in Brittany, the difficulties of Coop Breizh shake the world of publishing

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The last book fair in Plestin-les-Grèves, on November 10, highlighted the vitality of publishing in Brittany and Trégor. Without masking the shock wave generated by the financial difficulties of Coop Breizhplaced in receivership on September 17.

“A disaster”

The situation shakes all of these book artisans since the cooperative company of Spézet, which has 17 employees, is a publisher but, above all, disseminates and distributes the productions of around sixty publishers and about twenty Breton record labels almost everywhere in the region.

This has been the case with Rennes-based Goater publishing since 2013. At its head, Trégastellois Jean-Marie Goater is also spokesperson for the Association of Publishing Houses of Brittany (Ameb).

We already have insufficient media coverage of books in a very competitive field and the disappearance of Coop Breizh would be a catastrophe.

With serious consequences for the region's economy.

Beyond Coop Breizh, the question is, according to Jean-Marie Goater, how to maintain the existence of publishing in Brittany, “which represents 1% of French publishing”. Brittany is the region where there are the most publishers after the Paris region. “The issues are also linked to editions in the Breton and Gallo languages, no one can do it for us. »

Unpaid invoices

The broadcaster's financial difficulties are already having an impact on Skol Vreizh. Since the summer season, Coop Breizh has not been able to pay the bills at the publishing house in Morlaix. It is in fact the broadcaster who recovers the money from the sale to then redistribute it, after commission, to the publishers.

Jean-René Le Quéau, director, and Jean-Luc Cloarec, publishing manager, hope that the broadcaster's placement in receivership will allow them to be paid by early 2025.

We support them by continuing to provide them with our works to distribute.

Both attest to the important role and activist side of this broadcaster: “Coop Breizh is essential because national broadcasters are not interested in our publishing houses which have too small print runs.”

Marie-Claire Morin created À l’ombre des mots in Pabu ten years ago. Its publishing house worked with Coop Breizh from 2018 to 2020. During the post-Covid recovery, it did not renew with this broadcaster. La Trégorroise appreciates the difficulties this creates for partner publishers and confides: “I don’t know how I could do financially if I had stayed with them. »

Booksellers also affected

Payment delays in turn prevent the publishers concerned from paying authors, illustrators, printers, etc. At the other end of the chain, bookstores are also affected.

Despite some reassuring speeches, uncertainty is rife. “We know that Coop Breizh has been having difficulties for several years, but we have no information, it’s vague,” confirms Bleuen Gohin, head of the Brittany sector at Gwalarn Lannion. While Coop Breizh weighs 80% of the books on its shelf.

Publishers are more reluctant to work with Coop Breizh, because of unpaid invoices and unfulfilled orders.

This leads the bookseller to make direct contact with certain houses whose publications she must present, such as the children's albums and language methods by Tes.

With on arrival a additional commercial cost : in addition to longer delivery times, this means shipping costs, lower discounts, no credit on the return of unsold items. In other words, sales with an insignificant margin. Same thing for Breton music CDs also sold at Gwalarn.

Bleuen Gohin shares the opinion of other players in the sector: the end of Coop Breizh would be “a catastrophe for Brittany, a great lack for Breton culture », at a time when the Breton library of Cavan is threatened, she points out.

Circuit court

In the event of liquidation, “we would absolutely have to think about creating a distribution structure,” anticipates Jean-René Le Quéau.

Jean-Marie Goater advocates a short circuit of the book which would preserve proximity between authors and publishers, and other interlocutors. One of his fears concerns “the disappearance of the capacity for creation and research for the new generation of authors”.

Dominique Batton and Philippe Gestin

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