the essential
In Toulouse, as elsewhere in France, independent publishers are bearing the brunt of the effects of a multi-factorial crisis which is endangering their existence. To remain visible on bookstore shelves saturated with books, they highlight their role as “explorers” in the face of the publishing majors.
Strong competition on the shelves, overproduction of books, hyperconcentration of the sector, rising manufacturing costs, overall drop in sales… In Toulouse as nationally, the context is neither reassuring nor supportive for independent publishing houses.
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“You really have to love your job,” some summarize. The year 2021, exceptional for books, has created an illusion. After months of isolation, the desire to read and the taste for local resulted in a spectacular increase in sales but it did not last. “In 2022, the invasion of Ukraine, fears about purchasing power have impacted the world of culture and books, two sectors which tighten very quickly when there are societal concerns”, observes Frédéric Lisak , founder of the Toulouse publishing house Plume de Carotte and member of ERO, association of independent publishers in the Occitanie region.
This professional is clearly sounding the alarm on the “multifactorial crisis” that the sector is going through and which, from cyclical, is on the verge of becoming structural. “The response of large groups to the erosion of sales is overproduction in all areas. Small publishers do not have the means to invest in new niches. They struggle to exist on the shelves although they are real explorers, looking for new forms of expression while the majors are more followed. The pool of small and medium-sized publishing houses must not dry up. There is a real risk of intellectual impoverishment linked to. their disappearance”, insists Frédéric Lisak.
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A new Toulouse management tool
In this context, the increase in book manufacturing costs, up to 45% for certain Toulouse publishers, has contributed to their weakening. However, independent houses are not giving up. Created in 2015, the ERO association continues its mission of sharing, training and representation for the 45 Occitan structures that it represents.
At the national level, the very recent Federation of Independent Editions, born in 2021, strives to make the production of some 2,240 independent publishers more visible in bookstores and in the eyes of the public. FEDEI has also initiated with the Toulouse cooperative company Oplibris a complete management software to allow these structures to manage their editorial project, from its design to bookstore returns, including the management of copyright or stocks. Generated as open source and accessible by subscription, this new tool was launched on Tuesday December 24. “Management is the key to independence,” underlines Sidonie Mézaize, general director of Oplibris. “By publishing better, independent publishers will be able to better defend themselves in a context of unprecedented concentration.”
“Publisher, the most beautiful job in the world”
Created in 2004 in Toulouse, Editions de l'Attribut has 80 works in its catalog and publishes six biannual reviews per year under the title Nectart which explores cultural and societal changes, Dard/Dard dedicated to ecology and Panardsports. To last, the publisher was able to evolve its model by moving ten years ago from books in “mook” format and from the shelves of bookstores to sales by subscription, to trade fairs and festivals or even to digital distribution via sites partners. “It’s thanks to all this that we get through it. We exist because we are present on the ground. It has become difficult to sell paper in the humanities. People tell themselves that they can find everything on the internet,” observes Eric Fourreau. Alone on a daily basis to “keep the machine running”, the founder of Attribut subtracts the graphics and printing part and relies on the volunteer specialists of his editorial committees. He manages to maintain a turnover of 150,000 euros per year but appreciates the importance of the commitment of public authorities. “Without their support, it would be more complicated,” admits Eric Fourreau who does not intend, despite the difficulties, to give up his job as publisher, “the most beautiful in the world”.
