Vom 4. bis 19. Oktober 2008 besuchen 16 Fellows auf Einladung der Frankfurter Buchmesse die Verlagsbranche in Frankfurt, München und Berlin. buchmarkt.de stellt Ihnen täglich einen der Teilnehmer vor.
José Hamad ist Lektor beim Verlag 451 Editores in Madrid www.451editores.es. Das vor anderthalb Jahren gegründete Imprint der Grupo Editorial Luis Vives hat bereits ein Programm von mehr als 60 Titeln vorzuweisen. Um zu bestehen, versucht 451 Editores zum einen, auch den lateinamerikanischen Markt zu bedienen, zum anderen das eigene Angebot in zahlreiche Segmente aufzuteilen: Von spanischer Literatur über Literatur aus dem Ausland bis hin zu “Remakes” oder illustrierten Anthologien von Kurzgeschichten.
buchmarkt.de: Bitte beschreiben Sie uns 451 Editores …
451 Editores is a very young publishing house: our first books were launched only a year and a half ago. However, our catalogue includes over 60 titles by now, and hopefully speaks for itself – literary texts are at its core.
Even our name, taken from “Fahrenheit 451”, is a declaration of principles. We are a small imprint backed up by a big Spanish group, Grupo Editorial Luis Vives. This allows us to build an ‘independent’ list, contradictory as this may seem – I believe that an independent catalogue relies on the publisher, not the owner of the company. Our catalogue is designed by four young although experienced editors, thus the result of a solid, innovative list.
We publish Spanish, Latin-American and foreign quality literary fiction and non fiction. We do not just seat and wait for interesting titles to show up, we do seek for them. For instance, we commission the most interesting Spanish and Latin-American contemporary authors to write short stories based on classic literature (our ‘remakes’), and around 100 authors have already collaborated in this project. Thus, our list is a representative sample of what is going on in Spanish-written literature.
Mit welchen Schwierigkeiten haben Sie auf dem spanischen Buchmarkt zu tun?
Spain’s book market is highly competitive. For a start, there are around 35.000 new titles every year, of which approximately 15.000 are literature titles. Bookshops are obliged to perform a high rotation of the titles in order to display as many titles as possible, and only those that instantly succeed stay.
This leads to a high amount of returned books. Since sales per title are not enough, many publishing houses increase the number of titles they launch – which results in a vicious circle. Obviously, the reader finds a lot of difficulties to sort out what to buy.
The consistency of an imprint is required as guidance for readers. Luckily, there are numerous really good Spanish publishing houses doing a great job – and a great competence for us, which is quite a challenge.
In order to deal with this situation, 451 Editores endeavours two solutions. We enlarge our market by commercialising our books in Latin-America. And most importantly, we diversify our offer – we distribute our approximately 40 titles per year in very different collections: Spanish fiction; foreign fiction; non fiction; ‘remakes’; illustrated thematic anthologies of short stories from universal literature; and illustrated non fiction. This is an attempt of, at least, not drive into competition our own titles one to another.
Welche Erwartungen haben Sie an das Fellowship-Programm und die Frankfurter Buchmesse 2008?
When I received the invitation to take part in the Fellowship programme, I was quite impressed by the colleagues and publishing houses implicated… Since we are definitely not a well-known publishing house in international market, I feel that this invitation is an acknowledgment to 451 Editores present and future project.
Beyond the obvious motivations of every fellow (get to know better the German book market, establish a network of personal and professional relations, incorporate my colleagues’ experiences, etc.), I would like to broaden the awareness of our company – specially for the authors that entrusted us with their fantastic books, they really deserve it.
As much as I feel that the Fellowship is something more of a long-run effort, the Fair necessarily demands a here-and-now performance. It is important to be able to ‘read’ the international literary trends, notwithstanding the fact that they may suit your catalogue or not. And, of course, all literature masterpieces and successful titles are most welcome!
Das Fellowship Programm wurde anlässlich des 50. Jubiläums der Frankfurter Buchmesse 1998 ins Leben gerufen. In den vergangenen zehn Jahren hat sich ein enges Netz innerhalb der internationalen Verlagsbranche gebildet. Über 165 Teilnehmer aus 45 Ländern konnten bereits von diesem Programm profitieren. In diesem Jahr wird es von Martina Stemann von der Frankfurter Buchmesse organisiert und vom ehemaligen Fellow Laurenz Bolliger vom Berlin Verlag begleitet.
