Salon success reflects rise

A record number of visitors was recorded for last week's Salon du Livre. A total of 234,000 adults and children attended the 20th French book fair, 5.8% more than in 1999. There was also a 12% increase in the number of schoolchildren attending the fair, bringing the total to 17,000.
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"The number of children interests me, as they are the readers of tomorrow," said Serge Eyrolles, president of Salon organiser the Syndicat National de l'Edition (SNE). School groups of under-12s totalled 14,800 last year and 6,800 in 1998.

The fair also featured Portugal as guest of honour and the Salon's first e-book village. There was standing room only at some of the numerous debates, 140 booksellers from around the world were present, and about 1,800 authors came to sign their books. The Salon's success reflected an improvement in book publishers' performance last year, Mr Eyrolles said. The SNE estimated that turnover rose by 1% after four years of stagnation, although exports dropped by 2% after several years of growth.

Authors, publishers and booksellers took advantage of the Salon to call for the introduction of public lending rights (The Bookseller, 17th March) and to sound the alarm over deepening discounts for bulk sales.

Just before the Salon opened, the SNE and two authors' unions agreed that library borrowers should pay about FF5 (50p) a book and that local authorities should subsidise those who cannot afford it. At the same time, the SNE and the two bookshop unions wrote an open letter urging that the 5% ceiling on discounts on books sold to the general public be extended to libraries, schools and other bulk buyers. These buyers have increased their purchases sharply over the past 20 years, and now represent about 25% of all bookshop sales, the letter said. This has led to discounts of up to 20% and a concentration of business among wholesalers and large specialist retailers, it added. The 5% ceiling is laid down in the 1981 Loi Lang.

The French Culture Ministry held a debate on some of the issues that are due to be discussed at a meeting on books and Europe in Strasbourg in September.

Mr Eyrolles said Germany would be the Salon guest next year, and more space than this year's 400 square metres would be devoted to e-books, software and other electronic products.