The injunction to stay at home during the Coronavirus pandemic appears to have prompted many French-speaking Belgians to turn to reading, judging from book sales in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, FWB.
The market for books in the FWB grew by 14.2% in 2021 compared to 2020, the Association of Belgian Publishers, Adeb, reported on Friday. In 2021, the total book market reached €273.3 million, up from €239.4 million in 2020.
These statistics are based on figures provided by the GfK polling institute, supplemented by data on direct sales by Adeb publishers.
Comic books have driven sales upwards, with the market expected to have grown by 33% in 2021 to €62.9 million. "All categories are up, particularly manga, which is up 100%," says Adeb.
The other strong growth sector is that of leisure and practical books, with an increase of 20% in one year (€27.8 million). However, this growth is "insufficient to make up for the losses incurred in 2020," according to Adeb.
General literature is also doing well, with sales up 9% to €54.8 million. Children's literature (+7.5%, €42.2 million), humanities and technical sciences (+8%, €38.8 million) and school books (+8.5%, €23.2 million) also posted growth.
In terms of sales outlets, it was above all the chain stores, specialist superstores and online sales sites that surfed on the success of books, with an increase of 22.7%.
Bookshops kept pace with the market (up 14.4%), while supermarkets were up by just 1.7%. Direct sales by publishers rose by 7.8%, less than the overall market, "probably penalised by cancellations of trade fairs and public meetings."
Sales by French-language publishers in FWB reached €315 million in 2021, up 10.9% on 2020. This was driven by a sharp rise in sales of paper editions (+16.2%), boosted by exports of comics and children's books, and a more modest increase in digital sales (+4.7%).
Rights sales, meanwhile, fell sharply (-33%) compared to 2020, but remain "in line with previous years".
"The upturn, no doubt driven by the Covid crisis and the opening up of bookshops as the only access to culture, does not appear to be sustainable,, "the association commented. "At the end of July 2022, against the backdrop of the economic crisis, the book market was down by -5%, with bookshops down by -10%"
