FrançaisConference : The contradictions of the globalisation of the publishing industry
Copublishing, coproduction ; effects on the contents and on the publishing process of illustrated books
Author/s : Christian Robin
The history of printed books and copublishing are linked : since 1462, an international book fair has taken place in Frankfurt (Germany). To look into the question of the consequences of copublishing on the publishing process and specifically on the contents, we have undertaken three types of studies: - an analysis of the potential consequences of the financial management of copublishing, - an analysis of the strategy of a specialised publisher (La Martinière), - a comparison between gardening books published in the years 1980 et 2001. These studies led us to the following conclusions: Copublishing has a greater part in the increase of new releases than french initiated books. It helps to publish books on narrow market targets and quickly amplifies a trade catalogue. Economical strategies could be diversified: some french publishers consider that copublishing adds revenues to their editions, other publishers consider copublishing as a single operation, whose costs are afterwards put on each national edition. The first type of calculation implies a preference for authors of images (photographers, illustrators) paid in proportion of the turn-over. These publishers therefore avoid to release reference books like encyclopedias. Copublishing leads to an up levelling of books’ shape (size, number of pages, number of illustrations) on the whole market. Books published in 2001 and bought from foreign countries are more similar to the remaining part of the production than in 1980. But on the other hand, the lay-out of a copublished book can still be specific, a good example could be La Martinière image books. These trends are helped by digitalization.
Key words: copublishing, contents, publishing strategy, standardization, illustrated books.
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