How the second-hand book market is exploding in France

As in Saint-Omer, where Les bouquins d’abord was launched last February, the opening of second-hand bookstores has increased in recent years. Orléans, Le Mans, Mussidan, Béthune, Saint-Julien-Chapteuil, Chemillé-en-Anjou, Nevers… “In Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), there are now at least five or six of us whereas we were the only ones, apart from the market second-hand booksellers, thirty years ago,” underlines Karine Runavot, manager of the historic Bouquinerie du center.

According to a study by the French Society of the Interests of Written Authors (Sofia), 80 million second-hand books were purchased in 2022, a figure which has doubled in ten years, for 351 million euros. Traditional bookstores are even launching “second-hand” sections.

Orléans, Le Mans, Mussidan, Béthune

Forget the image of the somewhat dusty second-hand bookseller. Firstly, books, in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais), the 15,000 references are impeccably arranged on white shelves. It is even difficult to identify at first glance that this Count of Monte CristoThis Lucky Luke or this History of France by towns and villages have already had a first life. “The books are like new,” confirms Mélanie, “in the children’s section. I come twice a month, mainly for my son Elliot, 2 and a half years old, who loves books. It costs me much less than in a traditional bookstore.” Rémi, a comic book lover, agrees. He only buys them second-hand: “A new comic book costs between 15 and 20 euros. Here, I find some in very good condition for 4 to 6 euros.”

As in Saint-Omer, where Books first saw the light of day last February, the opening of second-hand bookstores has increased in recent years. Orléans, Le Mans, Mussidan, Béthune, Saint-Julien-Chapteuil, Chemillé-en-Anjou, Nevers… “In Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), there are now at least five or six of us whereas we were the only ones, apart from the market second-hand booksellers, thirty years ago,” underlines Karine Runavot, manager of the historic Bouquinerie du center. According to a study by the French Society of the Interests of Written Authors (Sofia), 80 million second-hand books were purchased in 2022, a figure which has doubled in ten years, for 351 million euros. Traditional bookstores are even launching “second-hand” sections.

Second hand wins print

Faced with the development of this market, which represents one in five books sold, the National Union of Publishers (SNE) and Emmanuel Macron are campaigning for a tax on second-hand books, targeting in particular online platforms. It would be paid to authors, publishers, and would finance actions of general interest for a sector which must also adapt to the constraints of decarbonization.

Today, according to the SNE, 13% of new works marketed are scrapped, that is to say destroyed. To reduce the environmental impact, publishers are trying to better adjust their print runs. An experiment in renting children’s books has also been carried out since October by three bookstores in Tours, Montreuil and Saint-Dizier in partnership with around ten publishing houses. This good health of the occasion illustrates the new routes that our books are taking.

Ease of buying and selling

In the 21st century, we no longer necessarily keep them in our homes for life, but their status distinguishes them from other consumer objects. It is unthinkable to throw them away, even when emptying a house after a death. We sell them – often for a modest sum – or we place them in the numerous book boxes which have taken up residence in recent years in telephone booths, refrigerators or birdhouses.

Like the clothing, toys and household appliances sectors, the second-hand logic has spread to print. “This is explained by a lesser attachment to the object,” notes Bertrand Legendre, scientific head of the Sofia study, “and also because buying or selling books has become much easier today with the development of Internet platforms.” On a site like Recyclivre, a search engine lets you know if the book is immediately available in its second-hand version, while you can scan a copy to find out the sale price, before shipping it.

Read without breaking the bank

Outside the Internet, anyone who searches a little will find a book box on their way. There are more than 10,000 in our towns where you can deposit a book you no longer want. Because once the book has been read, if you think you will never open it again, why keep it?, asks Nelly, in Castelnau-le-Lez. The Héraultaise only kept around forty novels in her home, in addition to her art books. “Coming to my house, you might think that I’m not a big reader,” she laughs. When in reality I am, but I borrow everything from the book boxes, put them back there or exchange them with friends.” So leave the cultural veneer in your living room.

The ecological approach of not wasting resources is sometimes mentioned. But, as for Rémi, the comic book lover from the North, it is the economic argument that dominates on the buyers’ side. When you read around ten books a month, a paperback for 3 or 4 euros in very good condition, two to three times cheaper than a new one, or even free in a book box, changes the situation.

Even among CSP+, a category over-represented in second-hand bookstores according to the Sofia study. In Saint-Omer, Solène, who took over The game of liars, by Anita Rigins, and Five by Marjy Noname, then crosses the street to browse the shelves of the traditional bookstore. “I read a lot. Once they are finished, I exchange the books with my sisters-in-law or go to the bookstore at the end of my street,” she explains.

The young woman is representative of these readers with multiple and complementary supply channels: second-hand or donation networks also make it possible to find titles that are no longer available otherwise. Another proof of this paradigm shift: buying a second-hand book for a gift is no longer a taboo, booksellers assure. “I’m giving some to my niece,” confirms Mélanie in the Audomaroise capital.

A special value

Apparently more volatile, this new relationship with the book does not exclude the latter from retaining a special place in our hearts. Parting with it because we didn’t like it, because we’ll never read it again, because we don’t have the space to keep it, is also giving it a second chance. “If my relationship to this book is not the appropriate one, that does not call into question its universal capacity to meet its reader,” analyzes Claude Poissenot, sociology researcher at the IUT of Nancy-Charlemagne (Meurthe-et-Moselle), who devoted a study to book boxes.

From their bookstore Le Bibliovore in Tours – now present in around ten cities – Corentin and Valérie Halley are regularly questioned by regulars wanting to know who bought the book deposited a few weeks previously. “A few days ago, two sisters came to sell the library of history books of their recently deceased father. They were happy to give them a second life.” They will continue to write their story in other homes.

The titles that hit

Bestseller on the Recyclivre platform? The stranger, by Albert Camus. In second-hand networks and bookstores, the classics are always popular, like Pierre Loti, Romain Gary, Simone de Beauvoir or Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Thrillers, new romances, works linked to a current television or cinema release are also popular, like all children’s books. Through second-hand networks and book boxes, somewhat forgotten authors also reappear and are absent from the shelves of traditional bookstores (even if they can be ordered): Paul Morand, Anatole France, Guy des Cars, among others.

On the other hand, works on an ephemeral trend, very dated news or even encyclopedia collections from the 1990s have little chance of being bought by your second-hand bookstore and risk gathering dust at the bottom of book boxes.