Publishers are simultaneously taking a small step for booksellers and authors. At a time when Vivendi, the parent company of the holding, is launching its takeover bid for Lagardère – and therefore for Hachette Livre –, Editis has acceded to several recurring requests from booksellers at the beginning of April. None of them will be paid less than 36% of the price of each book sold, from 1er July. The group, led by Michèle Benbunan, has also promised a distribution modernization plan to ensure delivery of each order within twenty-four hours everywhere in France, during 2023.
Finally, Editis has promised to help booksellers strengthen their presence online and on social networks. In addition, Madrigall, the parent company of Gallimard and Flammarion, will also increase the minimum discount for bookstores from 35% to 36%, from 1er June. Guillaume Husson, general delegate of the Union of French bookstores (SLF), welcomes these decisions. The largest bookstores already benefited from these commercial conditions. There, nearly a thousand smaller bookstores, which could receive less than 30% of the price of the book, will be affected by this advance.
What about other publishers? Number one in French publishing, Hachette Livre, known by booksellers for its particularly harsh commercial conditions (sometimes with only 28% discount), has no intention of matching its colleagues. “Hachette does not have to comment on the commercial decisions of its competitors”, according to management. Media-Participations does not intend to move either.
Request for book price increase
After a dazzling year during the health crisis, book sales fell 10% in the first three months of 2022, compared to the same period of 2021. “We are witnessing a return to normal, with a level very slightly higher than the low water level of 2019”, relativizes Mr. Husson. In the book sector, the delivery difficulties of MDS, a subsidiary of Média-Participations, linked to the congestion of the logistics center in Dourdan (Essonne), have seriously handicapped booksellers for several months, but are finally beginning to be resolved.
remain in suspense “the soaring price of paper, which could lead to the cancellation or postponement of certain publications”, predicts Mr. Husson. Greater selectivity in editorial production is one of the wishes of booksellers, who feel overwhelmed by a plethoric supply. With rising inflation, the SLF General Delegate is also asking “an increase in the price of books”.
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