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warm at best, and the half-year results echoed a decline of5.8% in revenues for the group, and 3.9% for its Frenchholdings. The Virgin Mega Store, which had highflyingplans for digital media, before filing for bankruptcy in2012, had to be shut down altogether in 2013, as no buyercould be found. (Livres Hebdo, June 11, 2013), and Chapitre,the second largest book chain, had to announce significantclosures of outlets, and major restructuring (LivresHebdo, April 9, 2013). Overall, French publishers have beensufficiently concerned about the challenges of book retailersto offer an unseen initiative to support independentbookshops notably with a one-off payment of €7 million(Livres Hebdo, June 3, 2013).Against the backdrop of such harsh economic conditions,there seems to be little room for digital experiments, whileanecdotally, the general media not only paint a picturehighlighting the “resistance” of the French public to readingon small screens but discuss this in the more fundamentalterms of a French “cultural exception”, or a specificnational preference for cultural traditions over the (USAmerican) notion of culture and entertainment as an industryand a business.For 2012, the French Syndicat National de l'édition (SNE, theFrench publishers’ association) attributed to ebooks 3.1%of all of French book revenues (up from 2% in 2011), worth€81.76 million (SNE, “Edition numérique 2012”, and LivresHebdo, June 27, 2013; a much lower estimate for ebooksto account for just 2.1% of all trade sales by GfK is due to amuch narrower definition of which revenues are included- for a detailed discussion see the blog of Aldus2006).Much of the resulting media coverage was in line withcoverage from a year earlier, when, in early summer 2012,the “French exception” hit the headlines of the culturalpages in New York and London. “The French Still Flock toBookstores”, stated The New York Times (June 20, 2012), andthey are “shunning the ebook,” according to The Guardian(June 4, 2012). Voices from within the Paris establishmentof the French book industry joined the skeptical choir byemphasizing that sales of ebooks were still limited in theircountry, with a market share estimated for mid-2012 atperhaps 2%.However, in summer 2013, some observers started to cautiontheir readers by adding questions to their headlines:“Paper Resists: Why Ebooks Are Not Landing (Yet)” (L’Express,July 3, 2013).The reason to see France as being more and more in linewith the digital developments in other markets acrosscontinental Europe derives from various surveys who, intheir majority, are consistent with findings in other Europeancountries, when it comes to analyzing the disseminationof devices, or reading habits and the overall consumptionof online content. In addition, both the traditionallyleading organizations of the French book industry,as well as a growing number of startup ventures, proposean ever expanding infrastructure and offer reading materialsas well as points to access this content conveniently.By the end of 2013, French consumers are expected to ownsome 6 million tablet computers and half a million e-reading devices. One French in five has already read anebook (Livres Hebdo, February 25, 2013), and a consumerpanel showed that many consumers who already own adevice expect to expand its usage. For fall 2013, several ofthe largest general retail chains are expected to launchtheir own series of devices, which will further broaden thepenetration among consumers.The most popular sector for digital reading is literature (ata share of 60% of all sold ebooks), with genre fiction (notablyerotic, fantasy and science fiction) being particularlypopular. Leaders of the segment include the independentFrench houses Bragelonne and Le Bélial, as well as CanadianHarlequin in a joint venture with Hachette. Surveysindicate that half of the consumers reading genre ebookshave not read similar books on paper (“La littérature degenre en numérique”, SNE, Assises du livres numérique,March 2013).Several major French publishers, notably Editis, Gallimard-Flammarion, La Martinière, Actes Sud - yet not Hachette -have launched a pilot to directly cater their ebooks to libraries.Another experiment concerned the bundling ofheavily discounted ebook editions with the purchase of aprinted book. The offer will be introduced to the market ata large scale in 2014 by the ebook distributor Eden, whoalso will add audiobooks for download. (Information providedby Gallimard for this report, one of the consortiummembers of Eden.)Throughout 2013 in France, the political debate continuedon how to sustain or even defend its domestic culture inthe context of globalization and the impact of global playerson its heritage and specifics. In a report for the government,a number of measures have been proposed, notablyto introduce specifically targeted taxation on smartphone and other digital devices, as well as to secure thecollection of local taxes from global conglomerates to fosterthe creation of original French content. (For a summaryof the “Rapport Lescure” see Le Monde, May 13, 2013; theThe Global eBook Report 31