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Although no exact figures have been released for ebooksales at the end of 2011, a number of indicators point tostrong overall development, with a strong drive from allthe major domestic actors (in retail and publishing) andthe entry of Amazon and Kobo with localized actions.Publishers as well as retailers strongly promoted ebooksand reading devices in the pre-holiday period, with anecdotalreports of a sizable increase of purchases of ebooks.Bestselling titles included the Prix Goncourt_–winning novel_L’art français de la guerre by Alexis Jenni, La delicatessenby David Foenkinos, and the Millennium trilogy by StiegLarsson.Perhaps more definitively for the overall trend, devices(both ereaders and tablet computers) saw a substantialincrease in sales; the market research firm GfK predictedfigures of 1 million tablets purchased by users in 2011 and3 million for 2012 (Livres Hebdo, January 9, 2012). Accordingto an article from Les Echos, 1.45 million tablets weresold in 2011, 450,000 in December 2011. Notably, in thefourth quarter of 2011, strong promotional campaigns accompaniedthe launch of Amazon’s dedicated French Kindlestore, the respective entry of Kobo into the French market(by introducing its ereading device and entering intoa partnership with the largest French online retail platform,Fnac, which claimed to have sold 50,000 Kobo readersbetween mid November and the end of December2011).Not everybody found the path to a winning strategy, asshown by the failure of Virgin, which filed for bankruptcyin January 2013 after having promoted ebooks with greatenthusiasm, with a catalog of 150,000 titles and ereaders(notably the Cybook Odyssey of the French manufacturerBookeen at €129). Virgin also concluded a deal with Amazonfor distributing the Kindle Fire tablet in France (Reuters,November 8, 2011) and was considered to have thusinstantly become the second-largest online retail platformin France, after Fnac.Also in 2011, legal action was taken to facilitate the emergenceof a stronger ebook market by extending the reducedVAT from printed works to ebooks. In reality, thisturned into a rollercoaster, introducing at first a reducedvalue of 5% VAT —instead of the normal rate of 19.6%—which was then increased to 7% effective April 1, 2012(Livres Hebdo, November 7, 2011) and brought back to 5%by January 2013. However, the alignment of VAT for printedand electronic books was immediately challenged bythe European Commission (Livres Hebdo, January 18,2012). The procedure at the European level is still pendingin early 2013.Earlier in 2011, the law regarding fixed book retail prices(“Loi sur le Prix Unique du Livre Numérique”) as defined bythe publisher was rendered effective for ebooks as of January1, 2012.As a result of the lowered VAT and general market developments,some publishers —notably Gallimard, but alsoDenoël and Mercure de France_— lowered ebook prices inDecember 2011, followed by _Hachette titles in spring 2012,which resulted in ebooks being sold at prices around 30%less than the print edition of the same work (see “EbookBestsellers and Ebook Pricing Strategies in Europe” onpage 90).The surge in the digital segment coincided with an overallflat market in France for 2011. Although overall sales inDecember appeared to have been strong, the months betweenJanuary and November 2011 saw a drop of 1.5%compared to the same period in 2010 (Livres Hebdo/I+C).A much stronger drop of 3.2% in revenue for 2011 hit thelargest media (and book retail) chain, Fnac, as it announcedplans to eliminate 500 staff positions, including 310 fromits operations in France (Livres Hebdo, January 13, 2012).The political and cultural context forebooks in FranceThe ebook (or livre numérique) faces an environment inFrance that is characterized by various factors from politics,culture, and trade.France —through its National Library and its national digitallibrary, Gallica (which currently has 1.5 million digitaldocuments on display)— has gotten an early start on thedigitization of its book culture. France also has a strongtradition of national politics spearheading the digital disseminationof its legacy and of creating institutionalframeworks for such ambitions, including the Europeandigital library project Europeana.French publishers, while setting up the infrastructure foran emerging ebook market, started to confronted Googleregarding its library digitization efforts, citing infringementof works under French copyright.The industry trade association SNE, together with theFrench government, regularly stands up to defend Frenchculture and its national book industry against what areseen as challenges from global market forces and players.This controversy —which was fostered from the very be-34 The Global eBook Report