Livres Hebdo: partners in the book world
Fabrice Piault shares how Livres Hebdo started as a gazette of information in books and has now renewed their focus to become partners with their readers in every aspect.
Livres Hebdo, published by Electre SA, a subsidiary of the Cercle de la Librairie, is the benchmark media hub for the book professional . A true link between the various partners in the book ecosystem, Livres Hebdo provides its readers with a precise vision of the major challenges of the sector, editorial trends and business developments.
The journey…
Livres Hebdo was created in 1979 following the merger of Bibliographie de la France and Bulletin du livre. “Our audience include professionals involved with books, be it publishers, booksellers, librarians, book fairs, government, associations, authors. We cater to every member of the publishing ecosystem,” tells Fabrice Piault of Livres Hebdo.
Print to hybrid…
“Through our website, we reach out to a wide trade audience. Historically, it was printed weekly, we have had a website for nearly 20 years. Last 2 years, we have completely changed everything. Now we are first a digital platform and have a print publication which is monthly and has 180 pages every month. We also have special themed editions – which are approximately 10 per year, for example, children’s books, comic books etc,” he adds.
Digital platform…
“We reach out to our audience digitally with different types of newsletters. Every day, Livres Hebdo offers the opportunity to follow the news of the sector,” he says.
On social networks…
“We have different social networks and have different editorial policies for them, each social network has a specific way of functioning,” adds Piault.
Readership…
“We publish in French language and have a wide audience.About 15% of our audience is international – Belgium, Switzerland, Quebec, and many African countries.Infact, we reach out to any region where people speak French and have French book stores in different countries,” he shares.
Main activities…
“The core business of Livres Hebdo is to produce data, economic analysis, trends, insight into book production, sales figures, ranking of the book sellers, bestseller list ever week–for these we have various partnerships we work with. We have an agreement with the Ministry of Culture to publish ranking on books which are borrowed from libraries. One-third of our monthly magazine is preview of books. Current news compose another third (and rest is dedicated to features, interviews, data analysis, etc.). The idea is to give our customers tools which can help them to make informed decisions,” tells Piault.
Webinars…
“We have many synergies-website, magazines, webinars, events, professional awards. Now with renewed focus we have become partners with our readers. Our magazine and digital platforms have a large audience for webinars, these were launched 1.5 years back and give an opportunity to publishers to present their books to a professional audience of approximately 500 book-sellers and librarians. With the replays each webinar is viewed by at least 5000 people,” he informs.
On a concluding note…
“We are a reference point for the industry and enable them to have information. We are also observers and partners who enable the industry to think about the future of the industry,” concludes Piault.
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