Éditions La Découverte
Éditions La Découverte is a French humanities and social sciences publishing house, founded 1983 and owned by Editis, publishing academic pocket series, essays, illustrated books, journals, and graphic novels for students, researchers, teachers, and the intellectually engaged general public across France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1983
- HeadquartersParis, France
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Éditions La Découverte does
Éditions La Découverte is a French independent publishing house founded in 1983 (originating from a 1979 book collection by François Maspero) and headquartered at 34 rue des Bourdonnais, 75001 Paris. The company operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Editis, one of France's largest publishing conglomerates, and publishes across humanities, social sciences, essays, documents, journals, illustrated books, and comics. Its catalog spans dozens of specialized collections, anchored by the academic pocket series Repères (priced at €11 per volume, directed by Pascal Combemale), the La Découverte Poche paperback line, and acquired imprints Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond (2008) and Éditions Dominique Carré (2015), along with co-publishing ventures such as La Découverte-Delcourt for graphic-novel-format social sciences.
The business model is a traditional multi-stream publishing operation: physical book sales are fulfilled through Interforum (France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada) to bookstores and online retailers; digital editions are distributed through a wide network of e-book platforms (Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Fnac, Kobo, Decitre, Feedbooks, 7switch); social science journals are made available on Cairn.info under subscription and pay-per-article terms; and a dedicated foreign and subsidiary rights department licenses translation, digital, and audiovisual rights internationally. Pricing ranges from €11 for pocket Repères volumes to €18.50-€25 for standard scholarly works in print, with digital editions priced at €13.99-€17.99. Go-to-market relies on event-driven earned media (over 4,150 archived media appearances on France Culture, France Inter, Le Monde, Télérama, L'Humanité, Mediapart), a direct-to-consumer web store and mail-order service (VPC) handled via Interforum, an opt-in newsletter, and active social media on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
The company serves three primary customer segments: students and academics in social sciences and humanities (using Repères for coursework, agrégation competitive exam preparation, and research); secondary and higher education teachers (using titles as reference works); and a broad general educated public interested in critical, engaged non-fiction on politics, ecology, postcolonialism, and contemporary society. Marquee authors include Bruno Latour, Achille Mbembe, Frantz Fanon, Hartmut Rosa, Marie-France Hirigoyen, and Isabelle Stengers. The publisher is led by a management team including Director of Publication Stéphanie Chevrier, with a lean headcount of 11-50 employees supported by Editis's shared central purchasing, distribution, and DPO functions.
Éditions La Découverte firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Éditions La Découverte
- Legal name
- Éditions La Découverte
- Website
- https://editionsladecouverte.fr
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1983
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Éditions La Découverte is a French humanities and social sciences publishing house, founded 1983 and owned by Editis, publishing academic pocket series, essays, illustrated books, journals, and graphic novels for students, researchers, teachers, and the intellectually engaged general public across France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Éditions La Découverte industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Book Publishing
- NAICS
- Book Publishers (51313), Periodical Publishers (51312)
- SIC
- Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Politics, Current Affairs & Social Commentary Publishing (MPAJAAAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Humanities & Arts Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAE), Hardcover & Premium Editions Publishing (MPAJAAAE)
Keywords
Where Éditions La Découverte is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Paris
- HQ country
- France
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Éditions La Découverte business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Physical Book Sales: Sale of printed books through a network of French and international book distributors (Interforum) to physical bookstores, academic bookshops, and direct mail-order customers. Books are sold as one-time purchases at cover prices ranging from approximately €11 (Repères pocket books) to €25 (standard format).
- Digital/E-book Sales: Sale of digital editions of books through third-party e-book platforms (Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Fnac, Kobo, Decitre, Feedbooks, 7switch, etc.) and the publisher's own digital distribution partners. Digital prices typically range from €13.99 to €17.99.
- Journal/Subscription Access (Cairn.info): La Découverte's social science journals are made available on Cairn.info, a platform for French-language humanities journals. Readers can access journal content through a subscription or pay-per-article model on Cairn.
- Foreign Rights and Subsidiary Rights: A dedicated foreign and subsidiary rights department licenses translation rights, pre-publication excerpts, pocket edition rights, book club rights, digital rights, and audiovisual rights of La Découverte's published works to international publishers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Repères pocket collection (under 128 pages) |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Standard scholarly non-fiction (print edition) |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Digital/e-book editions |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels6 records
Éditions La Découverte product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Éditions La Découverte is a French publishing house that publishes non-fiction books across the social sciences and humanities, including essays, scholarly monographs, pocket-format academic syntheses, illustrated books, comics, and academic journals. It operates under multiple imprints (Collection Repères, La Découverte Poche, Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond, Dominique Carré, Zones, La Découverte-Delcourt) and distributes through Interforum to bookstores in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada, alongside digital editions via major e-book platforms and Cairn.info.
Product overview
Éditions La Découverte is a French academic and critical publishing house founded in 1983, part of the Editis group, publishing humanities, social sciences, and political thought. The company operates a multi-brand portfolio centered on its core Essais et documents and Sciences humaines et sociales collections, supplemented by specialized sub-brands including Dominique Carré (illustrated scientific books), Zones (critical thought), and Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond (experimental works). Its product ecosystem comprises distinct book collections (La Découverte Poche for paperbacks, Collection Repères for pocket-sized academic syntheses, La Découverte-Delcourt for comics-based humanities), journals (Revue du crieur and humanities journals on Cairn.info), and digital books distributed across multiple e-book platforms. The publisher also maintains thematic catalogs on topics including postcolonialism, gender studies, and major authors like Hartmut Rosa, Frantz Fanon, Marie-France Hirigoyen, and Bruno Latour.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Collection Repères: Academic pocket book series in sociology, economics, history, political science, law, culture-communication, management, ecology, philosophy, and geopolitics
- La Découverte Poche
- Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond
- Dominique Carré
- Zones
- La Découverte-Delcourt
Products and services
- La Découverte Poche Pocket book collection launched in 1983, offering paperback editions of the publisher's intellectual and engaged library. Covers texts ranging from historical struggles to recent sociological investigations; redesigned with a new graphic identity in 2019.
- Collection Repères Pocket-sized academic series offering rigorous scientific syntheses in under 128 pages at €11, covering sociology, economics, history, political science, law, cultural communication, management, ecology, philosophy, and geopolitics. Used by students in preparatory classes, IEPs, and universities, and by teachers and researchers. Directed by Pascal Combemale.
- Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond Collection focused on experimentation in history, sociology, and anthropology of medicine and psychiatry. Publishes works by authors such as Isabelle Stengers, Bruno Latour, Vinciane Despret, and Tobie Nathan. Acquired by La Découverte in October 2008.
- La Découverte-Delcourt (Bandes dessinées) Co-publishing collection with Delcourt combining humanities and social sciences with graphic novel storytelling. Directed by Sylvain Venayre, aimed at becoming the principal French collection of comics presenting humanities and social sciences research.
- Dominique Carré
Quantifiable outcome
- Titles regularly featured on major French national radio programs (France Culture, France Inter) and in leading national press (Le Monde, L'Humanité, Mediapart, Télérama)
Companies that use Éditions La Découverte
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Éditions La Découverte technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Éditions La Découverte partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Cairn.infocoreLa Découverte has partnered with Cairn.info to make its social science journals available online on the Cairn platform. François Gèze, founder and publisher of La Découverte, explained the terms of this partnership directly on the publisher's site. Cairn serves as a digital distribution and access platform for La Découverte's journal content, reaching academic subscribers and institutional readers. The partnership provides La Découverte's journals with digital accessibility and discoverability on a major French-language academic platform.
- Delcourt (Co-edition)coreLa Découverte co-publishes a comics/graphic novel collection with Delcourt under the direction of Sylvain Venayre. The collection, 'La Découverte-Delcourt', combines social sciences and humanities content with graphic storytelling — a collection of comics that describe and explain contemporary society in visual format. The ambition is to be the principal French collection of humanities and social sciences in graphic novel form. This is a co-publishing/edition co-development partnership combining La Découverte's editorial content with Delcourt's publishing and distribution expertise in comics.
- Editis (Parent Group)coreÉditions La Découverte is a publishing house owned by the Editis group, one of France's largest publishing conglomerates. The Editis central purchasing office (centrale d'achat) handles industrial purchases including printing, binding, and supply chain procurement for La Découverte. Editis also provides the Data Protection Officer (DPO) function, with the DPO located at Editis headquarters at 92 avenue de France, 75013 Paris.
- Interforum (Distribution)coreInterforum serves as the exclusive distributor for La Découverte's physical books across multiple markets: France (interforum.fr), Belgium (interforum.be), Switzerland (interforumsuisse.ch), Canada, and international markets (Diffusion Internationale). Interforum handles all logistics, fulfillment, and trade distribution to bookstores and online retailers. The Interforum relation grand public (Interforum customer relations) also handles direct mail-order (VPC) for La Découverte.
- Les Empêcheurs de penser en rondcoreLes Empêcheurs de penser en rond is a collection/brand acquired by La Découverte in October 2008. Originally founded in 1989 as an independent collection, it was acquired by La Découverte and operates as one of its marque collections, publishing works at the intersection of philosophy of science, ecology, anthropology, and critical theory. Notable authors include Isabelle Stengers, Bruno Latour, Vinciane Despret, and Donna Haraway.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Éditions La Découverte competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Gallimard: France's largest literary publisher with an established NRF/essais catalog covering humanities and critical thought. Significantly larger and broader, but overlaps in essay and social science publishing for the same intellectual readership.
Direct peers
- Actes Sud: Independent French publisher with a comparable critical humanities and literary identity, similar mid-size scale, and shared editorial emphasis on engaged intellectual non-fiction. Closest direct analog in positioning and operating model.
- CNRS Éditions: Academic publisher specializing in social sciences and humanities research output. Competes with La Découverte for scholarly readers and shares distribution through academic channels including Cairn.info.
- Fayard: French publisher known for non-fiction, history, and political science titles targeting educated readers. Comparable editorial identity in scholarly essays and historical works aimed at academic and intellectual markets.
- Éditions du Seuil: Major French publisher with a strong catalog in social sciences, essays, and political thought. Overlaps directly with La Découverte in humanities publishing and critical non-fiction, also distributed within larger group infrastructure.
- Presses Universitaires de France (PUF): France's leading academic publisher, particularly strong in philosophy, social sciences, and humanities. Direct competitor for academic pocket-format scholarly works (Que sais-je? is structurally analogous to Repères).
Emerging players
- Éditions Agone: Smaller French independent publisher with a strongly left-leaning critical thought identity in social sciences and political philosophy. Niche overlap with La Découverte's editorial positioning but at smaller scale and without group backing.
- Éditions Amsterdam: French publisher focused on critical political thought, philosophy, and engaged essays. Direct thematic overlap with La Découverte's catalog and readership, particularly in left-leaning intellectual debates.
- Anamosa Éditions: Independent French publisher focused on critical humanities, philosophy, and essay format. Comparable editorial ambition and target readership to La Découverte, though at a smaller and more specialized scale.
Others
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks1 record
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Éditions La Découverte social profiles
Digital presenceÉditions La Découverte financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Éditions La Découverte leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Éditions La Découverte subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries4 records
Éditions La Découverte funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Éditions La Découverte M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Éditions La Découverte
What does Éditions La Découverte do?
Éditions La Découverte is a French publishing house that publishes non-fiction books across the social sciences and humanities, including essays, scholarly monographs, pocket-format academic syntheses, illustrated books, comics, and academic journals. It operates under multiple imprints (Collection Repères, La Découverte Poche, Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond, Dominique Carré, Zones, La Découverte-Delcourt) and distributes through Interforum to bookstores in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada, alongside digital editions via major e-book platforms and Cairn.info.
Is Éditions La Découverte a public or private company?
Éditions La Découverte is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Éditions La Découverte founded?
Éditions La Découverte was founded in 1983. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Éditions La Découverte based?
Éditions La Découverte is headquartered in Paris, France, in the Europe region.
How does Éditions La Découverte make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Physical Book Sales are the primary driver. The others are digital/E-book Sales, journal/Subscription Access (Cairn.info) and foreign Rights and Subsidiary Rights.
Who are Éditions La Découverte's main competitors?
Gallimard is listed as a broad incumbent. Direct peers are Actes Sud, CNRS Éditions, Fayard, Éditions du Seuil and Presses Universitaires de France (PUF). Emerging players are Éditions Agone, Éditions Amsterdam and Anamosa Éditions. Flammarion is listed as an others.
Does Éditions La Découverte have an API?
No public API is recorded for Éditions La Découverte.
What industry is Éditions La Découverte in?
Éditions La Découverte's product category is Book Publishing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJAAAM, Politics, Current Affairs & Social Commentary Publishing, with a secondary code of EDAGAFAE, Humanities & Arts Scholarly Publishing. Its NAICS code is 51313 and its SIC code is 2731.