After experiencing remarkable growth in recent years, Quebec publishing is stabilizing and renewing with new challenges. Eco-responsibility, increased fees, accessibility, points of sale, the Numbers and Letters series focuses on several of these challenges that the book industry is preparing to meet. Third text.
The paper book remains the favorite book of Quebecers. And it’s in bookstores — old habit, old style — that readers still prefer to buy it. If the evolution of digital books and audio books continues here, we are far behind the United States and, to a lesser extent, behind France. In Quebec, it’s still the volume that we favour: the one with a weight, sheets, surface, textures, the one written by an author we already follow and the one recommended to us by one, two or three friends. Distinct society preference?
70% of Quebecers have read at least one paper book in the last 12 months. 58% of adults bought at least one for the same period. On average, an adult buys three books here a year, for a total of around 20 million books. Book sales in bookstores across the province hit $335 million in 2022.
It’s’Study on online book consumption habits and behaviors which counts and extrapolates this data. Produced by the firm SOM at the request of the Association des Librairies du Québec (ALQ), the figures were shared at the end of May during the 15e Interprofessional Book Day.
One of the particularities of the book, as indicated by Vincent Bouchard, vice-president of marketing at SOM during the presentation of the results, is that it is a “discretionary product”. “It’s easy to ‘cut’ the book if you have to cut your expenses, said Mr. Bouchard at the time. Especially since the book is relatively easy to obtain for free, whether in the library, by borrowing it from a friend or in one of those small wild libraries that have sprung up in cities. Can we predict, with inflation, a significant drop in book sales?
That remains to be seen. In 2022, buyer readers were there. “Nearly two-thirds of print book buyers have mostly opted for in-store purchases over the past 12 months, which confirms that Quebecers are fond of visiting bookstores, which allows them to leaf through and touch books before to buy them,” the study reads.
Among paper book buyers, almost half (44%) go more often to a large chain bookstore. About one in five people (19%) opt for an independent bookstore instead. The gap between the large chains and the independents is much more marked in the Greater Montreal area (50% for the chains; 14% for the independents).
The location of the franchises of the chains probably plays into this difference, the Renaud-Bray group having 65% of its branches in the Montreal region, as the study notes.
The survey also shows that despite the preference for bookstores, Quebecers are buying more online than before the start of the pandemic. “Orders for paper books made online are often made from Amazon [dans 24 % des achats en ligne]we understand that the new habits of Quebecers are negatively affecting bookstore sales, which have been on a downward trend for several years, including the French-language printed format,” we learn in the ALQ study.
The shopping sites of independent bookstores and leslibraires.ca are used for only 7% of these online purchases.
And what do we read?
How do we choose our books? We get attached to the authors. This is the first criterion chosen by the readers surveyed, in 37% of cases. Word of mouth also influences a lot, in 36% of choices. “I see to what extent the book is really a factor of socialization, commented Mr. Bouchard, which makes us reach out to others, “and to what extent the others, when they are readers, can also bring us back to the book.
Then, play the summary on the back of the book, at 30%, even before the critical or media coverage (23%). The effect bestsellers accounts for 14% of choices. Social networks contribute to the selection, in 14% of cases, and among them Facebook and Instagram are the most influential.
What do we read? Detective and spy novels (38%), biographies (29%), imaginary literature – science fiction, fantasy, horror (21%) – and historical novels (19%). Essays are at the very bottom of this food pyramid of the literary genre (5%) and, in this study, poetry and theater do not appear.
We read from here, and we read from elsewhere. Overall, Quebecers buy as many books from Quebec as books from elsewhere. One Quebec adult in five (20%) favors local purchases, and just over half (55%) of them buy at least as many Quebec books as foreign books. Nearly a quarter of respondents (22%) say they only or mainly buy books from elsewhere.
To better understand the importance of “local literary purchases” among readers in Quebec, let’s remember that the size of the offer in bookstores does not carry the same weight. According to the Gaspard report of sales in independent bookstores produced by the Bank of French-language titles, 4,511 new Quebec titles were sold at least one copy in 2022, compared to 32,049 foreign new titles.
Digital book and audiobook
Over the past 12 months, according to the study, 25% of Quebecers have read at least one digital book. And only 15% of readers bought at least one. “So this format has a long way to go before it catches up with the paper format in terms of popularity. »
Audio books still represent a marginal share of the overall consumption of books by Quebecers. 13% of them have listened to at least one audiobook, and 7% have purchased at least one in the past 12 months, according to the data. Audible is the go-to shopping platform for these headphone-players.
Moreover, the current trend shows an impressive growth in the use of free public platforms and in the number of library loans. In other words, we borrow the audiobook, or we listen to it for free. We almost never buy it. How will it be profitable for publishers, then?
The SOM survey was completed online in March 2023 by over 1000 respondents. Data from the Gaspard report and Statistics Canada were also used.