After the publication of our list of French authors who sell the most, Peter Conte, director general of the group, Editis company (which owns Robert Laffont, the publisher of Marc Levy) wished to respond to the interview of Philippe Robinet, managing director of Calmann-Lévy, publisher of Guillaume Musso.

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Here is the letter from Peter Conte, the title is to him.

«Just an update

regardless of its industry, a market becomes a market for serious, safe, and so durable, that when it offers a barometer robust figures, and that all of his players respect him.

the annual ranking of the Figaro of the novelists French published yesterday [on January 16, 2019] (Source: Study GFK) is an appointment-you also need that respected. It is also a good time for the entire profession and celebrate the teams.

Thanks to Michel Bussi (Presses de la Cité), Marc Levy (Robert Laffont/Versilio), Raphaëlle Giordano (Plon, Editions Eyrolles), Françoise Bourdin (Belfond) and Franck Thilliez (River), the group Editis is proud to count 5 writers in this classification.

It is a pity, however, that this year, the interview of the new editor Guillaume Musso in scrambles his reading.

It wouldn’t occur to anyone to challenge the talent of Guillaume Musso and his current dominance in the domestic market. But it would probably have been more elegant to specify that 1.1 million to 1.6 million books sold in 2018, has been through two houses of the group Editis, Pocket and XO Editions, the publisher that has published its first 14 books. The progression found in 2018 by this author is due very largely to the performance of the Pocket. As well, this year it is the Pocket of apartment in Paris (XO), which is the book, in all categories, which is the most sold in France (590.000 copies). If all the honour belongs of course to its author, no one can remove their credit to the teams that accompanied him with loyalty.

later in the article, the figure of «782.000 copies sold» is put forward. This figure constitutes a given internal to this editor, which is not consistent with the ranking methodology of GFK. In this context, its use at night as well to the understanding of the investigation and especially to the fairness of the comparison of the respective performance of the different authors.

Finally, in regards to foreign sales and the title «French author number one in the world», the statistical sources and methods disparate are of course always more difficult to consolidate. On the markets in the cities of Korea and Italy, respectively, are Bernard Werber and Joël Dicker (number 3 in the ranking of the Figaro ) that dominate them. Two authors that we’re not editing. One thing is for sure, by the longevity of his success and his current performance on the major u.s. markets, and chinese, Marc Levy is a French author living who has sold the most books in the world. And from far away.

Our Industry strives to provide figures consistent and reliable. By definition, all the barometers are imperfect, but all professionals must exercise the discipline to follow them. Without a common unit of measurement, it is quickly anarchy.»

Contacted by Le Figaro littéraire , éditions Calmann-Lévy have not wished to react.