Attal, Glucksmann, Zemmour… The campaign launches in bookstores

What fly has stung the political class? In recent weeks, nearly a dozen leading figures, some of whom could play a key role in 2027, have put pen to paper, and their political book is being displayed in large numbers on the shelves of bookstores.

Programs, personal stories, essays or chronicles of power; one year before the presidential election, there is something for everyone. Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal publishes As a free man (Ed. de l’Observatoire), intimate account of his political commitment. The mayor of Meaux (LR), Jean-François Copé, cries out against the extremes in When populists betray the people (Ed. Plon), while Élisabeth Borne returns to the arena with Let’s wake up! (Ed. Robert Laffont), May 7. This cohort of former ministers will soon be joined in bookstores by Raphaël Glucksmann and Éric Zemmour, who is reissuing French Suicide (Ed. Fayard), his bestseller of 2014, on May 20. “There is a real frenzy, bordering on rational,” whispers a publisher accustomed to these political-media battles, and who sees only one explanation for this avalanche of works: “The imminence of the presidential election. »

One man alone embodies this order of battle: Gabriel Attal. Its publisher, Muriel Beyer, who spotted its commercial “potential” three years ago, does not hide it: “There is no coincidence of timing, the book is part of a political agenda, it is a golden rule for everyone. » His clan orchestrates a continuous media presence around the publication of his essay, from television sets to major press interviews. Without forgetting the signing sessions, real barometers of popularity… In Gabriel Attal’s entourage, we recognize that this “bookstore tour” will fuel “reflection on a possible candidacy”.

From here, the leader of Renaissance showcases his notoriety, recounts his personal life, tucked away in the back of the bookstore. Scenes widely reported on his social networks. The strategy is reminiscent of that of Éric Zemmour, who, in the fall of 2021, still a successful journalist and polemicist, relied on the release of France has not said its last word (Ed. Rubempré) to travel the country and gradually nourish the hypothesis of a candidacy in 2022.

“Weigh on the public debate”

But a campaign is not limited to a media presence, it is also based on convictions. This is what Jean-François Copé (LR) wants to believe. In a calm voice serving a machine-gun delivery, he lists the interests of the book object: “developing ideas”, “impacting public debate”. A publication is the ideal instrument for choosing themes that will become campaign markers. A strategy already tested on the right by Bruno Retailleau, designated Republican candidate for 2027, who published 2025 Give in nothing, a succinct manifesto against Islamism.

“Beyond the sales figures, the ambition is to give political staff the means to participate intelligently in the public debate,” explains Muriel Beyer, who also edited the text by the former Minister of the Interior, which sold 6,000 copies. Influencing the public debate with a book, MP (PS) Boris Vallaud still believes in it, with the publication of Our lives are not commodities (Ed. Seuil), despite sales which he suspects will not exceed 2,000 copies.

In reality, a large part of the political class has become accustomed to commercial failures. In the fall, the latest books by Marine Tondelier and Xavier Bertrand each sold barely 4,000 copies. In 2024, that of Sandrine Rousseau painfully reached 1000 copies. In 2019, Anne Hidalgo did worse: 227. However, Boris Vallaud believes in the power of words, “the only ones capable of developing a thought”.

French specificity

The writing required months of work, from the synopsis sent to the publisher to the writing carried out in his free time. On the left, he is not alone: ​​Raphaël Glucksmann, MEP and co-president of Place publique, will publish on May 28 a work whose title and subject matter are still secret, Jérôme Guedj, PS deputy for Essonne, who has already hastened to self-declare himself a candidate for 2027, is expected in the process, while François Hollande is preparing for the fall.

“It’s a lot of work, we must be delighted that the French political class is still attached to this tradition of writing,” maintains, at the other end of the political field, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, who is also participating in this literary spring with 2027, freedom or death (Ed. Fayard). If political personnel have a taste for writing, it is also to take into account a French specificity. Unlike our European neighbors, a candidate without a book is an anomaly. “I don’t know an elected president who has not expressed himself in a previously published work,” says Romain Eskenazi, spokesperson for the PS in the National Assembly. The central figure of this heritage remains General de Gaulle: by publishing his War Memoirs, between 1954 and 1959, the founder of the Fifth Republic made writing an obligatory passage towards the supreme magistracy. The work automatically confers legitimacy, credibility, seriousness, especially since it remains associated, for an entire generation having experienced the democratization of reading during the Trente Glorieuses, with a form of cultural effervescence and economic prosperity. “Readers remain attached to the figure of the political writer,” assures Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, communicator and political advisor.

Strike force

Former Presidents, in particular, continue to appeal to a large audience. François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy have a string of bestsellers thanks to their juicy anecdotes about the corridors of power. But in the midst of an electoral battle, it is the intimate stories and programmatic books that arouse the interest of readers (and voters). In 2017, the proposals of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, François Fillon and, above all, Emmanuel Macron all exceeded 100,000 copies.

Others did not need to wait for a deadline to achieve sales records: Philippe de Villiers, Éric Zemmour, Jordan Bardella… These far-right authors are close to the top and share the same publisher, Fayard. Bought by Breton industrialist Vincent Bolloré, the house became, under the leadership of publisher Lise Boëll, the flagship of a galaxy of conservative authors, calling for a “national surge”.

Last rally: the sovereignist candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. Such a concentration of figures referenced on the right is “unprecedented in the history of publishing”, observes political scientist Christian Le Bart, specialist in political books. A considerable strike force which revives the myth of publishing houses making presidents. Proof that, in the race for the Élysée, publishing remains an essential step. Less to be read than to be seen.