Comments on: The Sans-Culottes of the Digital Revolution and What We Can Learn From Them

By: Pierre XAVIER

Pierre XAVIER — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:44:04 +0000

Hi Julia,
Just to let you know : http://publishingperspectives.com/?p=7694
More food for your thought.

http://www.twitter.com/tempsfuturs

By: JuliaCheiffetz

JuliaCheiffetz — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:17:11 +0000

wow, thanks everyone for posting such incredible feedback.

@jdbaltassat I have no doubt my impression is a bit carte postale. Thanks for your input.

@pierre those figures are breathtaking.

By: Pierre XAVIER

Pierre XAVIER — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:08:14 +0000

Hi,
Writers do not have union (like other “labor workers” in France), but they have SGDL, SCAM, SPADEM and a few more collective institutions that frame publisher vs. authors relationships and help authors in their rights deals.
As for writing for profit as the main motive, I don't think so. Most authors in France work in the schoolbook, research, know-how, technical and hobby publishing. And profit is quite low in those non-fiction branches. Fiction is not the largest portion and success is scarce, foreign acquisitions are legion and fiction readers are versatile. Profit is there but for only a few of the total annual release.

By: Pierre XAVIER

Pierre XAVIER — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:59:00 +0000

Hi Julia,
I don't know where that figure of 800 indie bookstores came from but it's largely underestimated. And As your paper fully describes, France is rather religious about books. There are 25 000 retailers that sell books in France. Among those, 15 000 have a regular book selling commercial activity (meaning they also sell papers, press, and other stuff). And about 2000 to 2500 are real book shops where book sales constitute the core activity. Book shops also constitute 40 to 42% of the publishers turnover, the rest being supermarkets, B&N like stores and mail-order sales. Amazon and similar websites also take a cut (less than 10%). You will find all the industry reports on the CNL website (in french although).
So I don't really know what the french publishers present were thinking about or complaining about (french complain a lot about business), but I can tell that book publishing is a good and big business in France. And foreign sales is definitely not the main source of income or gross profit, despite some big publishers saying so.

By: jdbaltassat

jdbaltassat — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:52:45 +0000

I'm sorry, but it's a misunderstanding (at least!): French writers does'nt have any unions and never had… They are much fragiles than the Us or UK writers strongly represented by agents… We are face to face publishers & cie…
And the notion of publishing a book solely to turn a profit is not at all foreign but the main motive (+ fame!) of writing and publishing for a good 80% of writers and publisher.
Sorry to say your look of the french novel market is bit “carte postale”…

By: fbon

fbon — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:02:02 +0000

if looking for more, a selection of 130 french websites and blogs about literature
http://www.netvibes.com/tierslivre
http://www.tierslivre.net/liens.html

happy to meet you there!

By: fbon

fbon — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:59:02 +0000

very proud to loose my trousers when traveling up to your country !

friendly yours

By: Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:07:36 +0000

I wouldn't read too much into "across the Pomnd", Julia. We literary authors in the UK look just as enviously at our French counterparts as you do. In France, figures like Bernard Henri-Levy (OK, he's a prat, but he's a prat who's a philosopher) can become national celebrities, and their cultural icons are auteurs rather than factory hacks. That just isn't teh case here in the UK. When I look at the "in translation" tables in bookstores here, sometimes it makes me weep - a wide range of heavily-promoted novella length works of literature by the likes of Houellebecq and Darrieussecq. If a new author from the UK submitted a 40,000 word piece of literary fiction the quality would be irrelevant - it would be a flat no.

The only answer we have in the UK as new authors of thoughtful literary fiction of unfashionable length is to group together and put our work direct to the reader and see what happens. I was so heartened today to see Le Guin and co doing this as established authors. I hope it will wedge open the door that we indies have been battering against for years.

We can't blame publishers for wanting to be commercial, they have to be, and that means there is little if any space on their lists for works like ours. Five theses, though, to publishers (90 short of Martin Luther, but a start):

1. please don't blame the superstores. Blame never got anyone anywhere. Thinking creatively did. Energy is better spent on the latter than the former.

2. authors would be more than happy to accept zero-advance deals. So the size of advances is no argument against taking on a wide portfolio.

3. Any writer worth their salt would be prepared to market their own book. Writing is storytelling, and storytelling is communication and engagement. The writer not prepared to talk to their readers maybe a producer of words, but they are not a storyteller. So the cost of marketing is no reason not to take on a wide portfolio.

4. Many sectors of society are not readers. So publishers will not produce books for them. Maybe they are not readers because there are no books published by people like them.

5. One obvious application of ebook technology is to offer great writers in uncommercial genres ebook only deals with very low overheads to test the adage that they are uncommercial (and even to be commercial in the different format). A National hunt trainer doesn't send a horse to the knacker's yard because it's a small, quick thoroughbred - she sends it flat racing. You have 2 ormats of book. Why work on the assumption there is only one format of author? Ebook only deals with zero advance would enable publishers to take on those authos they constantly say are great but uncommercial - or force them to come out and say what they really mean instead.

On behalf of Year Zero Writers & other independent writers' collectives,
Dan
www.yearzerowriters.wordpress.com

By: rap music

rap music — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:32:06 +0000

Is there anywhere i can get some more info on the writers… a site perhaps?

By: rap music

rap music — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:02:48 +0000

must be nice to be around a group of likeminded writers. I live in the country…lol