French bookshops revolt after literary prize lists Amazon book

[Independent voter]

France has socialist bookstores, the French state makes sure the bookstore owners get more of a cut and there are other protections.

French booksellers say Amazon is the beast who devours all!

Surprise, surprise when the winning book turned out to be an Amazon book the writer self published. Looks like the writer tried to get French publishers to publish the book but they wouldn't so he self published and the book was good enough to win.





https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a8539091.html

Booksellers in France have been left outraged after a novel distributed only by Amazon was included in the long-list for one of the country's most prestigious literary prizes.

Independent bookstores have called on literary judges to “defend books and not those who threaten them” after Marco Koskas’ Bande de Français was included in a long-list of seven essays and 17 novels competing for the Prix Renaudot.

The Syndicat de la librairie française, which represents French booksellers, says that selecting the book was a major faux pas because the move rewards the company threatening their livelihood.

“By this choice, does the Prix Renaudot know that it does a disservice to the author himself, the booksellers and gives a worrying signal for the future of the creation and dissemination of the book” the Syndicat said in a statement.

“Amazon is not a competitor like the others. It does not just want to become a major player in the book market, it wants to become the market by itself by eliminating its competitors, organising unfair competition, escaping the tax, bypassing the single price of the book and replacing both publishers, distributors and booksellers.”

Amid calls to boycott the prize, Mélanie Le Saux, a bookseller in the Paris region, blasted the Renaudot jury for “throwing the door wide open to the beast”.

“Do they want us to pay our most ferocious competitor? To give him money so he can kill us?” she asked in an open letter on Facebook.

However, Mr Koskas, who has published more than a dozen books via more traditional routes, insists the fault lies with French publishers, who rejected the book and forced him turn to Amazon.

The French-Israeli author told the Guardian: “As I didn’t want to bow down to this decision in the end I decided to self-publish. Otherwise I might have gone into some sort of literary hiding.”

Renaudot jury member and author Patrick Besson defended the move, saying that judges were more interested in the content of a book than how it was distributed. He add that the tome was deserving of a nomination because it was “one of the most original, the most interesting”, of the autumn season.


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French author Laurent Binet said the outrage was understandable because “literary prizes have an enormous impact and generate a lot of sales, so the stakes are high”.

France has around 3,000 independent bookshops and continues to support independent booksellers with a fixed prices and discounts capped at 5 per cent. In 2013, the country passed a a bill to stop retailers from combining the 5% discount with free delivery.

“In France, our bookshops are doing better than elsewhere because of a very restrictive book policy and also thanks to our attachment to paper books, “Mr Binet said. The sale of ebooks is still marginal. But this relative good health is fragile, and it would take little to destabilise it. And Amazon is clearly seen as the No 1 threat. The move from the Renaudot is seen as a sort of Amazon Trojan horse.”

[Noomz]

I'd tell you what I think about it but I don't want to get infracted for nation bashing.

[FlatBootyJudy]

Haha! Look who got the last laugh!

[Mister Cheese]

They're gatekeeping and they got what they deserved.

[Revi]

They're totally right about Amazon's shitty, unethical and barely legal business practices, but they only have themselves to blame for turning away good literature.

[Deleted]

Will be hard for the French to compete in a world where other countries are not constantly held back and protected by their government.

[Deleted]

They're totally right about Amazon's shitty, unethical and barely legal business practices, but they only have themselves to blame for turning away good literature.

Yup, fuck Amazon.

Despite the great services they provide their practices are horrible.

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Will be hard for the French to compete in a world where other countries are not constantly held back and protected by their government.

Dunno M8 we're doing alright.

[sarahtasher]

Ah yes, edgelord who keep droning about nationalism and western culture, coming like clockwork to...defecate on a country trying to protect its culture (yes, I know anglophones don't get it, but French culture is a western one)

[prwraith]

Umm they turned the guys book away, this is completely on them. Screw em.

[Crissi]

Bookstores / major publishers should not be the gatekeepers of who can and cannot publish their works and be considered for literature prizes. Too bad for them. They only have themselves to blame for him turning to Amazon

[Queen of Hamsters]

Whilst the French sort of made their own bed, Amazon is a shady company at best.
Money talks though, and clearly Amazon saw possible monies where the French didn't.

[NED funded]

Ah yes, edgelord who keep droning about nationalism and western culture, coming like clockwork to...defecate on a country trying to protect its culture (yes, I know anglophones don't get it, but French culture is a western one)

Restricting the freedom of authors is supposed to be good??? Amazon and similar services is great!! Authors (like this one) can self publish and make a big splash more freely.

[Celista]

They're totally right about Amazon's shitty, unethical and barely legal business practices, but they only have themselves to blame for turning away good literature.

Yeah, this sums it up pretty well. Amazon is not great in a lot of ways, but you shouldn't exclude a work of literature just because it is sold on Amazon.

[Easo]

So who made the first bad choice in this case? Amazon or the bookshops?
Their own fault, no matter how bad Amazon might be overall.

[Kapadons]

Another win for Amazon.

[Raldazzar]

I'd tell you what I think about it but I don't want to get infracted for nation bashing.

It should be allowed if you are from a specific country. I'm English. It's in my BLOOD to insult the French and Germans. and them us.. It's been going on for thousand+ years! mods here are stamping our traditions out!

[sarahtasher]

I love Americans cheering on nationalism and celebrating ''western cuture'' while casually dismissing any western culture that is not their. (Yes, that involve language protection and yes, it involve protectionism. Y'know, that thingy Trump is so hot about)

[IIamaKing]

Them Franks are always uppity about this shit, aren't they the reason why NF has to release movies in some theatres to get awards consideration?


This just in France, The internet is here to stay and will disrupt ALL conventional media.

[De Lupe]

Looks like the writer tried to get French publishers to publish the book but they wouldn't so he self published and the book was good enough to win.

Guess they shouldn't have pissed all over him.

They turned him down, he found someone who didn't turn him down, and he won as a result of not being turned down. He didn't cheat, or swindle, or anything else like that. That's called karma.

[sarahtasher]

Getting mad that the people who give awards disagree with their assessment of the text seems pretty silly.

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This has nothing to do with that. The publishers had their opportunity to put this book out and they rejected it. The bookshops should get pissed at the publishers for passing on such high quality work. They cost them all sales.

Yes it is. Specifically, the independent bookstore is considered a cornerstore of french culture. (Considered. Personally, I'm not hostile to Amazon.ca, but then again, I'm French Canadian, IE it's either Amazon.fr or outrageous delay)