Literary rentrée. Frédéric Martin founded the publishing house Le Tripode in 2012. Today, it is one of the largest independent publishing houses with a turnover of 1.6 million euros last year.
Evolving in the tumult of the big houses was never for him. When the weather is nice, Frédéric Martin unfolds a garden table and settles down under the shade of a majestic tulip tree planted in the courtyard. Hidden in an old building in the Marais, the Le Tripode publishing house breathes another era, that of the small independent houses, of Jean-Jacques Pauvert, his mentor, who was the publisher of Sade and the great libertines. “I learned everything from him,” he still enthuses.
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Faithful to this heritage, Frédéric Martin walks in the shadow of his model by publishing forgotten geniuses, marginal or never translated works, such as The Art of Joy by the Italian Goliarda Sapienza, or those of the “Woody Allen of the Shoah”, the German Edgar Hilsenrath. “I like this slightly laboratory side”, admits this book craftsman who learned the trade with the editor Viviane Hamy, before leaving to set up the Le Tripode publishing house twelve years ago.
A new project around youth
The house now publishes around twenty titles per year. It has only six employees, including three editors. “Depending on the hours, I can find myself being an accountant, graphic designer, press officer, etc.,” laughs Frédéric Martin. Its books are distributed by the powerful Interforum machine at Editis and are available in most bookstores, making it one of the largest independent houses with a turnover of 1.6 million euros last year.
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“He knew how to open doors, even if he’s more of the type to go through the window,” admits an editor. The founder of Tripode still has other ideas in the pipeline. He should launch a new project this year, backed by a large group, around youth. “A 16-year-old teenager can afford[…]
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- challenges.fr
