20 : The Global eBook Market: Current Conditions & Future Projections new relevant impulses from the outside, and a quiet, yet pervasive formation of a market ready to embrace digi- tal, against heavy odds from local tradition and routine. France has become one of the key markets targeted by global players such as Google (by quietly settling its legal confrontations with French publishers and related stakeholders) (Livres Hebdo, June 6, 2012), Amazon (by announcing its new generation of low-cost devices), and Sony (by signing a cooperation agreement with online distributor Chapitre.com). New domestic initiatives have also emerged. In Lyon, retailer Decitre has launched a new TEA “The Ebook Alternative” service. Meanwhile, traditional strong arms such as the omni- present chain of Fnac have produced headlines showing similar trouble in nding their place and strategy— between bricks and mortar and online as well as digi- tal—as is its German peer Thalia, with revenues declining by 1.1 percent to a still lavish €1.77 billion, yet with pro ts going down by some 7.5 percent (buchreport, August 1, 2012). Still, Fnac is way ahead of its direct competitors. But with new entrants and new games to At Editis, the second-largest French house and an arm of Spanish Planeta, the “ebook evangelist” Virginie Clayssen admits that she “feels discouraged or saddened by the schism that exists between traditional publishers and those who work in a digital world and are impatient with the former” (Publishing Perspectives, March 13, 2012), even as she sees France in a fundamentally similar development with regard to digital as Germany (inter- view for this report). Gallimard, France’s third-largest publishing group, which just expanded signi cantly by acquiring Flammarion from Italian RCS, sees “a lot of movement” (comment for this report). But it’s likely that all of these primary observations fall short of the overall story, which is clearly more complex. A survey sponsored by several trade and related organizations (SNE, SGDL, and So a, released in March 2012) showed that only 5 percent of French adults have ever read an ebook (with 2 percent having consumed an entire digital book, and 3 percent having consumed just parts). Many separate indicators point to a serious build up of infrastructure, regulatory and market framing e orts, France Key indicators Values Sources, comments Book market size (p+e, at consumer prices) €4,587 m 2011 Syndicat National de l’Edition (French Publishers’ Association, SNE) Titles published per year (new and successive editions) 81,268 SNE ( gure for 2011) New titles per 1 m inhabitants 1,243 French National Statistics Institute Ebook titles (available from publishers) ca. 100,000 From publishers Publisher revenue share of ebooks ca. 1.8% (estimate) Estimate Key market parameters Fixed book price VAT of 7% on printed books, audio books, and ebooks
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20 : The Global eBook Market: Current Conditions & Future Projections new relevant impulses from the outside, and a quiet, yet pervasive formation of a market ready to embrace digi- tal, against heavy odds from local tradition and routine. France has become one of the key markets targeted by global players such as Google (by quietly settling its legal confrontations with French publishers and related stakeholders) (Livres Hebdo, June 6, 2012), Amazon (by announcing its new generation of low-cost devices), and Sony (by signing a cooperation agreement with online distributor Chapitre.com). New domestic initiatives have also emerged. In Lyon, retailer Decitre has launched a new TEA “The Ebook Alternative” service. Meanwhile, traditional strong arms such as the omni- present chain of Fnac have produced headlines showing similar trouble in nding their place and strategy— between bricks and mortar and online as well as digi- tal—as is its German peer Thalia, with revenues declining by 1.1 percent to a still lavish €1.77 billion, yet with pro ts going down by some 7.5 percent (buchreport, August 1, 2012). Still, Fnac is way ahead of its direct competitors. But with new entrants and new games to At Editis, the second-largest French house and an arm of Spanish Planeta, the “ebook evangelist” Virginie Clayssen admits that she “feels discouraged or saddened by the schism that exists between traditional publishers and those who work in a digital world and are impatient with the former” (Publishing Perspectives, March 13, 2012), even as she sees France in a fundamentally similar development with regard to digital as Germany (inter- view for this report). Gallimard, France’s third-largest publishing group, which just expanded signi cantly by acquiring Flammarion from Italian RCS, sees “a lot of movement” (comment for this report). But it’s likely that all of these primary observations fall short of the overall story, which is clearly more complex. A survey sponsored by several trade and related organizations (SNE, SGDL, and So a, released in March 2012) showed that only 5 percent of French adults have ever read an ebook (with 2 percent having consumed an entire digital book, and 3 percent having consumed just parts). Many separate indicators point to a serious build up of infrastructure, regulatory and market framing e orts, France Key indicators Values Sources, comments Book market size (p+e, at consumer prices) €4,587 m 2011 Syndicat National de l’Edition (French Publishers’ Association, SNE) Titles published per year (new and successive editions) 81,268 SNE ( gure for 2011) New titles per 1 m inhabitants 1,243 French National Statistics Institute Ebook titles (available from publishers) ca. 100,000 From publishers Publisher revenue share of ebooks ca. 1.8% (estimate) Estimate Key market parameters Fixed book price VAT of 7% on printed books, audio books, and ebooks

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