Apparently, the French are the least enthusiastic readers of books in Europe, way behind the British who are the most enthusiastic. Britain even publishes more books per year than the US.
Push `B' for Baudelaire; Paris Bookseller Uses Vending Machines
Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The French are among the most frugal Europeans when it comes to buying books, prompting one publisher to install vending machines to lift sales.
Blue-and-yellow cases that offer books are surfacing in some Paris metro stations and the city's Latin Quarter. Paris-based Maxi- Livres put titles such as the works of Charles Baudelaire and Homer to ``My grandmother's 501 tricks and witticisms'' into five machines in Paris.
``We want to put books in everyone's hands,'' said Xavier Chambon, chief executive of Maxi-Livres, which sells 12 million books a year at 143 stores in France and Belgium.
France's book industry has 2.5 billion euros ($3.1 billion) in annual revenue, about half that of the U.K. and less than a third of Germany's 9 billion-euro market, according to the European Commission's 2004 Publishing Market Watch. At 40 euros a year, French per-capita spending on books between 1995 and 2002 was among the lowest of the 15 nations that made up the European Union, the report said.
Independent bookstores account for just 18 percent of France's book sales, according to Centre du Livre, a state agency. Large supermarkets and big retailers sell more than 40 percent of the 425 million books sold every year in France, according to the French Publishers' Association in Paris.
Not everyone is convinced the new vending machines are going to change French book-buying habits or add significantly to sales.
``There isn't a big difference between these vending machines and selling books in a supermarket,'' said Olivier L'Hostis, managing director of France's bookshop union Syndicat de la Librairie Francaise. ``A bookshop is still a place where a reader comes to discover books.''
The Machines
The vending machines, which bear the inscription ``To consume without moderation!'', have mechanical arms that slide up and down to seize books. All books in these machines are priced at 2 euros. Every machine has 25 titles among Maxi-Livres' best-selling books.
One of the five machines is located on Paris's Left Bank, home to the city's universities and some of its biggest book stores. The rest are installed in four subway stations, including Havre Caumartin, near the Paris Opera house, and another at Chatelet-Les Halles, a major metro hub. A new machine is slated to be installed at the Bastille station next month.
``We need to sell 10 books a day from every machine to make them profitable,'' Maxi-Livres' Chambon said. ``Vending machines aren't going to outshine traditional bookshops.''
By December, Maxi-Livres may install as many as 40 new machines in the Paris subway stations and other venues such as hospitals, schools and universities, he said.
`Fast Read'
Consumers buying books at vending machines are likely to look for ``basic goods'' or best-sellers such as Dan Brown's ``Da Vinci Code'' that ``don't need a bookseller's advice,'' Syndicat de la Librairie's L'Hostis said.
``I don't think we are going to sell `Da Vinci Code' in our machines,'' said Maxi-Livres' Chambon. ``It costs more than 6 euros and it's too expensive.''
On a recent day, curious by-passers paused at the vending machine in the Latin Quarter, close to a Maxi-Livres shop.
``At this price, it's all right for a fast read,'' said Paola De Chalonge, 15, as she scanned the titles. Among the books on display, she said she preferred Irene Frain's ``The Cat'' to Baudelaire's ``Les fleurs du mal'' and a French-English dictionary.
Push `B' for Baudelaire; Paris Bookseller Uses Vending Machines
Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The French are among the most frugal Europeans when it comes to buying books, prompting one publisher to install vending machines to lift sales.
Blue-and-yellow cases that offer books are surfacing in some Paris metro stations and the city's Latin Quarter. Paris-based Maxi- Livres put titles such as the works of Charles Baudelaire and Homer to ``My grandmother's 501 tricks and witticisms'' into five machines in Paris.
``We want to put books in everyone's hands,'' said Xavier Chambon, chief executive of Maxi-Livres, which sells 12 million books a year at 143 stores in France and Belgium.
France's book industry has 2.5 billion euros ($3.1 billion) in annual revenue, about half that of the U.K. and less than a third of Germany's 9 billion-euro market, according to the European Commission's 2004 Publishing Market Watch. At 40 euros a year, French per-capita spending on books between 1995 and 2002 was among the lowest of the 15 nations that made up the European Union, the report said.
Independent bookstores account for just 18 percent of France's book sales, according to Centre du Livre, a state agency. Large supermarkets and big retailers sell more than 40 percent of the 425 million books sold every year in France, according to the French Publishers' Association in Paris.
Not everyone is convinced the new vending machines are going to change French book-buying habits or add significantly to sales.
``There isn't a big difference between these vending machines and selling books in a supermarket,'' said Olivier L'Hostis, managing director of France's bookshop union Syndicat de la Librairie Francaise. ``A bookshop is still a place where a reader comes to discover books.''
The Machines
The vending machines, which bear the inscription ``To consume without moderation!'', have mechanical arms that slide up and down to seize books. All books in these machines are priced at 2 euros. Every machine has 25 titles among Maxi-Livres' best-selling books.
One of the five machines is located on Paris's Left Bank, home to the city's universities and some of its biggest book stores. The rest are installed in four subway stations, including Havre Caumartin, near the Paris Opera house, and another at Chatelet-Les Halles, a major metro hub. A new machine is slated to be installed at the Bastille station next month.
``We need to sell 10 books a day from every machine to make them profitable,'' Maxi-Livres' Chambon said. ``Vending machines aren't going to outshine traditional bookshops.''
By December, Maxi-Livres may install as many as 40 new machines in the Paris subway stations and other venues such as hospitals, schools and universities, he said.
`Fast Read'
Consumers buying books at vending machines are likely to look for ``basic goods'' or best-sellers such as Dan Brown's ``Da Vinci Code'' that ``don't need a bookseller's advice,'' Syndicat de la Librairie's L'Hostis said.
``I don't think we are going to sell `Da Vinci Code' in our machines,'' said Maxi-Livres' Chambon. ``It costs more than 6 euros and it's too expensive.''
On a recent day, curious by-passers paused at the vending machine in the Latin Quarter, close to a Maxi-Livres shop.
``At this price, it's all right for a fast read,'' said Paola De Chalonge, 15, as she scanned the titles. Among the books on display, she said she preferred Irene Frain's ``The Cat'' to Baudelaire's ``Les fleurs du mal'' and a French-English dictionary.