She has an Anglo-Saxon-sounding pseudonym that should be pronounced by clicking the final “s”, but she is Algerian. She lives on the other side of the Mediterranean, but is a hit in French bookstores. She is Sarah Rivens – her real surname is carefully kept secret – or theblurredgirl (the blurry girl), her alias on social networks. She is 24 years old, and, since the end of January, the second volume of her trilogy captive (ed. Hlab), which sold 88,000 copies, is at the top of the very traditional book sales charts, with Pierre Lemaitre and Daniel Pennac. Already, his first opus, released in August, had sold more than 180,000 copies. A performance for a work in French language born on social networks and long available in free access.
Sarah Rivens, who keeps journalists at a distance, is indeed a “Wattpad baby”, named after this writing and reading platform which is hugely successful with younger generations. The authors post their texts there at their own pace in the form of episodes, their readers comment on them and, possibly, influence the course of history. In 2020, Sarah Rivens begins her typical story of the dark romance, a mixture of love, soft eroticism and violence, a genre very popular with young girls, but also with 25-35 year olds. The first volume recorded 9 million views, the second 8.1 million. A very, very good figure which, a year ago, aroused the interest of Zélie Bertrand, editor at Hlab, the subsidiary of Hachette responsible for discovering new authors outside the traditional circuits.
At first it is only a question of a digital publication. Out of 80 books published per Hlab year, only 5 or 6 have access to a paper publication. Romance audiences read a great deal, but mostly on screen. In addition, not all texts can be transformed into a book, it is necessary to erase inconsistencies, repetitions, smooth the characters…, so many defects born from a publication over the course of writing. Above all, it is necessary to convince the community formed on Wattpad to spend 20 euros to acquire the paper version of a text that it has already been able to read for free.
A success that can be versatile
The first sales in digital format are satisfactory, but not extraordinary (4,000 copies in two months). Too close to Wattpad. The paper version, on the other hand, intended to be kept and shown, took off very quickly. “We said to ourselves that the 10,000 copies of the first print run would be enough to cover the real fans. In reality, after an hour, on the day of the release, we were out of stock”, says Marie Legrand, project manager at Hlab . A first reprint of 30,000 copies was launched, despite the shortage of paper. A few signals – doubling of the number of subscribers on Instagram, positive reviews on TikTok… – should have alerted, but caution prevailed. Moreover, if the two “official” volumes worked very well, another text, published in November, designated as “1.5” because it takes up the same plot but with a different couple, had more struggling to find its audience (90,000 copies all the same).
For publishers, the publication of this kind of work is crucial (1 novel sold out of 15 is romance) and can be extremely profitable – 3.5 million euros in sales in France for the first volume, not counting variations in Italy, Germany, but also in Serbia, Poland… However, success can be versatile. Admittedly, readers rushed in November during Sarah Rivens’ dedication tour to obtain a copy signed “good reading with love”, but tomorrow? “In this area, female readers know what they like. They are very demanding, but sometimes also very virulent, they put authors in competition”, notes Zélie Bertrand, who reflects on a variation of the success of captive. Sarah Rivens has, for her part, undertaken the writing of a new text available for free on Wattpad. While waiting for one day perhaps his first books to be distributed in his country. In Algeria, the wholesaler responsible for importing it has still not been approved by the authorities.