The French Librairie Union (SLF) brought together, during a plenary round table, several links in the book chain, including the bookstore, in the person of Anaïs Massola (The Red CurtainParis), the publishers, with Serge Ewenczyk (Éditions Çà et Là), and the authors, through Diana Semaska, author and journalist.
A detail that is not one: everyone is considerably involved in the life of the book chain, through their collective commitments. Anaïs Massola co-founded the Association for Book Ecology, Serge Ewenczyk is a member of the Syndicate of Alternative Publishers, created to make a voice other than the National Publishing Union heard, and Diana Semaska is a member of the Charter of Authors and youth illustrators.
At their side, Mélanie Cronier, ecology mission manager at Mobilis, the regional cooperation center for book and reading stakeholders in Pays de la Loire, and Fanny Valembois, from the Bureau des acclimations, an organization which works on the ecological redirection of cultural activities. Forces sometimes exogenous to traditional professions in the book chain which thus contribute to shaking up habits and achievements.
A model ” breathless»
Taking place after the presentation of an alarmist study on the short-term economic situation of bookstores, the round table had the difficult task of reminding us that the ecological emergency should not fade away in a crisis situation, on the contrary. “We cannot think of ecology without economics», as the moderator, Coraline Passet, author of the podcast Dlivrable, points out.
Where is this book economy? “The current model is running out of steam, it is driving us into the wall», points out Fanny Valembois. “We are in a race forward,” she laments, citing Xerfi’s recommendation to keep bookstores afloat: improve turnover by 8%. “How high will we have to go next year?»
In a car launched at full speed towards a precipice, the book chain would press on the accelerator, notably through the phenomenon of overproduction. “I don’t know of other sectors of activity where when things are not going well, we produce more», notes Coraline Passet.
Preserve diversity
“We produce more titles, but sell each one a lot less», also notes Diana Semaska. “We don’t just want to feed a market. Publishers could scale back and make different voices heard, books would stay on the tables longer and lead to slightly higher remuneration», she comments, while the impoverishment of the authors has been documented for several years.
Added to this overproduction is a desire for hegemony on the part of several large publishing groups, “who want to be in all sectors, carry all ideas, who ultimately create little, but siphon off creation in certain places and make part of production invisible», denounces Anaïs Massola. Or the well-known phenomenon of isolated success which generates a string of comparable titles, with low added value…
Within the Union of Alternative Publishers, members publish on average 10 titles per year, and the organization has none with more than 40 annual publications: “Beyond that, we believe that the publisher no longer has a qualitative relationship with the book.», Explains Serge Ewenczyk.
Between overproduction and editorial concentration, the book chain is on “a slippery slope» according to Anaïs Massola. The five main publishing groups constitute around 90% of independent bookselling turnover, she estimates, a roughly comparable concentration if you consider the best-selling authors. “Fewer and fewer players make up a greater share of our turnover», she is alarmed.
Become one
The round table participants did not come with ready-made solutions. However, initiatives are multiplying, like the truce of new products or the guideEcology in bookstores: good practices and inspirationspublished by the SLF, not to mention the position of ecology project manager assumed by Mélanie Cronier, who organizes and structures exchanges between the actors of the book chain.
Indeed, contrary to what the expression might suggest, “we are witnessing an atomization of our professions, and even, in the worst cases, a fragmentation. However, thinking collectively is already doing book ecology. A book is not ecological if it does not take into account all the people who contributed to its success», underlines Coraline Passet, deploring in passing the persistent absence of the names of the translators on the covers of the books.
Fanny Valembois illustrates the interdependence of book actors with a striking example: “With the challenges linked to air quality, the establishment of low emission zones (ZFE) can prevent customers from going to bookstores, but also transporters. One of them, in the Grand Est region, which participates in Prisme, does not have a ZFE compatible fleet: it is currently benefiting from an exception, but if this falls, how to route the orders ? Amazon, on the contrary, has already organized itself to have ZFE compatible fleets.»
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More than ever, the chain must therefore unite around common questions, crucial for the future of a book.which is not a consumer good like any other, as required by the Lang Law“. “Like the landscape and the ecosystem in general, the book ecosystem can move towards impoverishment and homogenization.», indicates Diana Semaska, drawing a parallel between a healthier book chain and organic farming. “We must take care of the different actors in the chain.»
A sentence that resonates within the Palais de la Musique et des Congrès in Strasbourg, while the independent bookstore has launched an appeal for solidarity to those involved in the book chain, in the face of difficulties.
Photography: illustration, ActuaLitté, CC BY SA 2.0
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