While studies are piling up to demonstrate the painful negative effects of health measures on the entire cultural sector, Quebec publishing is experiencing increased sales growth. So much so that the medium speaks very low of “small miracle of the book from here”: 11% increase in sales of books. A nice growth virus, widely propagated by the work of booksellers, virtual or living.
Microphenomenon and happy anomaly: “our monitoring of the Quebec bookstore reveals that sales of the five major categories are doing quite well in times of pandemic, ”writes Christian Reeves, sales and development director at the Société de gestion de la Banque de titres de langue française (BTLF), which produces the Gaspard book sales charts. “Indeed, our panel […] shows this year, at the end of November, an increase of 5.8% ”in money on last year for literature, children’s books, how-to books, comics and biographies. Quebec publishers are doing even better, up 11.2%, where sales by foreign publishers are up 1.2%. Extracurricular notebooks have experienced very significant sales increases, stimulated by the closure of schools and by desperate parents lacking educational tools, says Karine Vachon, general manager of the National Association of Book Publishers (ANEL ). Children’s books have also seen their sales increase.
These figures are all the more surprising given that the year had started badly. The closure of businesses and bookstores caused “sales in free fall of -65% in April 2020 compared to 2019,” continues Mr. Reeves. “At the worst of the crisis, the annual delay in bookstores was around -25% over last year. It’s quite a catch-up that has taken place in the book world. “
The book on TV
The novelties of Kim Thúy, Ricardo, Pierre-Yves McSween or Louise Penny are predictable engines, capable of raising sales upwards. Also added Kukum, by Michel Jean, and Paper cities, by Dominique Fortier, having won respectively the France-Quebec prize and the prestigious Renaudot for the essay, which are a hit in bookstores. And it’s not just because of the laurels harvested, but a lot thanks to television, believes Mr.me Vachon, where the two winners went. “It’s been a long time since we’ve talked so much about books on TV, because there aren’t any other cultural productions. AT Good evening ! or to Everybody talks about it, at Radio-Canada, we heard more authors, talked about more books. The importance of having a literary TV show has been around for a long time. It becomes obvious: we can clearly see the concrete impact. “
A distinct society, Quebec stands out for the edition of Rest of Canada. A recent study by the Association of Canadian Publishers found that nearly half of independent English-speaking publishers in the country expect their sales revenues to decline by at least 40% for 2020; 10% of them expect this drop to reach 60%. Sales of books are not doing so badly in the country. But the competition is fierce, also welcoming books Made in USA. The books of small and medium-sized publishing houses, those which are the breeding grounds for Canadian authors, have not been able to stand out.
Red alert = travel guides in the red
And if we look at the Quebec book with a magnifying glass, subtleties are brewing in the encouraging statistics. “All is not rosy. It depends on the sectors. We know that, this year, fewer titles were published, ”says Karine Vachon. A decline in production that is close to 25%, confirms to the BTLF Christian Reeves. “It means less new products, often because publishers have postponed the production of part of their catalog when the printing houses closed in March”, explains Mme Vachon. Travel guides, we understand why, are selling much, much less well this year, continues the director. The theater too: books are often bought by spectators – and many by students – who have first seen the plays on stage. No shows, less sales. And points of sale such as the small bookstores run by certain theaters have remained closed.
Literary life, that of living literature, is on pause. The effect of stopping book fairs, meetings with authors, school conferences, literary shows, poetry evenings, festivals and other launches is not included in any statistics. Observers consulted by The duty are concerned about a significant loss of parallel income for authors and specialized animators. Some events took place in videoconference version, but often with shortened schedules. And the upheaval of closures last spring could cause delays in copyright and royalty payments. But these data are not counted. So for now, only good news remains.
International sales: slowdown to be expected
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