French Conservative Authors Top Book Sales

Simple, national conservatives have engaging ideas, whilst the Left only has stale, old platitudes. It also shows the French are waking up!

From The European Conservative

Hélène De Lauzun, PhD

Three authors from the nationalist and conservative Right have sold several hundred thousand books, while figures from the Left struggle to sell more than 200 copies.

The newspaper Le Parisien took a look at the best-selling books in France, both online and in bookshops. The conclusion is clear: the top spot goes to a trio of conservative authors and political figures, Philippe de Villiers, Éric Zemmour and Jordan Bardella.

To be precise, the best-selling author in France at the moment is an American, Freida McFadden, who writes successful thrillers. But when it comes to political books, the result is unequivocal and reflects the French people’s clear preference for right-wing ideas.

Jordan Bardella, president of the Rassemblement National (RN), has already sold nearly 42,000 copies of his programme-narrative, Ce que veulent les Français (What the French Want), published on October 29th. He is almost on a par with Éric Zemmour and his essay on France’s Catholic identity, La Messe n’est pas dite (The Mass Is Not Said), released on October 22nd and already selling 45,000 copies. Both are surpassed by the latest work by sovereigntist Philippe de Villiers, former Member of the European Parliament and founder of the Puy du Fou park, whose new essay, Populicide, published on October 8th, has already won over more than 107,000 readers.

“Zemmour and Villiers have a loyal audience that has been following them for a long time, so their figures come as no surprise,” comments one publisher. In the case of Jordan Bardella, the young politician is benefiting both from the French public’s curiosity about who could replace Marine Le Pen in the 2027 presidential election and from a militant gesture by RN voters, according to the publishing milieu. 

But the militant argument is not enough: Marine Le Pen, although very popular within her political party, has never achieved the sales figures of her heir apparent. Bardella’s latest success comes on top of the success of his autobiography, Ce que je cherche (What I’m Looking For), published in the spring, which has sold more than 205,000 copies to date and continues to sell well.

In this context, it is also worth noting the posthumous essay by Olivier Marleix, a Les Républicains MP who took his own life as he was preparing to publish a scathing essay on Emmanuel Macron’s record. Although the author is not widely known to the French public, his criticisms resonate with the French people at a time when the head of state is highly unpopular. Dissolution française (French Dissolution) has already sold more than 4,000 copies, and the MP’s previous work, Les Liquidateurs, published in 2021, had to be reprinted.

At the same time, figures from the Centre and the Left who try their hand at writing struggle to convince more than a few dozen readers. Marine Tondelier, the Green Party candidate for the 2027 presidential election, has not sold the 200 copies that would have put her in the top 100 essays and documents. The same goes for Agnès Buzyn, former Macronist minister, and Xavier Bertrand, who was tipped to become prime minister a few weeks ago.

The mainstream press rushed to investigate whether the information had been falsified or commissioned by the “Bolloré sphere”—named after the main conservative press baron, owner of CNews channel and various press outlets. But the figures remain unchanged and indisputable. This fuels alarmist rhetoric about the irresistible rise of the “far Right” and the “normalisation” of “repugnant” ideas in French public opinion. “The success of Bolloré’s crusade lies in his ability to use well-known media brands as a springboard for normalising these far-right ideas,” explains Alexis Levrier, an expert in media history, interviewed by France Info. According to him, the Fayard publishing house, which publishes Bardella and Villiers and which Bolloré is accused of having “taken over” (Bolloré never “buys out”, he “takes over” according to the left-wing press), has become “a tool for promoting far-right ideas.”

The narrative is one of large-scale manipulation, as it seems inconceivable to commentators that there could be genuine enthusiasm among the French for the ideas developed by Bardella, Villiers or Zemmour—and an irrepressible weariness with the all-too-familiar methods and clichés endlessly repeated by Tondelier, Buzyn and their acolytes in their books, as well as in the mainstream media during prime time.

But contrary to what the left-wing press and book industry experts would have us believe, the manipulation is not one-sided. The distribution of books by Bardella and his alter egos is hampered by censorship orchestrated by ‘independent’ booksellers, who refuse to offer the books for sale or to order them for curious readers who request them. The success of these censored authors is all the more commendable. Orders are being placed on online platforms such as Amazon or FNAC—which in turn fuels the hatred of ideological opponents towards these large capitalist chains that lend their formidable logistics to the dissemination of despised ideas.

We can and must obviously rejoice in the trend that is emerging from these publishing figures. But caution must remain the order of the day. In 2021, success in bookshops led Zemmour to believe that he had a place in the presidential race. The results at the ballot box proved him wrong. Convincing people of the validity of one’s theories through a book is one thing; winning elections is another. Nevertheless, the battle of ideas is paving the way for other victories—but when will they come?

Pictured: Philippe de Villiers