Even before its release on Saturday, November 9 in bookstores, Jordan Bardella’s book continues to cause a stir within the house that publishes it, the publisher Fayard and Hachette, now owned by Vincent Bolloré. The work of the president of the National Rally also arouses unease throughout the publishing sector.
Between the criticism of the springboard offered by Fayard to Jordan Bardella’s book and the sacrosanct freedom to publish to which they are all attached, the debate rages within publishers. This is what one of them, who is part of the Editis group, rival of Hachette, and who wishes to remain anonymous, confirms to us.
“I talked about it with quite a few fellow friends and we all share the same feeling, which is to say that it would really piss me off to publish Bardella.”
A publisher from the Editis groupat franceinfo
“Basically, not this kind of book in my house! he blurted. But I would find it totally abnormal if the president of the first party in France, whether we like him or not, was published in a small, unknown house, rather than in a large general publishing house. We are all in this position which is quite paradoxical.”
At the origin of this project, the new CEO of Fayard, Lise Boëll. This person close to Vincent Bolloré did not wish to answer us. She published in 2011, with Albin Michel, French Suicide by Eric Zemmour – sold more than 500,000 copies – has been supporting the Bardella project for over a year. With nearly 90,000 books already printed and a floor target of 150,000 sales, Fayard is betting big. The book had already created controversy a few months ago, with the dismissal of the journalist by Radiofrance from franceinfo Jean-François Achilli. An article from Monde pointed to his participation in the writing of Jordan Bardella’s work.
Banned from advertising in train stations, the book benefits from all-out promotion by the Bolloré group. A TV documentary, supposed to show the intimacy of Jordan Bardella, was even to see the light of day on the C8 channel to perfect this media plan. “He’s been filming for a year, he’s not ready,” its producer Guillaume Genton tells us.
On the bookseller side, the book arouses unease. None of them can refuse a sale, but some have announced that they will not exhibit it. Alexandra Charroin-Spangenberg, who co-directs the Paris bookstore in Saint Etienne (Loire), is also the president of the union of independent booksellers, which has 3,700 points of sale in France. She fears incidents in bookstores. In her store, Jordan Bardella’s book will not be in the window, but on the shelves, she says.
“The window is something very sensitive, so in general we will avoid putting books in the window that need us to explain why they are there.”
Alexandra Charroin-Spangenberg, bookseller and president of the union of independent bookstoresat franceinfo
“So we prefer to do it on the shelves to be able to discuss and have a real democratic debate and ideas with our customers. Rather than putting it in a window where, without any further explanation, we can be accused of our intentions and we to say everything and its opposite”, she continues. Jordan Bardella will not sign his biography in bookstores, but only in hotels, rooms chosen in advance by his party or during meetings.
