26 May How Covid-19 Impacts the French Publishing Industry (Podcast #8)
Episode #8 – Current French Publishing Industry Challenges Seen from an Indie Point of View
By Marleen Seegers, Co-Founder of 2 Seas Agency and Host of The Make Books Travel Podcast
May 26, 2020
Florent Massot
Today I am talking to Florent Massot, who founded the independent French publishing house Massot Editions in 2017.
This isn’t Florent’s first publishing venture however; he has been publishing books for over 35 years.
I wanted to sit down with him and discuss amongst others the impact of the strict lockdown measures the French government imposed in March.
For about 2 months, it was virtually impossible to buy a book anywhere in France, either in physical or online bookstores.
The Syndicat de l’édition française (the French Publishers’ Union) recently published a survey that showed a pretty gloomy picture of the state of the industry.
But the Covid-19 pandemic isn’t the first crisis Florent has seen in his career, and I was very much looking forward to hearing his thoughts on the one we’re living in at the moment.
Here are a few of the questions I asked Florent:
- What is the general situation in France currently, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic?
- French bookstores were closed for almost two months during the strict lockdown of the country. Have they all reopened now?
- Which measures has the French government put in place to help the publishing industry?
- Which initiatives, if any, have you taken since the start of the pandemic in order to mitigate economic losses as much as possible?
- What do you think will be the mid-to long-term consequences of the pandemic for the French book market?
Thank you for listening, and enjoy!
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