You've been browsing the shelves of your bookstore for just a few minutes and you already no longer remember the book you came to look for (and even less its author

You've been browsing the shelves of your bookstore for just a few minutes and you already no longer remember the book you came to look for (and even less its author!).

You stroll through the Literature section, browsing the covers, reading the summaries, the snippets of discussions you hear here and there... You stop in front of a large table, the one in the center of the bookstore, the one where every square centimeter is covered with novels, some elegantly dressed in a red headband with white writing, those who have won a literary prize. Names of well-known authors because they write best-seller after best-seller or because all the press has been talking about them for months. From the novel by Lola Lafon to the latest Joël Dicker, from the biography of Joe Biden to the book that inspired the star Netflix series. You go from one title to another, from Robert Laffont editions to Flammarion editions, from Gallimard editions to this new collection that you didn't know about and then, out of the corner of your eye, you see the bookseller picking up a book. on the table to his left, shows it to a customer and suggests that she discover a new author that he himself has read and adored. So, you wonder if the bookseller has really read the hundreds of books populating his store, if he knows all the books by your favorite author. If it's the publishing houses that introduce him to new things every month. How did all these works, finally, arrive here, in bookstores, the last link in what is commonly called the book chain?

In France, the book sector in the broad sense (publishing, distribution, distribution, retail and libraries) employs more than 80,000 people, or nearly 20% of all jobs in the cultural sector. The creation, publishing, manufacturing or even marketing of a book are the result of numerous stages involving multiple actors and very different professions.

Let's go back together, one by one, through the links in the book chain to understand the path that a work takes, from the manuscript to the shelves of bookstores.

THE EDITION

At the origin of the editing and publication of a book, there is an author and a manuscript (or a project, for illustrated books). The author undertakes steps, often long, sometimes very costly and unpredictable, to find a publishing house or may choose to present their manuscript on Édith & Nous to benefit from personalized connection services with multiple publishers. Indeed, Virginie Fuertes, editor at Éditions l'Archipel, recently told us that “advances [in digital technology] benefit authors and publishers alike but that it is often difficult for authors to find their way around and send their texts to the right editor at the right time.

The editor identifies and selects the manuscript that will be carried through to publication. He is often the first professional reader of a text, he supports the author in his writing and rewriting, he identifies areas for rework which will improve the quality of a book and its potential. It will also be able to give the author enough perspective to choose the best title. The editor gives his opinion, advises and supports the author: his role corresponds to the etymology of his name (from the Latin edo , to help with birth).

The publisher designs, prepares and monitors the book production process: he then acts as a true conductor. He organizes the proofreading and correction of the text to ensure that no spelling, grammar or typographical error has escaped the attention of the author. He is also responsible (among other things) for the layout, the choice of the cover (in consultation with the author) and the writing of the back cover . It is also the publisher who sets the price of the book before its publication. In short, the publisher turns a manuscript into a book.

THE IMPRESSION

The first link in the book marketing chain is printing. After creation, when the manuscript has been corrected, the cover modeled, the price set and the proof validated, the work begins its public life and this begins with its passage through the printing press. It is the publisher who gives the green light to the printer, who will in turn take over and carefully follow the steps of precise and well-established specifications.

The printer's primary responsibility is to control the file. Then, he prepares the wedging (wedding of the plates, adjustment of the feeder, marking of the sheets, etc.) and adjusts the press. The specifications it follows list production times, costs, the quality and nature of the paper used, as well as all logistics. Printing is done on large format sheets called booklets which contain 8 to 96 pages depending on the printing machine. The shaping carried out by the binder then consists of folding, assembling and gluing the paper prints hot from the press to the cover.

Today, digital printing offers new solutions to printers, publishing houses and distributors/broadcasters. There is in fact no longer a question of the heating time of the machines, of the presses only started from this or that quantity. Printers can operate on demand, allowing them to follow the just-in-time flow of producing a book. They print quickly and for a reasonable price. This has the advantage of reducing stocks of printed books, ordering small print runs if necessary, and further reducing manufacturing time... With, for the environment too, the certain advantage of reducing waste. chemicals.

DIFFUSION

To be presented in bookstores, a book must first be ordered by your bookseller. And for a book to be ordered, publishing houses must ensure what we call its distribution. The distribution of the book relies mainly on the sales force made up of one or more representatives. It can be carried out internally by the publisher or subcontracted to a commercial structure working for several publishers. The largest distribution structures generally belong to publishing groups.