“Pavilions fulfills an old fantasy! The author, columnist and blogger Catherine Voyer-Léger, who has always had a keen interest in online publishing, is enthusiastic to see a new actor arrive in the Quebec literary milieu. The Pavilions digital platform, recently inaugurated, gives authors the opportunity to serialize writing projects that will be published on a recurring basis ranging from weekly to monthly.
“I like the laboratory side of Pavillons, which offers us the possibility of being accompanied in the creation and leaving aside the marketing aspect while having a guaranteed income”, adds Catherine Voyer-Léger.
Thanks to a subscription system, the monthly price of which varies according to the projects, the public has access to the texts of the author to which it subscribes as they appear. “Pavillons is a distributor of literature, and it is in this sense that we can compare it to Netflix or Spotify”, explains Marie Lamarre, independent publisher and co-founder of the platform with Myriam Comtois and Annabelle Moreau. But for her, the fundamental difference with these streaming giants is that there is an individual relationship between readers and writers.
“What motivates me in such a project is a dialogue with the public made possible when the project is barely in its infancy. It intrigues me to have the opinion of people live, ”underlines Catherine Voyer-Léger. She also appreciates the notion of commitment to Pavillons, to whom she must deliver a manuscript every two weeks in order to keep the public in suspense. “We have to do it even if we are not completely satisfied. We are not in the search for perfection, rather in an ephemeral side close to journalism. It motivates me a lot, ”she continues.
Free figures
From criticism to fiction via poetry, comics and storytelling, Marie Lamarre promises “quite strong themes” broken down into entries over several months, a bit like episodes of a series that we follow. assiduously.
For her part, Catherine Voyer-Léger turned to essays for Pavilions. Inspired by The Barbarians, by Alessandro Baricco, a book on the mutation published in the form of a soap opera in a newspaper, she chose to focus on the female figures of pop culture who made her. For about a year, Catherine Voyer-Léger will offer her subscribers “a journey through the years [1980-1990] by pushing the reflection on the big questions which marked my development as a woman, but also on the time “.
Whether confirmed or emerging, other writers such as Martine Delvaux, Patrick Senécal, Mélissa Verreault and Antoine Lussier will also take part in this new stylistic exercise. Because for Marie Lamarre, the advantage of a platform like Pavillons is the strength of numbers. “Our authors will bring their audience back and, from there, our mandate is to make them discover more. The idea is therefore to attract the most traditional readers, but also generations who are used to reading on phones and tablets.
And this virtuous circle could also benefit writers in a whole other way, believes Marie Lamarre. “Reading a feature article on the American equivalents of Pavillons, I was caught up in the field opened up by these platforms from a literary point of view. These are new playgrounds for authors, and they are conditioned by a certain discipline,” she adds. A new form of writing which, perhaps, will inspire many.