French publishing revenue falls amid lower purchasing power, used-book growth, ebook piracy and AI disruption

French book publishing declined in both value and volume in 2025, according to the Syndicat national de l’édition (SNE).

Publishers’ revenue fell by 0.6% in 2025, from Euro 2.90 billion in 2024 to Euro 2.88 billion. The number of copies sold also declined, falling by 1.5% from 426 million in 2024 to 419.6 million in 2025. Publishers’ revenue consisted of Euro 2.75 billion from book sales and Euro 131.4 million from rights income. Book sales declined by less than 1%, while rights income fell by 5%. At the same time, author royalties increased by 4%, reaching Euro 543.8 million, compared with Euro 521.6 million in 2024. Their share of publishers’ revenue also rose from 11% to 12%.

Compared with 2019, the French book market remained 2.8% higher in value, but 3.6% lower in volume. SNE noted that the number of copies sold in 2025 remained below the pre-pandemic level of 435 million.

The decline affected most publishing segments, except for school books, documents, current affairs and essays, and literature. School publishing grew by 8.2%, while literature increased by 4.7% and remained the largest segment by value, with revenue of Euro 694.6 million and a 25% market share. Growth in literature was driven mainly by crime fiction, spy novels, police fiction and thrillers, with SNE also noting the strong performance of books by Freida McFadden. Meanwhile, comics, graphic novels and manga fell by 5%, children’s books by 3%, practical books by 2.6%, and social sciences and humanities by 5.1%.

Science, technical, medical and management books fell by 6.9%, and dictionaries and encyclopaedias dropped by 9.5%. Among several pressures behind these segment trends are inflation and lower purchasing power in pocket books, competition from conversational AI and social media in practical books, and the growing impact of AI and online tools on dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

According to the report, practical books faced competition from conversational AI and social media, particularly in recipes and travel guides. Online tools and the rise of AI further weakened dictionaries and encyclopaedias. Computing books grew by 10.4% in value and 9% in volume, with AI and cybersecurity among the topics in strong growth.

The number of new titles also continued to fall. French publishers released 36,119 new titles in 2025, compared with 36,232 in 2024. Compared with the 2019 peak of 44,660 titles, the number of new releases declined by 19.2%. SNE said this reduction reflected the need to maintain operating margins and publishers’ efforts not to saturate the market. While the number of new titles declined, reprints increased to 70,522 titles in 2025, compared with 69,452 in 2024. Overall, 106,642 titles were published in France, up 1% year on year, with the increase driven by reprints.

Digital publishing generated Euro 275.3 million in 2025, down 1% from 2024, and accounted for 10% of publishers’ book sales. Professional and university publishing made up the largest part of the digital market, with Euro 185.4 million, or 67% of digital revenue.

Despite the domestic decline, exports of French books increased by 6% to Euro 733.6 million. Exports accounted for 20% of French publishing revenue, with francophone countries remaining the main buyers. Imports fell by 4% to Euro 794.5 million, reducing the sector’s trade deficit to Euro 60.9 million.

International rights activity also declined. French publishers concluded 13,517 translation-rights and co-edition contracts in 2025, down 5.2% from 2024. SNE described this as a general decline in global demand for translation rights amid a tense economic and geopolitical context.

The Syndicat national de l’édition is France’s national publishers’ association. It represents French publishing houses and publishes annual statistical reports on the book market, based on data collected from a sample of publishing houses.

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Images: SNE, Les Chiffres de l’édition, 2025–2026