Book prices in France are hard to understand from a foreigner’s perspective. Back in 1981, French Minister of Culture Jack Lang established a fixed price for books sold in France. Since then, publishers have been fixing the price, printing it on the back of the book.
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Today’s French Minister of Culture Aurélie Filippetti says that she has nothing against Amazon despite the law’s informal name — but free shipping has to stop.
With France’s ‘anti-Amazon’ law, the government is going in the opposite direction and reiterating the long-standing tradition of protecting independent bookstores and publishers.
The idea that authors write books to benefit bookstores and publishers instead of the reader is preposterous. The French government is taking a deliberate action to stop innovation, so that an 18th century business model for delivering books from authors to people could live a little bit longer.
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