Bibliodiversité review

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ISBN: 978-2-490855-64-3
Published: 15 October 2024

All the responses to the international survey on the precariousness of independent publishers featured in this issue can be read in the PDF document opposite.

Watch the replay of the round table on precariousness organised in September 2024 as part of the Babelica Book Fair.

The Bibliodiversité review is co-published by Double ponctuation and the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.

See all previous issues of the review here (“Transmission and renewal”, “Inclusion and Diversity in the Book Industry”, “The Alternatives. Ecology, social economy: the future of the book?”, “Minority Languages”, “Public Book Policies”, “Self-Publishing”, “Publishing and Commitment”, “Translation and Globalization”...).

Presentation
Although independent publishing houses (with their authors) are at the heart of the creative process, they are the ones most vulnerable to insecurity. Publishers hold down several jobs in order to stay in business, earn little or nothing, are caught up in a book market that encourages overproduction, and are under-represented and under-defended.

Independent publishing is becoming increasingly precarious. And yet its contribution to bibliodiversity is well-known. Genuine “venture capitalists”, independent publishers spot the talents of tomorrow and give a voice to minorities - much more so than other publishing structures. They play an important role in the intellectual, artistic and democratic life of a country.

How can we better support independent publishing and the talent it represents? In addition to their questions, analyses and personal accounts, the contributors to this innovative issue put forward a series of proposals to combat the precariousness of independent publishing.

Read the call for stories and contributions - Bibliodiversité review, issue 12, to be published in March-April 2025.

Please contact us (equipe@alliance-editeurs.org) if you would like to submit a contribution to the Bibliodiversité review devoted to “Reading (r)evolutions (changing practices and technologies)”.

Order this issue in digital format here (in French).

Sale price (digital format - PDF): 5 euros
ISBN: 978-2-490855-51-3

Published: 23 March 2023

The Bibliodiversité review is co-published by Double ponctuation and the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.

See all previous issues of the review here (“Inclusion and Diversity in the Book Industry”, “The Alternatives. Ecology, social economy: the future of the book?”, “Minority Languages”, “Public Book Policies”, “Self-Publishing”, “Publishing and Commitment”, “Translation and Globalization”...).

Presentation
Many independent publishers and bookshops are faced with the question of the transmission of their businesses, and sometimes struggle to find someone to take them on. This not only impacts the individuals concerned. Given the extent to which, as a generation leaves the world of work, the phenomenon is gaining momentum in Europe as well as Latin America and Africa, the future of a certain idea of the book is also at stake.

But is transmission necessary? And if yes, to who, when and how? Are there differences between the transmission of a publishing house or bookshop and that of other businesses? In a sector undergoing great change, the giving up of a business in the book industry poses a broader question about the capacity for renewal of cultural organisations – of their people, practices and content – but also about the integration of legislative, societal and technological changes.

Here, a collection of texts tackles from different points of view this essential yet under-studied subject. More than a practical guide – something it appears it would be difficult to write, given the variety of situations encountered – in this issue we seek above all to share academic analyses and accounts of experiences to help us reflect on the notion of renewal and think about these transmissions.

Read an excerpt from this issue, published by ActuaLitté: the testimony of Colleen Higgs, Modjaji Books in South Africa

Contents (in French)

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Sales price (digital copy – PDF version): 5 Euros
ISBN: 978-2-490855-27-8

Publication: February 2022

Presentation
The world of books and writing is not necessarily diverse. Like all places of power, whether real or symbolic, it does not escape the forms of exclusion and predation that can be observed elsewhere in society.
By deliberately favouring a plurality of approaches to the question of inclusion, this issue of the journal attempts to explore a multidimensional phenomenon. Thus, whether through feminism, indigenousness, the LGBTQ+ movement or by considering those excluded from the written word, the authors question the inclusive capacity of this sector.
Beyond the observations, they propose practical examples (collected in France, Quebec, Belgium, Spain, India...) to promote inclusion: the establishment of a gender editor within an editorial office, the creation of a native publishing house, the management of bookshops, publishing houses or feminist or gay journals, the reflection of librarians on the conditions of reception of minorities, etc.
Little by little, thanks to these many initiatives, often without wanting to polemicise or to whitewash issues, professionals are fighting discrimination daily and promoting the expression of real diversity.

“Bibliodiversité” is co-published by Double ponctuation and the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.

See all the other issues of the journal here (“The alternatives. Ecology, social economy : the future of the book ?”, “Minority languages”, "Public book policies”, “Self-publishing”, “Publishing and commitment”, “Translation and Globalization”...)

To order this title digitally, it’s here!
Sales price (digital copy – PDF version): 5 Euros
ISBN: 978-2-490855-11-7

Sales price (hardcopy): 15 Euros
Format: 14,5 X 21 cm; 236 pages
ISBN: 978-2-490855-10-0

Publication: February 2021

Bibliodiversité is co-published by Double ponctuation and the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.

See all the other issues of the journal here (“Minority languages”, "Public book policies”, “Self-publishing”, “Publishing and commitment”, “Translation and Globalization”...)

Presentation
At a time when environmental concerns are becoming more and more important and when traditional production patterns are increasingly being questioned, is there such a thing as an ecological, responsible and solidarity book?
At a time when a significant proportion of printed books end up unread and when the physical flow of books generates significant greenhouse gas emissions, printers, publishers, booksellers and distributors are questioning their practices and the impact they have.
They are proposing alternatives to the dominant system to respond to these challenges – and thus define the future of the book?

Coordinated by Nathalie Carré (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Inalco) and Raphaël Thierry (independent researcher)
Publication: 2020

Contact the Alliance team to get a free digital version of this issue.

Bibliodiversité review is co-published by Double ponctuation and the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.

See all the other issues of the review here (“Public book policies”, “Self-publishing”, “Publishing and commitment”, “Translation and Globalization”...)

Presentation
More than half of the languages spoken in the world are in danger of disappearing; if nothing is done, UNESCO estimates that 90% of languages will have disappeared in the course of this century. Languages are an essential part of a people’s culture, yet they are much more than just a tool for communication; they offer a unique view of the world and of the people who live in it. What can the publishing sector do – and is already doing – to help preserve and sustain these minority languages? This book attempts to answer this question through academic articles and testimonies of book professionals who, together, propose a novel approach to the subject.

In the light of their publications, the book analyses the situation of several minority languages - Haitian Creole, Corsican, Innu, Yiddish, Kikuyu, Basque, Malagasy, Náhuatl, etc. and shows that solutions are possible when the actors in the book system are mobilised.

Summary:

• Publishing in minority languages – On diversity of publishing languages in a
  globalized context / by Nathalie Carré (Inalco, France) and Raphaël Thierry
  (independent researcher, France)

• Creole publishing in Haiti – Obstacles, initiatives and development prospects /
  by Sandie Blaise, Duke University (United States)

• The spread of Yiddish poetry in German speaking world – The case of bilingual editions / by Caroline Puaud, Paris Sorbonne University

• Write and publish in Madagascar – How to reach the world? / by Dominique Ranaivoson, University of Lorraine (France)

• Make minority languages dialogue (online) – The example of intergenerational collaboration in East Africa / by Pierre Boizette, Paris-Nanterre University (France)

• Normativity, diversity and dynamics of creation in the contemporary Basque literary field – Study of its operating trends through the literary trajectory of Eñaut Etxamendi / by Itziar Madina Elguezabal, Bordeaux-Montaigne Doctoral school (France)

• Locate, catalog, make visible – The place of minority languages in collections of the University Library for Languages and Civilizations Studies (BULAC) / Interview with Marine Defosse, Soline Lau-Suchet and Nicolas Pitsos, librarians at BULAC (France)

• “As long as the language circulates, we will have books to produce” / interview with Bernard Biancarelli (Albiana Publishing, Corsica/France)

• “Publishing must grow the world” – Mémoire d’encrier and the languages of the world / interview with Rodney Saint-Éloi, Mémoire d’Encrier Publishing (Quebec / Canada)

• “Saving a language is a task for all of us” / by María Yolanda Argüello Mendoza, Magenta editions (Mexico)

• Public book and reading policies for indigenous languages in Chile. Intervention (updated in 2020) in the Parliament of Books and Speech / by Paulo Slachevsky, Lom Ediciones (Chile)

• Save, transmit – An example of transcription-translation from oral literature
  of some Vietnam’s peoples / by Mireille Gansel, translator, writer

• PEN’s commitment to Linguistic Rights – The importance of writing, publishing and reading in marginalized languages / interview with Peter McDonald (University of Oxford) and Carles Torner (PEN International), July 2018, Oxford and London

Contact the Alliance team to get a free digital version of this issue dedicated to public book policies.

Publication: June 2019
The Bibliodiversité review is copublished by Double ponctuation and the International Alliance of independent publishers.
See other issues of Bibliodiversité review here: “Self-publishing”; “Committed publishing”…

Overview of the issue:
From censorship to safeguarding, public initiatives in the book sector are varied.
This issue proposes academic articles, professional’ views and two previously unpublished regional analyses (sub-Saharan Africa and Spanish-speaking Latin America), taking us from Russia to Switzerland, via Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Quebec, France and Argentina.
All contributions seek an answer to this question: does the intervention of public authorities support editorial diversity?

Contents of the ‘Public book policies issue’:

• “Introduction: action taken by public authorities to support books”, by Étienne Galliand, Editor-in-Chief of Bibliodiversity Journal

• “Federalism and cohesion – New book policies in Switzerland”, by Carine Corajoud, historian (Switzerland)

• “A relative autonomy – A comparative analysis of the room for manoeuvre
  in public publishing in France”, by Hélène Seiler-Juilleret, École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Higher School of Social Sciences, France)

• “Negotiating control, promoting reading – Independent publishers and the Russian State in the 2010s”, by Bella Ostromooukhova, Paris Sorbonne University (France and Russia)

• “Morocco: escheated books – The shortcomings in state involvement in the books and written word sector”, by Anouk Cohen, CNRS (France and Morocco) and Kenza Sefrioui, Ph.D. in comparative literature, literary critic and publisher (Morocco)

• “Government policy on books in Tunisia” – A publisher’s view, by Nouri Abid, Med Ali publishers (Tunisia)

• “Government policy on books in Syria” – A publisher’s view, by Samar Haddad, Atlas Publishing (Syria)

• “Government policy on books in Lebanon” – A bookseller’s view, by Michel Choueiri, bookseller (France and the United Arab Emirates)

• “Government policy on books in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. A cross-sectional analysis of data collected in 12 countries”, by Luc Pinhas, University of Paris 13 Villetaneuse (France)

• “Publishing and public authorities: the Quebec case – Or the influence of public action on editorial independence?”, by Pascal Genêt, Sherbrooke University (Quebec-Canada)

• “Laws, public policies, institutions and measures to support books and reading
  in Latin America – An analysis of data gathered in 10 countries”, by Andrés E. Fernández Vergara (University of Chile)

• “From culture towards business – An analysis of a state support programme
  for local publishing in Buenos Aires: Opción Libros”, by José de Souza Muniz Jr., Federal Centre for Technological Education, Minas Gerais (Brazil)

Abstract of the issue:
Self-publishing is less and less perceived as an egocentric, narcissistic act – perhaps even spiteful. Bypassing the selective function of a third party (the publisher) in favour of a direct relationship with the potential reader - whether by choice or by necessity, when one has been rejected by those “in the know”- seems on the contrary perfectly in tune with the signs of our times, which advocates for transversal relations, fewer intermediaries and direct relationships between producers and consumers, quicker channels, wariness towards experts, elites and comitology.
If self-publishing is uninhibited, it is vibrant in its digital format, where entry requirements are now minor. However, is self-publishing a vector of bibliodiversity?
The notion of “independence” is also questioned by this development in terms of production. Indeed, the United States has often spoken of “indie” authors or ebooks, this figure of the independent author being now also assimilated and claimed in the French context. But what kind of independence are we talking about?

Contents of “Self-publishing”:

• Self-publishing: a vector of bibliodiversity? / By Sylvie Bosser, University of Paris 8

• Self-publishing in French literature. A historical overview of a multidimensional publishing practice / By Olivier Bessard-Banquy, University of Bordeaux-Montaigne

• Self-published authors on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Motivations, identities, practices and expectations / By Stéphanie Parmentier, University of Bordeaux-Montaigne

• Self-publishing of comics. A specific route into publishing / By Kevin Le Bruchec, University of Paris 13

• The (in)visible third party. Mentoring emerging writers: a process that encourages self-publishing / By Marie Caffari and Johanne Mohs, Berne University of the Arts

• Self-publishing: a unique phenomenon by its nature, scope and actors. Analysis of self-publishing in Latin America and beyond / By Daniel Benchimol, for the CERLALC

• Literary self-publishing in Morocco. Conditions, challenges and social significations of an growing cultural practice / By Kaoutar Harchi, Centre for Research on Social Links

• Self-publishing in Iran. A story of a dilemma against a backdrop of audacity / Case study of Azadeh Parsapour, publisher

• Les Éditions du Net. An interview with Henri Mojon / By Sylvie Bosser, University of Paris 8

Read issue 4 of the journal Bibliodiversity.

This issue is dedicated to Andre Schiffrin, member of the Scientific Committee of the journal Bibliodiversity.