structures like ours have working capital which allows them to temporarily compensate with cash flowconcludes Alexandre Syssau, in Sommières. We still manage to pay ourselves. But if tourism is not there this summer, the impact will also be felt.”
“The world of publishing is being shaken by a major changeadds Stéphane Savajols, fatalist. We must turn our backs and hope for better days.”
