In "On the front of the stage", La French Touch offers you its top 3 French companies that are making a difference in their sector. In this article we are talking about publishing houses.  

French publishers currently have a turnover of €2.74 billion, according to the French Publishers Association (Syndicat national de l'édition). Despite a 2,36% decline in 2020, due in part to the health crisis, the sector continues to reinvent itself . Here are three companies that are redefining the publishing industry.

Short edition, the publisher propelling short literature 

"No more than 20 minutes!" This is the motto of the publishing house that publishes short literature: short stories, comics, poetry...anything that can be read quickly and finished in one sitting. In keeping with this philosophy of lightness and fleetingness, Short Edition launched the short story dispenser, a machine found in train stations, shopping centers, and waiting rooms, from which you can take a random story on a small piece of paper to read in a few minutes.

At the origin of this Grenoble house born in 2011, 4 entrepreneurs keen on tech and literature. Their economic model, based on community publishing, opens the door to publication for both budding talents and seasoned writers. The publisher also has a committee of readers, made up of both professionals and amateur subscribers. A mission underlies the young brand's project: "to make the world poetic by sowing words as one sows flowers", in small doses, everywhere and at any time. 

 Copy, for a better distribution of copyright 

Offering artists greater autonomy and a larger percentage of the revenue generated by their books is the raison d'être of Exemplaire . With an "author-centric" business model, the publishing house relies primarily on crowdfunding. Before producing their book, authors mobilize their community of readers to reach their financial goal through pre-orders. This "Ulule of publishing" was launched by Lisa Mandel, a professional author who decided to self-publish to avoid the precarious conditions some authors encounter when going through traditional publishing channels.

At the origin of this initiative, one observation: authors are poorly paid because of changes in the publishing market and only receive 8 to 10% of rights to a book. Thirty years ago, sales were big enough to pay them well. Today this is no longer the case, in fact, 30% of the profession lives below the poverty line, according to the editorial structure. To offer them an economically more advantageous model, the house brings together professionals from the book world who wish to support authors who embark on self-publishing and help them to get started.  

Diane de Selliers, let's edit little edit well  

“One book. One book a year, that’s the promise of Editions Diane de Selliers .” This is the first thing you read when browsing the publisher’s website. The philosophy of this Parisian publishing house, founded in 1992, is to publish aesthetically pleasing books, often classics illustrated with paintings. At the crossroads of the third and fifth arts, each book is carefully conceived, created, and edited over the course of a year, or even several years for the most demanding collections. The books are presented in an exceptional setting, like precious jewels. Rare illustrations, texts imbued with a vintage charm… reading a Diane de Selliers book is to savor the fruit of the patient work of a passionate team.

At 19 rue Bonaparte, in the heart of the historic publishing district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, one can admire Virgil's Aeneid adorned with antique mosaics, the Book of Revelation set against a backdrop of Angers tapestries, or Ovid's Metamorphoses illustrated with masterpieces of Baroque painting. To publish these great works of world literature, the team is supported by academics whose research has been funded by the Diane de Selliers Institute since 2010.