The ten novelists have sold most in 2008

Our track record is the only one to take account of sales of each author, for all its titles, all editions combined. Other rankings include only the current editions, also called "large." Everyone knows that the format pocket is increasingly appreciated by the French. Moreover, except for Muriel Barbery, whose best-seller The elegance of the hedgehog is not in paperback, the format at an affordable price in the global sales often exceeds that of the classical format (Bernard Werber and Guillaume Musso, in particular, are very big sellers pocket, with 3 to 4 books sold in this format). Our ranking also takes into account the sale via the Internet and through book clubs, figures that are far from negligible. We can therefore say that this is the only classification to reflect exactly what the French buy and read.

What did the 2008 vintage? "Marc Levy remains number one, but is followed closely by Guillaume Musso," said Alice Cousin Crespel, marketing analyst at the research firm GfK, which we have made this list. She added: "Katherine Pancole made a grand entrance and took the sixth place, just behind Amelie Nothomb, a regular at the ranking." A godsend for Albin Michel: Pancole Nothomb and belong to this publishing house, which has ordered two other authors among the ten novelists who sell more books, Bernard Werber and ric-Emmanuel Schmitt. Note that Maxime Chattam also author by Albin Michel, arrived in ninth place last year, rate this year the tenth place for a few thousand copies.

The big sellers help small

The other surprise winners of the 2008 compared to the previous edition, the "millionaires" (those who are over a million copies sold) increased from two to four. Levy and Musso, millionaires in 2007 and 2008, were joined by Vargas and Gavalda.

And the crisis in? It seems to drag on our ten successful novelists. In 2008, they have indeed passed 8.4 million units against 7.8 million in 2007. Their weight in the edition is still higher (96.5 million euros against 84.5 million).

Alone Marc Levy performs 17.7 million euros of Business Anna Gavalda reached 15.4 million and Guillaume Musso exceeds 13 million. This means that these birds have turnovers that many SMEs dream to achieve. Obviously, these are not in the pockets of the perpetrators, far from it: a third goes to booksellers, about half is spent on printing, distribution and distribution. It remains for the novelist between 12 and 14% (according to the terms of the contract with his publisher) of the price of the book edition (and much less when it is a paperback edition).

authors of best-sellers allow big houses do their job of editor, ie also to publish books that sell less, and are sometimes published at a loss. In the economy very special book, the big sellers indirectly help the youngsters. Sometimes a successful novelist makes virtually live alone a small publishing house. Two publishers are proud a candle to their favorite author: Viviane Hamy and Le Dilettante which the bulk of sales is due to Fred Vargas and Anna Gavalda.