“It was an EXCELLENT Montreal Book Fair,” commented Antoine Tanguay, of Alto editions, on Monday morning. “All my colleagues agree that it was magical.” At La Pastèque, specializing in comics and children, sales increased by 60% from Wednesday to Friday. While many feared sales would be reduced by the absence of the 18,000 students from school groups, these were on the contrary raised by parents and grandparents, who took over from the teachers on strike to take the young people to the Show . And who took the opportunity to also buy books.
“The first days of the show, usually calmer for adult book publishers, were exceptional,” relates Florence Noyer, from Héliotrope editions. The founder attributes this success to the initiative of “the Montreal Book Fair (SLM), which reacted very well when the strike was announced by offering free tickets. »
Access was free for children under 16 years old. Each adult could accompany a group of five children or less free of charge, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Walking through the aisles on Friday, The duty saw small groups of three to four children of varying ages; lagging behind, behind, all smiles, a little stunned, an adult.
On the youth sales side, the results did not experience the same extraordinary momentum. “At Les Malins, we feared disaster and instead we left with a smile! » Founder Marc-André Audet indicates that sales from Wednesday to Friday were above average, but the momentum was lost “Saturday and Sunday, quieter than usual”.
Same observation at La Pastèque: after a great start, the weekend was “like last year”. Alto Editions had “the second best show since the foundation — at a difference of $200. We missed Éric Chacour’s book on Saturday,” illustrates Antoine Tanguay.
“As for why, the strike may have stimulated the desire to go out. But how can we explain that Alto, who acts like an adult, knows such a salon? » asks the publishing director.
Intuition: circumstances allowed parents to (re)discover SLM. “There were definitely parents for whom this was the first time,” replies Mr. Audet.
Perhaps the presence of parents also curbed some compulsive purchases on the part of young people? “Yes, absolutely! » agrees Mr. Audet.
Parents spoil themselves
At Héliotrope, we once again saw the impact of the Médicis prize awarded to Kevin Lambert. Mme Noyer noted that “the visitors were very keen on discoveries. » His house had “very good results, a lot of attendance, and curiosity too. »
88,000 visitors passed through the Salon, coming to meet 1900 authors, and browse the books of 650 publishing houses. Last year, more than 75,000 people passed through the turnstiles, including 15,000 students during school matinees.
“We couldn’t predict the impact, but I knew it was the right thing to do,” shared the general director of SLM, Olivier Gougeon, about the initiative to offer free admission to young people.
“It makes sense that everyone benefited from it. The parents, who hold the purse strings, are present; they come with their children; are delighted to see them recognize authors, sometimes surprised; it energizes them, they buy books for their children, and at the nearby stand, while waiting, they discover a book that interests them and which they buy themselves…”
How many young people visited the show this year? “It’s complicated,” sighs Mr. Gougeon. “The fact that it is free means that accounts are not done quite as usual. »
This year, Olivier Gougeon sees 6,000 school visitors, and 82,000 regular visitors – including again perhaps children, perhaps not. The director recalls that these figures are all fresh, the SLM having ended on Sunday, and have not yet been validated.
10,000 children would have benefited from the free admission, as well as 8,000 accompanying parents. “Some of these children would still have come with their school. One thing is certain, disadvantaged schools have suffered; For them, school days are very important. But we are seeing a real discovery effect from our event. »
To the point of thinking about doing free days again next year? Certainly, confirms Mr. Gougeon. The difficulty ? It lies in administrative technicalities. “Contractually, with the Palais des congrès, it’s complicated to offer free admission. The SLM must pay a certain amount in royalties to the Palace. »
“This year, for example, it will cost us money, this free service, for the benefit of the Palais des congrès”, one of Quebec’s state corporations. “But we tell ourselves that we are investing this in our mission,” continues Mr. Gougeon. “And as a business partner, I have great confidence that the Palais des congrès will understand what we are trying to do, and to what extent free access helps us promote books and reading. »
See you next year.