The Woman Behind Your Richest Friend’s Coffee-Table Books

Luxury-book editor Martine Assouline doesn’t make a habit of looking backward. But to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her family’s business, Assouline — known for its stylish, high-end tomes covering everything from the life of Roger Federer to the yachts of Saint-Tropez — she made an exception. The idea for Assouline by Assouline, a limited-edition book about the publishing firm’s origins and many collaborators, came from her son, Alexandre, who joined the family business in 2016, two decades after his parents started it together in the basement of their apartment in Paris. Martine was working in fashion communications at Rochas, and her husband, Prosper, had an advertising agency. Their first book, about La Colombe d’Or, the couple’s favorite hotel in the south of France, was meant to be a onetime project. Prosper took all the photos and Martine wrote the text. 

Today, the Assoulines publish upwards of 100 books per year and count 18 boutiques and over 30 shop-in-shops around the world, where its main coffee-table books start around $100 but can range as high as $15,000 for oversize special editions. More Assouline locations are in the works, as is a restaurant and store in Riyadh. These days, as Assouline’s editor-in-chief, Martine spends much of her time finding writers, managing the company’s editorial projects, sifting through piles of research images, and paying close attention to the firm’s popular travel series. She lives in midtown Manhattan with her husband, but travels frequently. Here’s how she gets it done. 

On her morning routine:
Typical morning is six o’clock — a very strong coffee and one hour to be very calm and reading. Then I eat some food: banana, blueberries, or whatever I have that day. Not a lot. Then I go to the office by foot and arrive between 8:30 and 9. I love to have time for me in the mornings. It’s the reason why, no matter what, I love to wake up very early and have the time to emerge. After that, it’s like an Olympic sprint between meetings and emails. So the day goes very quickly.

On her typical workday: I try to have two different parts of the job. One is completely creative, so I have to be alone. I try to put on music to be very apart, because it’s difficult to be apart when you are in a creative company, where everybody is: I found that or There is a problem here, blah, blah, blah. So, door closed and music. The other part, I would say it’s 50-50, I work with my teams.

I start by trying to find the best author for the subject. That means somebody who knows but also loves a subject and who writes very well. When I find authors who are good for us, I like to keep them. I did it myself for the books in the beginning. Now I don’t have the time to write. The last one I did was really hell. It was the book to mark 30 years of Assouline. I wanted to thank all those people, our collaborators, who are so important to us.

On working with family:
It’s not easy. I had a conversation with my daughter-in-law some months ago, who is a very good professional. She wanted, with my son — they wanted to start working together, because she has a really good mind and she could really help us. But they were asking, Hmm, is it good to be a young couple and work together with the parents? Because my son, Alexandre, knows that it’s not easy to have the parents — it’s a conflict of generations. I was very clear. I said, “No, it’s not easy.” But the crucial point is that there is trust. Trust is everything when you work so hard. You want somebody you know in front of you who is telling you everything — the bad and the good. There is no fear. There is no double way to talk.

In the balance, I think that for Prosper and me, it has been a strength to work together. When you have a thing to resolve or a new idea, you don’t have to have a meeting. It can be dangerous, because you sometimes go too fast and can make mistakes. But in the end, I love to create something with family.

Balancing work and personal life with her partner and husband, Prosper:
When you are in the business of creativity, it never stops. At the beginning and still, sometimes, we didn’t know to have meetings to decide on a project or not. It was like having lunch together: Oh, I had this idea. Or Oh, I found this person, they’re fantastic, why don’t we do a book on them? But the fact is that it’s very difficult not to be on all the time. Sometimes, one or the other will say, “Stop it,” you know, with a little bit of determination. But for example, when we are in the taxi at the end of the day, we don’t talk. If we have things to ask each other, we do it by email. We’re tired, so by email we can answer when we want.

On self-doubt:
My first big fear was the first book. It was on La Colombe d’Or. It was finished, and we sent it to the printer. Then a friend asked me, “What did you do with the rights?” I said, “Rights? What are the rights?” She said, “La Colombe d’Or is full of Picasso, Matisse, Miró, everything, and you have to ask about the rights with the agents.” I was completely destroyed. I said, I’m going to hell; the world is going to finish with me. But it was a long time ago. I managed to find everybody, tell my story, and we made it. But today, I have to say that I don’t have fear anymore when I do a book or try something new. On the contrary. It’s energy; it’s the taste for challenge.

On her future ambitions:
I’m trying to find subjects that I would love to do, that are not already in the world of Assouline. For example, the book on Roger Federer was so different for us. Roger didn’t want to do a textbook or his memoir. He wanted something lighter, and it was very interesting to try to make him develop what he wanted to say.

On managing stress:
I’m allergic to stress. At the office, when I start to feel that I’m very stressed, I close the door. Then I go stretch or take a big, long shower. Or I take a pill to sleep a long, long night. I don’t know how to meditate. But I do exercise with a coach by video. He is in Lebanon, and he’s a very good coach. That is fantastic twice a week. And, when I can, I work with music to give myself energy. With coffee, energy, and good music — it’s a good way to be positive, optimistic. Prosper showed me that when you have a big project, to also have a second big project. Because if the first one is not happening — or it’s complicated or heavy or whatever — your mind is going to be positive with the second one.

On how she relaxes after work:
Just a glass of Bordeaux, a good series, and a cigarette.

On the people who help her get it done: 
My assistant. She’s thinking for me in all the private things: travels, meetings, schedules, everything. She’s extraordinary. I am also the chair of the board for the Paris Brain Institute, and there is one guy whose name is Jean-Christian Agid who is really making things easy for me. It takes a lot of time, and it’s very new.