There are always good (or bad) reasons for wanting to change houses: following your publisher who leaves for a competitor, feeling neglected, refusing to publish under the auspices of a new owner, succumbing to the lure of a check, an increasing author percentage or a substantial endorsement, benefit from extensive promotion and marketing or even hope for a prize. And then, as we know, the grass is always greener elsewhere… As for the new publisher, the transfer allows him to demonstrate his attractiveness, to have a knock-on effect with other authors and, above all, , to count on good sales.
The ace ! Not everything always goes in the best of all possible worlds. So this return to school, it is true, compromised by inflation and by the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7: around ten “defector” authors published their first book with their new publisher, who had, inevitably, keen to “boost” it. Well ? Not one transformed the test, all sold less than previously (according to Edistat, as of November 12). And this, whatever the house.
Serge Joncour, ex-Flammarion, welcomed by Albin Michel: 25,000 copies sold Human warmthversus 135,000 of Human naturecertainly Femina 2020 prize, but also 60,000 Dog wolf (2018). Still at Albin, Pascal Quignard, ex-Gallimard: 9,500 copies of Happy hoursagainst 19,000 for Love the sea (2022). Carole Fives, ex-Gallimard, seduced by Lattès: just over 4,000 copies of the Day and hour, versus 8,000 Something to tell you (2022). Maria Pourchet, defector from Fayard to Stock: 23,000 copies of Western50,000 in 2021 for Fire. We could also cite Claire Berest, David Le Bailly, Wilfried N’Sondé, Marion Messina… the pomp goes to Nicolas Sarkozy, who left the editions of L’Observatoire for Fayard, whose sales of Fighting time (a little over 70,000 copies) pale in comparison to the 220,000 sold Storm weather (2020).
Morality? There is no magic recipe or miracle. At any given moment, an author finds his audience or not, regardless of the quality of the book. A word to the wise, in these times of turmoil in the editorial landscape… Obviously, all this does not mean that we should necessarily favor the status quo. Nothing can hold back an author who no longer wishes to publish in a house. It’s also difficult to imagine regretting for life a request that you didn’t take. We just have to be aware of the nature, often irrational, of the reception of a book. And the even more erratic time at which it was published.