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Like publishing houses the world over, French editors are being submerged in a tidal wave of unsolicited manuscripts, with every would-be writer hoping to make a dream come true.
But the majority are disappointed, with 99 percent receiving that dreaded rejection letter: "Thanks, but no thanks."
"My secretary says to me: 'If you only knew how many upset phone calls I get or how many insults.' We are in touch with the whole of humanity," said Francis Esmenard, director of the Albin Michel publishing house, on the sidelines of the Paris Book Fair.
Albin Michel, publishers of bestselling Belgian novelist Amelie Nothomb, is sent some 7,000 scripts through the post every year, Anne Carriere, which brought Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho to France, gets some 5,000 while Grasset, renowned publishers of French literary heavyweights Andre Malraux and Francois Mauriac, receive some 4,000.
Only one or two out of every thousand will be seriously considered for publication. But in fact a good editor can spot within minutes whether a manuscript is fit for publication or not.
"You don't need to eat a whole side of beef to know if it is good quality meat," said Esmenard. "You just need to read four or five pages to know whether a manuscript is worthy of being published."
With the short 35-hour working week in France and a fall in the average retirement, increasing numbers of French men and women are turning pen to paper to write "their book".
Most, some 75 percent, write novels loosely based on their own experiences, turning the editor into a kind of shrink, an often unwilling confidante party to the author's deepest secrets, fears and desires.
"Anyone can tell the story of their life. But more than 90 percent of what we receive cannot be printed by anyone. It's simply rubbish," said Gerard Berreby, from Allia publishing house.
Allia gets about 1,800 manuscripts a year, all hoping to be among the 250 authors who make their publishing debut every year in France.
"You might think it stupefying to have to read through 1,800 manuscripts, but from a business point of view, if I decide to publish two or three, with a print run of 3,000 to 5,000 examples then it's well worth it," said Berreby.
But some authors take rejection hard.
Publishers Anne Carriere often receives aggressive, insulting letters from would-be authors it has turned down.
"Crazy, obsessed people, write as well you know," said one of its editors.
In a sign of the continued interest in the published word despite the influence of the Internet, some 174,000 people, five percent more than last year, visited the 2006 book fair here which closed on Wednesday.
"It is comforting to see that books are retaining their place in our culture," said Serge Eyrolles, head of the national publishers union, adding not only had there been many visitors, but publishers had also done a lot of business.
In the major houses, professional readers sift through incoming scripts with those which show some potential then being read by a committee of editors.
Would-be authors, which show real promise, are often encouraged by publishers, who seek to show them where they have gone wrong, in the hope that an improved, and publishable work will land back on their table.
"People think we are looking for any excuse not to publish. But in fact the opposite is true, we are desperately looking for talent," said Olivier Nora from Grasset.
"If there's even a hint of talent, we jump on it."
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AFPEntertainment-books-France
AFP 241202 GMT 03 06
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