Nearly 500 new novels should arrive on the shelves of French bookstores at the start of the school year. A figure down from the 2021 season, in a context of rising paper prices.

490 new novels will be published by mid-October, i.e. 31 titles fewer than at the start of the 2021 school year. A trend that illustrates the uncertainties of publishers faced with the drop in sales, supply difficulties and the increase raw material costs.
Indeed, the world of publishing is not spared from rising energy costs. But for several months, it is above all the rise in paper prices that has worried publishers. " In thirty years, we had never seen an increase of this magnitude in such a short time. “, explained Guillaume Lejeune, president of Culture Papier – the association which brings together the actors of the graphic sector – to the newspaper Le Monde last July.

Paper shortage: an unprecedented situation

This price increase, mainly linked to severe paper supply tensions, is explained by multiple factors. In its 2021-2022 activity report, the National Publishing Union listed seven:

1. Too rapid a reduction in European graphic paper production capacity leading to an imbalance between supply and demand and causing a generalized shortage;
2. Putting paper deliveries under quotas with non-satisfaction of recurring or one-off needs;
3. Inability to absorb production contingencies (breakdown, strike, weather, etc.) or unforeseen needs (surge in sales, export, etc.);
4. Poorly anticipated stoppage of certain paper productions causing transfers to other papers (which may be subject to quotas);
5. Lack of confirmation of long-term orders;
6. Failure to meet agreed delivery dates;
7. Low inventory in distribution.

Faced with this unprecedented crisis, publishers are forced to adapt: ​​postponement of publication, reduction in paper weight or even adjustment of the editorial offer. It remains to be hoped that the novels of the headliners of the 2022 literary season (Nothomb, Queffélec, Despentes, etc.) will once again attract customers to bookstores and allow the market to recover.