French publishers support independent booksellers

An article by Barbara Casassus in the The Bookseller this month is below.

Bookshops in France and continental Europe generally are a different experience to what you get here.   Most have a very good range of stock where you can spend a long time browsing and, when a traveller concerned about the weight of your luggage, you need to exercise real self discipline not to come away laden!  Even the chains such as Fnac are a much better experience than the likes of Whitcoulls and Paper Plus are in NZ.  In general, if you want to find a good range of books with staff that are as interested in books as you are, in NZ you need to go to an independent bookseller.  That doesn't mean that all independents are good though, some are run by people who should be running a Paper Plus instead, but are either unwilling or unable to pay the sizeable upfront franchise fee -- they usually don't stay in business long.

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Two French publishers have launched a public call to arms to defend independent booksellers, which continue to suffer from financial decline in the country.
Le Seuil c.e.o. Oliver Bétourné wrote in Le Monde last week that indie booksellers should be granted a bigger share of book trade margins, as they have come under more pressure than other players in the 30 years since the Lang law, establishing fixed book prices, was passed.
Bétourné proposed discussing a three-point plan which would increase booksellers’ margins in the general sales terms, cut costs and increase partnership contracts, he said. The partnership idea is for booksellers to promote young and unknown writers, stock a significant share of an editor’s backlist and agree on new terms for returns, all in exchange for a deeper discount. Le Seuil is owned by La Martinière.
The other publisher to take up the booksellers’ cause publicly is Stock c.e.o. Jean-Marc Roberts, who wrote in the French trade weekly Livres Hebdo arguing online book sales should remain in the hands of bricks and mortar shops. They will always have the edge on know-how and competence, and without the 20% of sales derived from bestsellers, might not survive, Roberts said. Stock is a subsidiary of Hachette Livre.
A study conducted by Xerfi and presented at a national booksellers meeting in Lyon last May showed that independent outlets’ turnover fell 5.4% between 2003 and 2010, with annual drops of 2.5% in 2009 and 3% in 2010. That was despite a relatively buoyant book market thanks to online retailers, cultural product chains, supermarkets and the budding e-book sector. At the same time, independents’ operating costs rose by 2% to 3% a year, while their gross operating profit plunged by two-thirds to 1.1% in seven years.
Separately, Alexandre Bompard, recently appointed c.e.o of the Fnac chain of cultural product stores, gave a combative speech last week about e-books and e-commerce. Although digitisation offers a great opportunity, French players “must act responsibly” to prevent American giants from monopolising the e-book market here, he said.
He added that Amazon accounted for 60% of print book sales in France last year and that Fnac would launch its second e-book reader before the end of this year.