Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

" Dear readers, customers or subscribers,

We share a common passion, that of military history. As some of you may know, I launched Caraktère in June 2003 to produce the magazine I had dreamed of reading but which did not exist. Since then, things have gone from strength to strength. After Batailles & Blindés came Ligne de Front, Trucks & Tanks, then C-J Ehrengardt's Aérojournal was relaunched and, finally, LOS was born (which I conceived at the same time as Batailles & Blindés in 2003, but which took 12 years to become a reality!) Other magazines didn't survive. Not to mention books, where we have also demonstrated our expertise, which many of you appreciate. We have innovated, changed things and contributed to the writing of military history in French.
Today, with 2024 about to tip its hat and 2025 just around the corner, Caraktère is caught up in the economic reality, which is not brilliant and which worries us all. Since the start of the summer, sales of all our magazines have fallen significantly. The same applies to books and special issues. Subscriptions are down. Our sales are falling, while production costs remain high. Our request to suspend the PGE - which we were forced to take at the time of Covid - was rejected by the Banque de France in June, because our situation was not sufficiently deteriorated for the taste of its analysts. Time has taken its toll, and the deterioration has accelerated.
So I had to act, as founder and manager of the company, and that's why I was recently invited to the Commercial Court in Marseille, where Caraktère was born, to ask for help. So here we are, in receivership, like more than 68,000 other French companies to date.
We have little room for manoeuvre and the situation is complicated. It's too early to say whether Caraktère will be able to survive or not, but of course I promise to keep you informed here..."

from Yannis Kadari's FB page;

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

Sad but I was aware that things were not good. Fingers crossed it survives

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

Indeed. Yannis mentions that sales have dropped off particularly since mid-2024. I guess this is due - as in the UK - to the mess politicians (of all colours) are making of things..which impacts consumer confidence. Plus they'd got too big with too many titles ? Hopefully 'niche' publishers only putting out a few hundred copies are not so impacted by 'economic realities'..or are they even more so?

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

Agreed. AJ was always a winner but they have been publishing all sorts of things of late

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

Hi Neil,

Thanks very much for reposting that update. It's depressing, but good to know. I'm a huge fan of their books and magazines, so I'm hoping for the best.

Sadly, this downturn has already claimed other victims, including Christian Schmidt Fachbuchhandlung, which was my favorite bookstore in Germany.

Therefore, this seems like a good time to express my gratitude for the ongoing high-quality output from you, Chris Goss, Andrew Arthy, Chandos Pubs, Wing Leader, Lela Presse, Jason Mark, and others. Keep up the great work!

Regards,
Leon Venter

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

Thanks! Its people like Yannis that have/had the 'vision' and take the risk though. Michel at Lela. Rich at Chandos. Tomas at JaPo (thinking of their 500-page hardback "German Fighters.." that others declined). Just catching up with the sad news from Munich on FlugzeugForum.de. Things only heading one way at the moment. P27 of the AirDoc Verlag thread.
https://www.flugzeugforum.de/threads....26557/page-27

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

well they seem to be producing new titles, but the latest update on their FB page does not make clear whether that will include all of their magazines or not..Aérojournal no. 104 was received here.

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

Yann the editor has been in touch wanting more articles so all appears to be back on track?

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

..yes, they have one of mine still outstanding. But from what I've read the 'judgement' of the 'conseil' restricts them to dealing in 'cash' only... so how would that work?

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

Latest edition is out and Yann has told me "things are now on the right track"

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

That's very encouraging news. Thanks for the update, Chris.

Leon Venter

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

'special' issue on KG 26 due on April 25..

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

Bad news from Caraktère:

Mes amis, chers lecteurs,
En tant que fondateur et dirigeant des éditions Caraktère, c’est à moi que revient le douloureux privilège de vous annoncer que la société cessera ses activités dans les prochaines heures ; après l’audience de ce lundi au tribunal de commerce de Marseille (là où elle est née le 6 juin 2003) Caraktère n’ira pas plus loin.
L’entreprise n'est plus en mesure de poursuivre son aventure, la chute vertigineuse des ventes qui a touché le monde de l'édition durant cet été a rendu vain toute tentative de redressement. C'est donc avec une immense tristesse que je vous annonce la fermeture prochaine de notre site internet et de la société. La prise de commandes est désormais impossible. Plus aucun magazine ne paraîtra, et nous ne savons pas si un éventuel repreneur se manifestera. Nous servirons un maximum de commandes aujourd’hui. Certaines commandes (abonnements) ne seront pas prises en compte, pour éviter de vous faire dépenser de l’argent pour rien. D’autres l’ont été, nous ne pouvions pas faire autrement à ce moment-là.
Fortement touchée par la catastrophe de la faillite de Presstalis en 2017, puis celle d’Export Press, puis la crise sanitaire du Covid, Caraktère a toujours réussi à faire face. Pareillement, la société a été capable d’absorber les hausses délirantes de papier et d’énergie en 2021-2022 ainsi que les taxes stupides et injustes imposées par l’État à travers l’ARCEP, mais le coup fatal aura été porté sur le front intérieur : le durcissement des règles de distribution, la chute du réseau des marchands de journaux, la hausse continue des coûts de distribution, sans parler des tracasseries administratives qui n’en finissent jamais, m’ont amené à mettre Caraktère sous la protection de la loi en novembre 2024. Si la sortie du printemps 2025 s’annonçait difficile mais pas impossible, en revanche, les mois de juin, juillet et août ont été désastreux sur le plan des ventes de magazines, alors que les sommaires étaient bons. Certaines revues ont connu des baisses de plus de 20 % de leurs ventes ; du jamais vu en 22 ans de métier ! Nos livres ne sont plus achetés non plus, malgré le soin apporté à leur confection par toute l’équipe. Avec de moins en moins de clients, une entreprise ne pas peut pas survivre.
Avant que les habituels experts auto-proclamés ne se lancent dans des analyses fumantes, sans rien connaître à ce métier, sur « le pourquoi du comment de la fin de Caraktère », je tiens à vous encourager à soutenir les éditeurs restants, nos confrères, qui sont aussi dans une situation très compliquée. Car c’est toute la presse magazine indépendante française qui est en danger de disparaître.
Je voulais vous dire un grand merci, du fond du cœur, pour ces 22 années de passion commune. Rien n'aurait été possible sans vous tous. Cette aventure merveilleuse qu'aura été Caraktère, c'est la vôtre !
Je souhaite aussi m’excuser auprès de vous pour ne pas avoir été capable de redresser la situation. J’ai essayé de trouver des investisseurs, des repreneurs, mais beaucoup sont inquiets et ils ne souhaitent pas prendre de risques.
Je maintiendrai actives les pages Facebook pendant un certain temps pour répondre à vos questions et vous tenir informés de la procédure. Quant à moi, il ne me reste plus qu’à me « réfugier » chez la microscopique Overlord Press, et à réfléchir à ce que je peux faire ou pas. Allez savoir, on se retrouvera peut-être.
Merci,
Yannis Kadari
Fondateur (à jamais) des éditions Caraktère
PS : j'ajoute une pensée émue et affectueuse aux "vieux de la vieille", les JiCé Mermet, C-J Ehrengardt, et tous les autres copains, qui ont veillé sur le berceau de Caraktère, et qui sont partis vers des cieux étoilés.

Google translation:
My friends, dear readers,
As the founder and director of Caraktère Publishing, it is my painful privilege to announce that the company will cease operations in the coming hours. Following this Monday's hearing at the Marseille Commercial Court (where it was founded on June 6, 2003), Caraktère will not continue. The company is no longer able to continue its adventure; the dramatic drop in sales that hit the publishing world this summer has rendered any recovery attempts futile. It is therefore with immense sadness that I announce the upcoming closure of our website and the company. Orders are now no longer possible. No more magazines will be published, and we do not know if a potential buyer will come forward. We will fulfill as many orders as possible today. Some orders (subscriptions) will not be processed to avoid wasting your money. Others were, and we couldn't do otherwise at that time. Hardly hit by the catastrophic bankruptcy of Presstalis in 2017, then that of Export Press, and then the Covid health crisis, Caraktère has always managed to cope. Similarly, the company was able to absorb the crazy increases in paper and energy prices in 2021-2022 as well as the stupid and unfair taxes imposed by the State through ARCEP, but the fatal blow was dealt on the domestic front: the tightening of distribution rules, the collapse of the newsagent network, the continued rise in distribution costs, not to mention the never-ending administrative hassles, led me to place Caraktère under the protection of the law in November 2024. While the spring 2025 release was expected to be difficult but not impossible, on the other hand, the months of June, July and August were disastrous in terms of magazine sales, even though the contents were good. Some magazines experienced drops of more than 20% in their sales; something never seen before in 22 years of business! Our books are no longer being bought either, despite the care taken in their preparation by the entire team. With fewer and fewer customers, a business cannot survive. Before the usual self-proclaimed experts launch into sweeping analyses, without knowing anything about this business, on "the why and how of Caraktère's demise," I want to encourage you to support the remaining publishers, our colleagues, who are also in a very complicated situation. Because the entire independent French magazine press is in danger of disappearing. I wanted to say a big thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for these 22 years of shared passion. Nothing would have been possible without all of you. This wonderful adventure that was Caraktère is yours! I also want to apologize to you for not having been able to turn the situation around. I tried to find investors and buyers, but many are worried and don't want to take any risks. I will keep the Facebook pages active for a while to answer your questions and keep you informed of the process. As for me, all that's left is to "take refuge" at the microscopic Overlord Press and think about what I can and can't do. Who knows, maybe we'll meet again.
Thank you,
Yannis Kadari
Founder (forever) of Caraktère Editions
PS: I add a moving and affectionate thought to the "old guard," JiCé Mermet, C-J Ehrengardt, and all the other friends who watched over the cradle of Caraktère and who have departed for starry skies.

Re: Caraktère (Aérojournal) in administration
 

Sad but I had a feeling it was coming