A Report from Germany
Nora Rawlinson -- 7/17/00
German Writers Rising | Berlitz for American Editors
Would You Buy This Book?
German Writers RisingTheir growing success and the cost of U.S. rights
make local publishers less willing to buy American
 | Hans Jurgen Balmes, editorial director of
S. Fischer Verlag, discusses new titles
with Paul Slovak of Viking. |
Six American book editors on a tour of Germany sponsored by the German Book Office at the end of June came away with a clear message that German publishers are depending less on American writers and turning more toward their own. A dip in the German economy has resulted in a decline in book sales, which results in greater caution, especially for high-ticket U.S. authors. Americans who have become used to selling most of their list into Germany now find a less ready market.
And German publishing executives say they now have more to draw on from their own backyards because German writing is undergoing a fundamental change. German books were once considered ponderous and academic, "professors writing for their peers," as Hans Jurgen Balmes, editorial director of Fischer, described it. Younger German authors have learned plotting and pacing from Americans. Oliver Vogel, an editor at S. Fischer Verlag, noted that in the '70s Germans were influenced by French writers. Beginning in the '80s, they turned to Americans, learning from them an ability to be both popular and literate. Bettina von Bulow of Hoffmann und Campe in Hamburg concurred that German fiction had a reputation of being "boring, dark and intellectual," but she said Sibylle Berg, whose book Gold will be published by the house in paperback in September, exemplifies a more "lighthearted" German writer.
This is not to say, however, that Americans are being entirely overlooked. Americans selling very well in Germany now include Stewart O'Nan, Richard Bausch, Don DeLillo and Isabel Allende (340,000 copies of Daughter of Fortune have sold in Germany). Barbara Wood, not a big seller in the U.S., is a blockbuster in Germany. Paul Auster has reached a status in Germany that only rock stars achieve in the U.S. And, of course, many American bestsellers travel as well: John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton and Frank McCourt. But Petra Hardt, rights director at Suhrkamp, said it is currently difficult to introduce new American writers into the trade--German booksellers groan, "Oh, no, not another American!"
Signs of a Two-Way Street
Arnulf Conradi, head of Berlin Verlag, cautioned that it is still almost a one-way street with Americans in terms of rights sales, but he noted a slight shift. Hardt said that even though fewer American editors read German (this is in fact a worldwide phenomenon), she has experienced an increase of rights sales into the U.S. in the last two years.
Holger Kuntze, nonfiction editor for Berlin's Argon, said that many of the younger generation of German writers were educated in the U.K. or the U.S. and are now able to write readable nonfiction. Kuntze also thinks there is less interest in American nonfiction in Germany--"Germans used to buy everything. There was a sense that the U.S. was the future (Neil Postman was very big in Germany). There was a hunger to see what sociologists and others in the U.S. were thinking." Kuntze said that he is now looking to make German authors at least 50% of his list, which is a big change for German publishing. While publishers feel there is still an interest in the U.S., there is also a turn toward Europe and a desire to have a European flavor in their books. One of Kuntze's recent successes was Generation Golf (as in the car, not the game), a book about today's German youth in the former West Germany, which he never dreamed would hit the bestseller list (though it has been there since March).
Jens Petersen, nonfiction editor at Hoffmann und Campe, said that German publishers are talking about a "crisis of fiction--even big names don't sell as well now. As a result, everyone is cutting back and trying to identify special voices." The fact that Crazy, by Benjamin Lebert, published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch, sold more than 200,000 copies makes Petersen less concerned that younger people are not reading; they're just not reading the canon.
Arnulf Conradi suggested that publishers can make new successes of authors from the past, citing the work of James Salter. Three years ago Conradi bought all of Salter's backlist, then the English did new editions, as did the Italians and the Dutch. He also bought the rights to Raymond Carver when Piper Verlag gave them up.
Changes in Publishing Structure
The economic concerns that have made editors cautious about laying out large sums for American books have also brought about serious reshuffling in some houses. A recent McKinsey study commissioned by Von Holtzbrinck of its operations led to significant layoffs in marketing and sales staffs of Rowohlt and Fischer. And at the end of June, it was announced that Nikolaus Hansen was retiring as publisher of Rowohlt.
While book sales are not growing, as Christoph Buchwald of Frankfurt's Suhrkamp noted, titles are (the latest available figures show more than 78,000 titles published in 1998). In this very competitive marketplace, "we have to do everything right--marketing, press coverage, trade support, cover, titles, pricing and 'mouth-to-mouth.'" This makes German publishing more aggressive and competitive than it used to be.
On the brighter side, Conradi feels that things are improving. "There were three tough years because of the German economy, but things are looking good again." He said bookstores have suffered--"they used to have a bookshop in every little town, but many have now gone bankrupt and the chains have grown up."
 | Talking to American editors are Hans
Christian Rohr (l.), editor-in-chief, and
Holger Kuntze, nonfiction acquisition
editor, of Berlin's Argon Verlag. |
Agenting, which appeared on the scene just five years ago, is now an accepted part of the business, with a total of 80 literary agencies at work. Hans Christian Rohr, editor-in-chief of Argon, said that younger writers now see having an agent as a status symbol. Writers of the previous generation, such as Christa Wolf, might regard this as a bit degrading--feeling that she is writing for something other than sales. Some attribute the growth of agenting in part to the shifts in personnel among publishing houses. German publishing executives, who once stayed with their houses for a lifetime, are now showing more mobility. For instance, Bettina von Bulow left Rowohlt in May to become editor-in-chief of Hoffmann und Campe. At Fischer, Hans Jurgen Balmes has been editorial director for one year.
What Works in Germany Now
The booksellers at Ypsilon Buchladen in Frankfurt said that detective novels giving a strong sense of place are very popular right now. One of their bestsellers is Danish author Liza Marklund's OlympicFire (Hoffmann und Campe). An example of a U.S. author of this genre is Andrew Vachss.
As in the U.S., there has been a wave of mysteries with female leads. Frankfurt's Eichborn believes it began this trend by publishing Amanda Cross and Faye Kellerman. Argon, with headquarters in the former East Berlin, will be jumping on this bandwagon this fall with a novel by Russian Alesandra Marinina, Mit verdeckten Karten; Anastasijas dritter Fall (With Hidden Cards: Anastasija's Third Case).
As far as American writers go, Suhrkamp's Christoph Buchwald said Don DeLillo works because he gives a good sense of America at a particular time: "You read Balzac for France in the 19th century; similarly, DeLillo for the U.S. in its time." To questions of why Stewart O'Nan works so well, Buchwald said his articles in German newspapers and magazines give a view of America.
Since 80% of the store buyers are women, publishers are particularly keen to cater to this market. They find that coverage in women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan can result in more sales than do reviews in some of the newspapers.
 | The German Oprah:
Reich-Ranicki sells books,
including his autobiography. |
And, of course, there are those surprise successes that mean no publisher will ever give up the midlist. Aufbau published Donna Cross's Pope Joan, a moderate success in the U.S., to astounding sales in Germany. It was number one on the bestseller list for nearly two years and has sold more than two million copies and counting in its various editions. Aufbau credits part of the success to packaging it in several editions, appealing to different markets, and keeping the books moving.
The hands-down largest seller of books is the "German Oprah," in the form of Marcel Reich-Ranicki and his 10-year-old TV show, Literarisches Quartett, which features guests discussing books with the host. When Reich-Ranicki gives a book a personal endorsement, sales soar. And take note, Oprah, Reich-Ranicki's memoir, Mein Leben, has been a bestseller since its publication last year. German publishers are wringing their hands, however, since the 80-year-old plans to discontinue the show by year's end.
Younger Audiences and the Pricing Dilemma
Peter Wilfert from Rowohlt noted that, as in the U.S., it is difficult to make a bestseller in paperback because reviewers don't cover paperbacks and stores do not feature them. But there is a concern that prices of hardcovers make it difficult to reach younger readers. The success of Judith Hermann (see sidebar), whose collection of short stories was released in trade paper, is making publishers take notice. Reinhard Rohn of Aufbau's Rutten und L ning, an imprint now focused on new writers, said he is thinking of publishing more in trade paperback. On the horizon is the more widespread use of the euro. DM 40, the average cost of a hardcover, equals 20.45 euros and, said Rohr of Argon, many German publishers think that figure will be psychologically easier for buyers to handle.
 | Grove Atlantic publisher
Morgan Entrekin (r.), with a photo of his
friend and founder of Rowohlt,
Heinrich Maria Ledig-Rowohlt,
and Rowohlt trade publisher
Hans Georg Heepe. |
Berlin, Facing East
The six publishers visited in Berlin, including several in the former East Berlin, exuded a sense of vibrancy and confidence that they are now in the right place at the right time. With the government move to Berlin six months ago, the publishers feel they may soon be at the center of things in what has up to now been a very decentralized publishing scene. Argon's Holger Kuntze said Berlin, Munich and Hamburg are the centers for journalism and therefore are good places to mine for writers.
Berlin publishers are very aware of their proximity to the East and draw on Eastern Europeans for their publishing programs. Back in 1991, Michael Naumann founded Rowohlt Berlin, on the theory that a branch in Berlin could take more advantage of the Eastern European culture that the rest of Germany didn't know, and could document the process of reunification. Brand-new editor-in-chief Siv Bublitz has quite a challenge cut out for her. The house had been much beloved and admired by the review sections, but as their influence has decreased, so have sales. A falling-out between her predecessor and Rowohlt management resulted in the Berlin management leaving at the beginning of the year. In the press, this became a symbol of the problems in German publishing: that the bottom line was triumphing over quality publishing. Bublitz emphasized that German publishing needs to realize that people have lots of other things to spend their time on besides books. She also feels that much of publishing management is drawn from people who don't think in real business terms. "We must get beyond the expectation that if we publish, people will buy."
In the former GDR, there were 68 publishing houses. After the censorship system was dismantled in December 1989, 200 to 300 publishing houses started in East Germany. Yet it is hard to sell books now in eastern Germany, for under the old system they were subsidized and cost only DM 12. Most eastern Germans, said Christoph Links of Christoph Links Verlag, get their books through libraries; a disproportionally small percentage of German books are sold in the former GDR.
Berlitz for American EditorsThe second annual American Editors' Trip, organized by the German Book Office in New York and the International Department of the Frankfurt Book Fair, brought six American book editors to 12 German publishers and three booksellers in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin. Andrea Heyde, project director of the New York office, said these trips are part of an effort to promote and publicize German-language books in English translation, and to help foster relationships between American editors and German publishers.
The American editors included this time around were Andre Bernard, editor-in-chief of Harcourt Brace's Harvest Books; Jill Bialosky, v-p and senior editor, W.W. Norton; Tracy Carns, publishing director, the Overlook Press; Morgan Entrekin, president and publisher, Grove Atlantic; Sean McDonald, editor, Doubleday/Nan A. Talese Books; and Paul Slovak, associate publisher, Viking Penguin.
The publishers visited ranged from the venerable S. Fischer Verlag and Rowohlt Verlag to very small two- and three-person companies, such as Christoph Links Verlag, founded in the former East Berlin in 1990 on the heels of the abolition of censorship.
The German editors attested to the difficulty of selling rights into the U.S. Berlin's Aufbau said that even after the U.S. success of German writer Bernhard Schlinck's The Reader, selling to the U.S. is still very tough. The publishers at Hoffmann und Campe said they were shocked when they presented their new biography of Joschka Fischer to blank American faces at Frankfurt. It soon became clear that the American rights agents were totally unaware of the German foreign minister and promoter of the idea of a "United States of Europe."
The Americans described the methods they use to find German books. Norton relies on a German reader. Others in the group have used readers, but are wary of depending on one person's taste. Entrekin uses one of his writers, who knows and appreciates German writing, to help him select. And then of course there are the recommendations of scouts.
German publishers are aware they must create services to reach Americans, so many are providing translations of sample chapters. At least one of the publishers, Frankfurt's Eichborn, plans to have information in English on its Web site in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair (www.eichborn-netz.de). And under Heyde the German Book Office creates spring and fall lists of recommended German-language titles, available on its Web site (www.gbo.org), which also provides links to other useful sources.
The American editors' trip looks as if it will become an important annual tool for building publishing relationships between the countries. Heyde said that plans are already under way for the 2001 trip, which may focus on nonfiction. Attesting to the usefulness of the trip, Holly Hodder, science publisher at Columbia University Press, who went on last year's trip, said: "As an editor, I don't get to go to the Frankfurt Book Fair. But now that I know German publishers from face-to-face contact, I can prepare our rights person better for the fair. It makes it much more efficient."
Would You Buy This Book?
 | Short-story collection:
Will it travel? |
The American members of the second annual German Book Office Editor's Trip eagerly asked German publishers about titles they felt should be brought into the U.S. One of the most-discussed books of the trip was Judith Hermann's Sommerhaus, Spater (Summerhouse, Later). Christoph Buchwald of Suhrkamp described this debut collection of short stories, published by Fischer, as being about a certain kind of young woman, "trying to get a boyfriend, to get some fun out of life, but with a sense of melancholy, a sense of loneliness that seems to define a generation." German booksellers attested to both the author's popularity and the quality of her writing; Arnulf Conradi of Berlin Verlag simply said, "She's great!" The only note of caution came from Peter Wilfert of Rowohlt, who thinks the author's success has to do with her personal appearances, a terrific jacket photo and Germans' fascination with Berlin. Plus, this is a book of short stories, which is often a difficult sell in both countries.
Here are some other titles not yet in English translation that publishers visited by the American editors recommended. For more, visit the German Book Office's Web Site (www.gbo.org), which maintains lists of titles publishers think will travel, with full descriptions.
Petra Hammesfahr, Die Mutter (The Mother), Rowohlt. Peter Wilfert of Rowohlt described her as "Daphne Du Maurier in a modern style" or "the Stephen King of the Rhineland"; suspense fiction along the lines of Patricia Highsmith. Petra Morsbach, Plotzlich ist es Abend (All of a Sudden Night Comes), Eichborn. Described by Eichborn's Doris Engelke as a "Russian Gone with the Wind," it flashes back from the present to the October Revolution. Inka Parei, Die Schattenboxerin, (The Kickboxing Woman), Schoffling. A German bestseller in 1999, this is the story of a young woman who explores Berlin's seedy underbelly. Susanne Reidel, Kains Tochter (Cain's Daughters), Rowohlt Berlin. This title will be featured on the German equivalent of the Oprah Book Club, the Literarisches Quartett, and is getting great reviews in Germany. The publisher likens the writing style to that of Annie Proulx.
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