PARIS (awp/afp) – The mass of aspiring writers who cannot find a publisher is a market to be taken by all those who sell them a dream: to be published, the essential prerequisite for becoming a recognized author.
Even if more than 250 books (all genres combined) appear in France each weekday on average, landing your novel in bookstores remains an extremely difficult exercise.
For an author who will have sent his manuscript by mail and convinced a prestigious house, hundreds or even thousands of others remain in the harbor.
This was the case for a long time with Nicolas Bouquillon, a 42-year-old finance executive. He had three colleagues at Societe Generale published by recognized publishers (Lattès, Robert Laffont, Héloïse d’Ormesson, Stock…). He could only envy their success.
“I suffered an incalculable number of refusals. But I preferred these refusals rather than paying. I had seen the reports which said: when you want to be an actor, model, never pay to pass a casting. this principle”, explains to AFP this passionate about writing.
For his anticipation novel “The Woman who wanted to find meaning in her life and lands on Mars”, he ended up contacting a small publisher from Lyon, Hugo Stern, who published it in June 2021. He still does not know how many copies have been sold.
Bombarded with ads
Like anyone who has scoured the internet for addresses of publishers to send his manuscript to, or advice on getting published, he has been bombarded with advertisements. So many invitations to take out your bank card.
There are “masterclasses” or “writing courses”. For 1,500 euros, for example, best-selling authors like Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt or Bernard Werber distill “face-to-face” advice that is supposed to make a difference. For 497 euros, it’s Bernard Minier.
Then there are self-employed publishers, who accept every book imaginable. The most prolific of them, L’Harmattan and Édilivre, both claim “30,000 authors”.
They invoice various services, which can cost hundreds of euros or more, to these authors who alone assume the economic risk if the book does not sell well.
In recent years they have suffered from the rise of a giant: Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. No need to pay to be published on this platform. On the other hand, the author does not have access to bookstores: Amazon retains exclusivity, including for the printed version.
“Access the channel”
The other competitors that are emerging, and doing everything to make themselves known to aspiring authors, are author-publisher matchmaking platforms. Librinova and Edith & Nous are fighting in this niche.
“Self-publishing works well when you want to distribute your book to your network. But it does not provide access to the book chain, especially bookstores. We provide a link allowing you to join this chain”, explains to AFP the co-founder of Edith & Nous, Valentin Vauchelles.
Nicolas Bouquillon paid for these services so that his manuscript would be readable by publishers. Result: “Zero consultation, zero publisher feedback… I don’t regret it, it’s not very expensive. But it didn’t bring me anything”.
To be spotted, “the + pitch + is decisive to attract attention in a few lines”, answers Valentin Vauchelles. “And not all genres are equally equal. Theatre, for example, is published very little. Real life fiction, where the author deals with social facts in a romantic way, is the most sought-after genre”.
Edith & Nous is also a partner of the unpublished novel prize, with the publishing house Novice, which publishes the winning books. During the first edition, in 2021, 140 manuscripts had competed. For the second, whose winners (novel and thriller) are announced on Saturday, the number has risen to 250. This will make 248 disappointed.
For them, there will remain the “manuscript box” installed during the Citizen Book Festival, at the National Library of France (BnF), on February 11. Submitting your text there will not cost anything.
hh/mch/cbn