The Covid pandemic and its period of confinement had not only negative aspects; they also allowed certain entrepreneurial ventures to emerge. This is the case for Chantale Hazoume and her sister. While working as marketing consultants, they took advantage of their forced idleness to give shape to a long-standing dream: dedicating themselves to their passion for literature.
The impossibility of obtaining paper books during the lockdown inspired them to provide French-speaking Africa with its first audiobook application: the FCaudioÉdit project was born. After three years of hard work, the young pan-African startup can now boast of having developed an impeccable application, with nearly 150 books already in its catalog, ready to conquer the continent.
Quality as a watchword
It’s no coincidence that FCaudioÉdit’s stand attracted all visitors at the African Book Fair in Paris. Quality is the mantra of the application’s founders, who wanted to develop an app that would do Africa proud. To achieve this, the small family team relied on their highly complementary expertise – two marketing specialists and a sound engineer – to wear all hats: publisher, producer, and distributor, thus ensuring an equal level of excellence in every aspect of the project.
The result is a made-in-Africa product of impeccable technical quality. Design, ergonomics, features: the application has clearly been crafted with the utmost care, down to the smallest details. The same applies to audio recordings: FCaudioÉdit, which has its own recording studio, pays particular attention to this aspect and prefers to refuse amateur recordings sent to them. Indeed, since listening is often done with headphones, audio quality cannot be compromised.
The same level of demand is applied in the selection of texts. The catalog combines exclusive productions, co-productions, and books from partner publishers. The platform refuses to practice self-publishing to maintain control over the quality of the offered works. Books produced by FCaudioÉdit go through the rigorous processes applied by traditional publishing houses, with a reading committee carefully selecting the works. This editorial role sets FCaudioÉdit apart in the landscape of online distribution platforms and attests to its vision.
Opening literature to all audiences
The FCaudioÉdit team embarked on the project with a sense of responsibility and the desire to distribute culture to African families.
Audio contributes to the democratization of books. It gives access to books to populations traditionally deprived of them, either because they cannot read or because they cannot buy books. It’s difficult to obtain books in African rural areas, while digital access is widely spread. In addition to logistical difficulties, there’s the price barrier, especially since most books are shipped from abroad. With a policy of fixed and affordable prices (5 euros for a children’s book) combined with packaged offers and regular promotional campaigns, FCaudioÉdit resolutely takes the side of making literature accessible to as many people as possible. With readers already across the continent, led by Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, and Morocco, the concept seems to indeed meet a need, and FCaudioÉdit is already considering a new development: a portal in native languages.
Audio can also be a good way to introduce literature to younger generations. As the mother of a teenager, Chantale Hazoume understands young people’s prejudices towards literature, which they associate with “big words” and old classics. For the TikTok generation, the podcast version of books helps to dust off the image of literature and remove barriers. With this in mind, the platform’s launch was accompanied by a major campaign in African schools – an opportunity for more general awareness about the relationship with digital technology. It’s worth noting that FCaudioÉdit prides itself on being the only online distribution platform to offer the digital version of its books in addition to the audiobook: a gesture aimed at encouraging its young readers to return to words.
Driven by this humanistic vision, the young FCaudioÉdit team is not short on ambitions and is readily open to any quality partnership to support the development of its project, which is only at its very beginning. Stay tuned!
