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A senior Reed Exhibitions manager has accused Hachette Livre of denigrating the Paris Book Fair, which opens for six days on 26th March.
An article on the Hachette Livre online book club site Myboox said that the group was scaling back its display area from 900 to 800 sq metres because of the "exorbitant" rates charged by Reed, which runs the Salon du Livre.
In an open letter to the publishing group's c.e.o. Arnaud Nourry, Jean-Daniel Compain, general manager of Reed Exhibitions' culture, sport and leisure division, said that Hachette "seems to seek failure" for the fair and that "all the other exhibitors are surprised by the campaign of denigration."
He claimed that Hachette had exaggerated the prices charged, took no account of new attractions for professionals and was just "attacking a public event to strengthen its strategic leadership over the [book publishing] sector."
Hachette Livre rejected Reed's allegations. "Mr Compain built his case on things we never said," said communications director Ronald Blunden. "We have been very careful neither to disparage the Salon nor to influence other publishers." The Myboox team "has total editoral independence," he added. Although Hachette is maintining a token presence at the fair, publishing house Bayard has pulled out completely.
The latest spat adds nothing to the debate over the future of the Salon du Livre, which is owned by the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l'Edition, SNE). Hachette Livre had already said that value for money was one of its reasons for reducing its presence this year, and various options are on the table for change.