From her stronghold of Mission Viejo in Orange County, Clotilde Delestre, a young fifty-something mother of three, crisscrosses California by car with her Clotilde French Book Store, stopping every three days at international schools, at book fairs and exhibitions, to sell her collection of books in French for children, and parents too.
A passionate job that began in 2006 in collaboration with the International School of Orange County, a region where she first settled with her husband, a finance expert at Thales, before setting off to sail on other continents – Saudi Arabia, France and the Netherlands in particular – and returning in 2021, just after the pandemic.
In-person advice
” I started my career as an intensive care nurse, but quickly realized that I had the soul of an entrepreneur.she confides. 15 years after my first beginnings as a traveling bookseller, I relaunched the Clotilde French Book Store. The arrival of social networks and Instagram has transformed my business. Schools from all over the country are now calling me, Seattle recently, to come and present my works. Online “Book Fairs” will start soon and my business is taking on another dimension. »
Almost alone in this niche market, Clotilde Delestre explains the reasons for her success by highlighting the human qualities of her profession. People can still order a book on Amazon by seeing a cover, but generally prefer to benefit from my listening, my advice to find the right book for their child, the one that will stimulate their imagination and make them love French. 95% of my clients are Francophiles, not French. They trust my experience, wait for me like the messiah at each appointment, always eager for new things. This job is a story of contacts and meetings. »
In his boxes, manuals and books for the little ones in the majority, from the small sections up to the 5th grade (the equivalent of CM2), to learn to read and to entertain oneself. And carefully selected subjects. This is the United States, and you won’t find on my tables any sex education guides, religious works, Tintin in the Congo, or any work deemed too controversial.continues the bookseller. All the current themes are linked to inclusion, diversity, disabilities. Values that parents want to pass on to their children. » Also in his selection, works for adults, from railway station novels to great literary references.
Hundreds of kilometers traveled every week
Regularly present in the French alliances and in around fifteen schools throughout California – from LILA, the International School of Los Angeles to the San Diego French American School –, Clotilde Delestre expands her network a little more each year, and sees the number of her clients grow. Demand is increasing and sales are doing well, she explains. I am not the one who supports my family, but I could make a full living from my job if I devoted myself to it every day.. »
Linked to a Chicago-based book wholesaler, accustomed to distributing French works to American universities, Clotilde Delestre has found a business model and logistics that work. My concept wouldn’t work if I opened a bookstore. Books are not a sought-after commodity in the United States on a daily basis, she concludes. It requires surprising, highlighting the quality of our works or the excellence of French illustrators who distil their art through books and manuals. I travel hundreds of kilometers per week, and nothing beats the smile of children and their families. »
In addition to the launch of book fair online, the French entrepreneur has been offering the sale of boxboxes sent every month to subscribers which reveal the latest new products of the moment. Until Sunday, October 27, her Clotilde French Book Store is offering a 10% discount to French Morning readers on every book ordered, using the code FM10.
Related News :