It is one of the successes of the 2024 literary season, still applauded by critics, still in a good place in bookstores and large cultural stores. But five months after its release, you can find this novel on all used book platforms at a steep discount. “In very good condition”, “like new”, “to offer”, the comments vary, not the price: around 15 euros instead of the 23 mentioned on the back cover. The phenomenon is not new, it has long been the delight of second-hand booksellers and Giberts where fans went to unearth hard-to-find works or detective novels for a few francs. But now “second-hand” is growing at an extremely rapid pace: its share has doubled in ten years according to the GfK panelist and it represents between 8 and 9% in value of book purchases (20% in volume). Sowing, in passing, a wave of panic in the world of publishing.
For a long time, publishers considered the second-hand market marginal. The digital book constituted, according to them, a much more serious danger. Wrongly. “The digital book was not the threat that we predicted. On the other hand, there was a platformization of second-hand books,” notes sociologist Vincent Chabault, who devoted a long investigation to it, The Used Book. Sociology of a business in transition (Lyon University Press). When they finally perceived the threat, publishers were not equipped to assess its scale, neither in volume nor in turnover. A survey published in early 2024 by the Ministry of Culture and Sofiaa joint organization bringing together publishers and authors, suddenly opened their eyes.
Books “like new”
First discovery, the extent of the phenomenon. In 2022, 80 million books were sold second hand, according to GfK, compared to 320 million new ones. Above all – and this is much more worrying for the publishing world – 40 to 50% of offers relate to books presented as “in very good condition” and 20% to books “like new”. Even more serious, books less than a year old can represent up to 9% of offers in certain categories, creating a lower-cost purchasing opportunity between the official release of the large format and its paperback version. From now on, no one doubts it anymore: the opportunity is eating into the income of all the players in the book chain, publishers, authors and booksellers. Particularly in the field of genre literature (detective novel, fantasy or sentimental literature) or Franco-Belgian comics.
Another source of concern: the buyers of used books are the same as those of new works. Depending on the opportunities, their desires and their purchasing power, they decide between one or the other. Proof that the practice is no longer marginal but is now anchored in consumption habits, 52% of heavy readers (more than 20 books per year) bought second-hand books during the past year, according to the latest Ipsos survey on the French and reading. However, among these buyers, those aged 35-49 and higher socio-professional categories are over-represented, while the inactive and students are under-represented. Results which shake up the received idea according to which second-hand books are a vector for the democratization of reading, a privileged access for “non-readers” too intimidated by the solemnity of bookstores or discouraged by the price.
But the real surprise came from another aspect of the investigation. Publishers were convinced that their competitors were online book players, such as Fnac, Amazon or Momox. They had not noticed the emergence of another category of sellers called Leboncoin or Vinted. “People sell off the contents of their rooms, their cupboards, but they also empty their libraries,” notes Arnaud Robert, the general director of Sofia. These platforms, previously more used to selling clothing, household appliances or furniture, have become major players in books. At the end of December, Leboncoin hosted more than 10 million ads for this category alone. And the post-holiday period should help to further increase supply. To obtain the highest possible price, it is better not to delay reselling the gifts you don’t want.
The law on the single price of books weakened
By blurring the boundaries between new and second-hand, these new practices weaken the law on the single price of books. And the response is difficult to imagine. When sites like Amazon and Fnac became marketplaces offering both new and second-hand goods, publishers obtained a change in the law, requiring them to clearly distinguish between offers. But the text had barely entered into force at the end of 2021 when other questions were already being asked. Major cultural brands now offer “interclassing”, that is to say new and second-hand items in the same department. They are few in number and their offer is limited to the stocks brought by customers, but how can we explain to readers the benefit of the single price of the book if the booksellers, who are very prescribers, seem to exempt themselves from it? “Between a book opened once and a new book, the difference is not very great. This contributes to weakening the Lang law which has preserved editorial diversity and points of sale,” notes Bruno Nougayrede, CEO of the Elidia group ( Editions du Rocher…).
Since the publication of the Sofia study, proposals have multiplied to find a solution while the publishing market has stalled in 2024, with growth at best zero, or even negative. With the main objective of capturing a part of the turnover that escapes players in the book sector. Even if he knows the legal obstacles, Bruno Nougayrede suggests, for example, a reflection on the pestle: could not certain books be sold second-hand by publishers rather than being destroyed? Others, like Stéphanie Le Cam, director of the League of Professional Authors, would like us to question the rationale for maintaining a reduced VAT rate on second-hand books.
On the occasion of the last Paris Book Festival in April, Emmanuel Macron said he was in favor of a proposal made by the National Union of Publishers for a tax on second-hand platforms which would be paid to creators, in the same way of that in force in terms of music streaming. But this system faces several obstacles: how can we avoid penalizing solidarity actors who finance themselves by reselling books that they have received as donations? Is it legal to introduce a distinction between actors? How to redistribute without contravening copyright legislation which does not provide for “resale rights” as in contemporary art? And according to what distribution key since not all authors are affected in the same way by second-hand sales?
Once the principle was established, the questions remained numerous. The dissolution then happened, senatorial amendments creating a levy fell with Michel Barnier and his budget. For the moment, the file is stalled and Rachida Dati, confirmed at the Ministry of Culture, has never hidden her doubts about the idea of a tax. Too unpopular. The second-hand market is thriving.
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