In a country with a population of 68 million, 9 out of 10 French people claim to be active readers and to have read at least one book in the past year – although the national average is an impressive 16 books per year. With 3500 independent bookshops (as many as the UK and US… combined!), laws that regulate the price of books to protect booksellers, and one of the longest and richest literary traditions in the world, France is without a doubt a literary heaven.
The literary market in France today
The book industry in France has remained stable over the past decade. It is true that the most recent statistics show a dip in 2022, when sales decreased by 5.4%. This was due mainly to two reasons: the parliamentary elections, which are known to have a negative impact on book sales (we know how passionate the French are about politics!), and an increase in the second-hand book market, which is, in reality, a positive shift towards responsible consumer behaviour.
Despite these challenges, not to mention the economic downturns that the world has witnessed in recent years, as well as changes in reading habits and the unfolding digital revolution, the solid French market has demonstrated resilience and continues to stand strong as the fifth-largest literary market in the world, selling roughly 500 million books and generating nearly €3 billion in revenue annually. If you’re looking to expand and translate your book into one particular language, why not make it the tongue of Molière?
A world of opportunity
France and the French language have had a strong influence on the intellectual life of the Old Continent, and of the world at large, since the Middle Ages. French has been the language in which some of the world’s most prominent literary works were read, and the prestige of being published in French is still a thing to this day. If you’d like to enter the global literary stage with a bang, having your book professionally translated to French can be your best bet.
Matters of prestige aside, fast forward a few centuries and we can see how the French literary market is becoming an increasingly interesting playground for new and established authors looking to expand into a foreign market and enter the global literary stage: in 2021, 17% of all book sales in France were translated works, and publishers actively search for new literary voices and stories from around the globe to satisfy the sophisticated palate of the French-speaking audience.
Let’s not forget the international presence of French in the 21st century. French publishers actively export books to countries around the world, including nations where French is one of the official languages, like Switzerland, Belgium, and Canada, and former French colonies in Africa and the Caribbean. To support the international expansion of French-language literature, and to the envy of publishers of other nations, the French have the BIEF, an organization founded 150 years ago and headquartered in Paris, which supports publishers to develop internationally.
A vast space with a full palette of genres
The French literary landscape is varied and colourful. Recent surveys have shown that an increased variety of genres is being consumed by French readers, but three big categories stand out from the rest: 74% of readers say that they often read fiction books, 56% regularly consume non-fiction titles, and an impressive 51% of all French readers enjoy a good comic book.
Let’s take a closer look:
The genre of fiction encompasses everything from detective novels, a big favourite in France, to romance, fantasy, and science fiction. This is also the genre that produces most exports to other French-speaking markets – so your romance novel could be the next fiction bestseller in Paris… or in Quebec!
A large proportion of French readers claims to read for pleasure and with the aim to learn something new, so it comes as no surprise that non-fiction titles are widely read, and they include books about self-help, history, DYI, cooking, art, design, music, and more. If the non-fiction manuscript you’ve been working on belongs to one of these or similar categories, it might just become an instant success in the French market.
We’re witnessing a bit of a Golden Age for comic books, manga, and graphic novels across the world, but comics have been venerated in France and Belgium since the early 1900s, where they are seen and appreciated as a form of art. The genre has even been baptized as Le Neuvième Art, or the “ninth art”, bringing it to the same league as music and cinema.
A traditional industry open to change
Despite the fact that France is a nation deeply rooted in tradition, it is also a modern country that embraces modernity and change, and its literary industry follows the same trend. A quarter of French readers surveyed in 2022 said that they had read at least a book in digital format in the past year, and the percentage increased significantly for readers under the age of 35.
This is a very good reason to have your e-book translated into French and then placed in the hands of a professional, high-quality typesetting service such as the one that we at Canary Editors can provide. The digital market is crowded and competition for the readers’ attention is fierce. That’s why you need to ensure that your book is dressed to impress before you knock on the door of the immense (and classy) French market, and we can help you with that. Have a look at our translation and typesetting services.
If you want to explore in more detail the possibility of expanding into the French literary stage, we’ll be happy to accompany you on this exciting journey. Contact us today and book your free 30-minute consultation.
