Upon its release, Jordan Bardella’s autobiography, “What I’m Looking for,” topped the bestseller lists. A success capable of earning him hundreds of thousands of euros.
There are countless books written by politicians. François Hollande, Éric Zemmour, Nicolas Sarkozy… Many of them have started writing novels, memoirs or essays. But for the most part, these publications did not meet with the expected success: with His way of being minethe former Minister of Equality, Marlène Schiappa, only sold 245 books. For his part, Jean-Michel Blanquer, the former Minister of Education, did slightly better with 888 copies sold for Open school according to Edistat.
But some works make these statistics lie the way the book does What I’m looking for by Jordan Bardella. For a book published on November 9, 2024, it has already managed to sell more than 60,000 copies. From the first week, the book had even exceeded the symbolic bar of 25,000 books sold, “a spectacular start” according to Marine Le Pen. For comparison, Philippe de Villiers records 58,000 sales with Memoricide, published by the same publisher two weeks earlier.
But then, what is the key to such success? Despite disrupted promotion, Jordan Bardella’s book was able to get people talking about it, whether for good or bad. Driven by current events, the autobiography of the president of the National Rally (RN) also reflects an expectation, a popular curiosity for the far-right party, whose trial for embezzlement of European funds is still in progress. course. Furthermore, by denouncing the “censorship” of the advertising of his book in SNCF stations, the politician has put the spotlight back on his work.
The sign of political and financial success?
Thanks to his book, the president of the RN could win on two points: politically and financially. According to Les Echosthe “book is a good thermometer” for politicians. Sales figures sometimes allow them to measure their chances for the upcoming elections. With Fairereleased in September 2015, François Fillon was one of the surprises of the literary season. And more than a year later, still buoyed by his success, the man largely won the right-wing primary, far ahead of the favorite Alain Juppé.
Furthermore, and it’s no secret, the publication of this type of work generates monetary gain. However, authors are far from being the most advantaged by the publishing chain. According to Librinova, “the average remuneration rate varies from 6 to 7% for children’s books and comics to 9% for literature and beautiful books (8% for documentaries, essays or academic works). These copyrights are calculated on the public price excluding taxes of the book. On a book sold for €20 including tax with duties at 9%, the author therefore receives… €1.70. This stamp is still subject to variations “depending on whether it is a first novel or a known writer, the copyright rates are therefore not the same”. Negotiations are done on a case-by-case basis.
Regarding Jordan Bardella, if we assume, undoubtedly falsely, that he receives the same remuneration as a beginning writer, he would have already obtained 120,000 euros with his 60,000 books sold at 22.90 euros per book. unit. A sum calculated on the basis of only two weeks of sales. If the boss of the RN sells all of the 200,000 prints planned by the Fayard printing company, the publisher of his autobiography, it could even reach 440,000 euros. Enough to largely reimburse the fine of 300,000 euros requested by the prosecution against Marine Le Pen in the RN assistants affair.
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