It is rare for Quebec publishing houses to reach the 50-year mark, as Québec Amérique is doing this year. While Fides and Boréal, for example, are older, Québec Amérique is the only house that has remained in the family. Passed down from father to daughter in 2021, from Jacques to Caroline Fortin, it is still a big family today, as M.me Fortin, with its authors, its employees, its catalog of more than 2000 titles — some having aged admirably, others marked by their time. Memories and futures.
In taking stock of the anniversary, in writing the history of the house for a big, big commemorative magazine, Caroline Fortin “realized how many major changes we have experienced in fifty years.” Changes that have affected books, publishing, the world.
To the point where the director and editor refuses to come forward, to say what she hopes for the next ten or twenty years of Québec Amérique.
It is true that since the first educational book published by Jacques Fortin in 1974, publishing has experienced the arrival of the computer and digital technology. The dictionary Junior visual, presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1987, will be considered the first color book designed and produced by computer in the world, a project led by François Fortin, son and brother.
Then came the Internet. “I remember that very well,” M.me Fortin: In those years, everyone, everywhere in the world, was saying that the book was dead, that everything was going to be digital… A false prophecy, that one, and sweet revenge for the paper book.
Finally, social networks have come to shake up the world of media and book promotion.
Through these technological changes, Quebec has also seen the birth of a hundred new publishers, leading to a boom in literature, which is now very much alive, for its influence, a development of the market which has become just as fragmented.
Publish double or quits
“I keep telling my father, ‘You had it easy, after all,'” says Caroline Fortin, not entirely joking.
If Jacques Fortin was known as a publisher of whims and risk-taking, it is also because the times allowed it, believes M today.me Fort.
Publish a Pierre Vallières that all the other publishers had refused… Make a first print run of the Cat at a loss, because the author Yves Beauchemin was determined to ensure that his book, expensive to produce because it was bulky, remained very accessible to readers, and to end up with the first best-seller in the history of Quebec… To offer a phenomenal advance to René Lévesque on a future biography…
“My father was always playing double or quits,” smiles M.me Fortin, also because he sold so much when it was working… Hey, the biography of René Lévesque, he sold 100,000 copies in the first week,” in 1986.
Today, doubles are rare, if not impossible at this level. We talk about a bestseller starting from 1000 copies sold rather than 10,000, “and to reach 10,000 sales, you have to work hard”, even big names, like Mariana Mazza, confides the editor.
“Nothing is certain anymore. Even the most relevant book, if it comes out during a controversy that obscures everything in the media, it can fall into the cracks. It’s sad for some titles.”
Others are doing well, with exemplary careers. Take The road to Chlifaby Michèle Marineau, who followed her CassiopeiaAt the time – around 1990 – these were among the first serious-toned stories for young people. Chlifait’s incredible: we still sell 5,000 copies per year,” says the publisher happily.
Together, for everything
What is the difference in the leadership of Caroline Fortin, who bought the house in 2021, compared to that of her father? “My father was a loner. I make my decisions as a team. We discuss, sometimes things get heated, we don’t always agree.”
She is also part of the community of publishers, in this kind of “coopetition” specific to Quebec publishing. “I love helping,” says the woman who led the beginnings of the Quebec project, guest of honor at the prestigious Frankfurt Fair in 2021.
All the same, what wishes can we make for Quebec America, faced with these difficult futures to predict? That the breakthrough in France, begun three years ago, works and ends up being profitable, suggests the editor.
“The first year, we sent everything: practical guides, youth books, novels… It cost us a fortune. It’s complicated, being distributed in France…”
Then, The wrenby Jean-François Beauchemin, has had a formidable critical career and very good sales in France. Québec Amérique has decided to follow in the footsteps and continue in literature. Geneviève Jannelle, with Take a breathseems set to follow the momentum, notes the director. “If we can increase our market like that, that would be good. And for the authors too,” who thus have more royalties and recognition.
Counter-example: “In Quebec, I am very worried about the readership,” confides M.me Fortin: There aren’t enough readers here, it’s a very small market. And above all, we can’t promote reading, make it a foundation of society. We see it in France: reading can cross all spheres of active life and culture. I would like us to give ourselves the means to love reading and books as much here.” So here it is, the wish to make for the 50th anniversary of Québec Amérique.