The book, signed by an unknown, the Briton Sharon Jones, was released on March 4. – Instagram screenshot
It is at the top of the sales ranking in France, and yet very few people talk about it… The book Burn after writing (“To burn after writing”), which tears itself away from readers, illustrates the gap between traditional media and viral success on social networks.
The book, signed by an unknown, the Briton Sharon Jones, was released on March 4. It has been at the top of book sales on Amazon France for four weeks already. It was also at the head of the testing category during the week of March 29 to April 4 (and sixth best seller in all categories), according to Edistat.
A giant Proust questionnaire
The concept is simple: a giant Proust questionnaire, a multitude of more or less deep questions, which are answered by writing directly on the pages, as in a diary. From “The hardest thing I have ever done” to “What makes me shiver with pleasure”, to “The one responsible for my biggest injury”.
And it works so hard that the book temporarily fell out of stock. Amazon mentions a delay of one to two weeks to receive it. The editor, Contre-Dires (Guy Trédaniel group), had not fully anticipated this success: in one month it sold its entire initial stock of 120,000 copies.
The favorite book of a TikTok influencer
Released in 2014 in Great Britain, then in 2015 in the United States, this title “was not very successful initially. But at the end of 2019, it was relaunched: it was the favorite book of an influencer on TikTok whose name I forgot, ”explains publisher Frédéric Trédaniel. The book then becomes a bestseller in the United States.
“I spotted it thanks to the best sales ofAmazon.com. So I contacted the American publisher, who did not have the worldwide rights, and who referred me to the British publisher. Here in France, it also walked thanks to TikTok at the start, but it is above all Instagram which has taken over and which sells books, ”reports Frédéric Trédaniel.
A very little publicized book
The typical reader is a woman between 20 and 35 years old, hyperconnected, who takes the opportunity to take a step back on her existence, explains the editor. “It’s a paradoxical book, with this snub to social networks where we tend to overplay everything. The book asks to be honest. And if we can’t do it the first time, maybe we can buy it a second time! “
Despite the success, the author of the book Sharon Jones, is not a star. The one her publisher presents as “a graphic designer from the north of England” has ensured a minimal media and advertising presence, completely disappearing behind her book. There is just an interview from 2015 on the PsychCentral website. She says that the idea “came from discussions with [sa] teenage daughter on the things we both valued ”.
In France either, the book did not capture the attention of the traditional media: only the France Culture radio station devoted two minutes to it at the end of March, speaking of a “somewhat special personal development book” because “it doesn ‘there is nothing to read there’.