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.
Pernille Follmann Ballebye ist Lektorin bei Gyldendal Publishers in Kopenhagen www.gyldendal.dk. Der dänische Buchmarkt hat ihrer Einschätzung nach mit denselben Schwierigkeiten wie fast überall zu tun: „Die Anzahl der Ketten-Läden nimmt zu, und diese fordern sehr hohe Rabatte, was zur Bestsellerei führen könnte.“
buchmarkt.de: Bitte beschreiben Sie uns Ihren Verlag …
Gyldendal was founded in 1770 by Søren Gyldendal. Hence Gyldendal is the oldest publishing house in Scandinavia. The publishing house is still based in the earliest buildings in central Copenhagen. Gyldendal Norsk Forlag in Oslo gained independence from Gyldendal, Denmark, in 1925.
Gyldendal is Denmark’s biggest book publishing conglomerate, counting more than 400 employees altogether. Half of them work at Gyldendal and the rest in affiliated publishing houses, book clubs and logistics. The conglomerate covers every branch of book publishing from fiction, non-fiction and children’s books to textbooks from preschool to university. Our main competitors are Lindhardt & Ringhof (Egmont) and Politiken.
I work in the Fiction Department and we publish approximately 150 new titles a year out of which one third are translated titles. Our profile is quite upmarket. Although it is very hard to promote continental literature in particular we keep trying because we consider it an obligation to present the most outstanding and/or entertaining foreign literature to Danish readers.
Mit welchen Herausforderungen haben Sie auf dem dänischen Buchmarkt zu tun?
Considering the fact that Denmark is a very small country with 5 million inhabitants we have a quite broad and flourishing book market, I think, although there is some recession on the general market.
VAT on books is high, 25 % of the sales price, and we have no public systems of subsidies such as the Norwegian. A typical first print run of a translated novel would be 800 to 1.200 copies. It goes without saying that we depend on translation grants and often take risks buying translation rights.
In general the bestselling foreign titles in Denmark are Scandinavian and Anglosaxon. Having said that one of Gyldendal’s “Spitzentitel” this season is Jonathan Littell’s huge novel “Les Bienveillantes” (Die Wohlgesinnten) which was published successfully in late August. Danish and foreign crime fiction started boosting only a few years ago.
The way I see it the most striking characteristics and challenges of our book market are equal to the ones almost anywhere else: The number of chain stores is increasing and they demand very high discounts which eventually will lead to bestsellerism.
Independent book shops all over the country are closing down. The big question is if internet book shops will compensate for this loss? On an even larger scale we are, obviously, concerned with how to protect rights in the digital era and the rising question of media convergence. Digital audio books are just beginning to become commercially successful to give an example.
Compared to the big European and American markets – even the Swedish market – publishing is still relatively peaceful in Denmark. The influence of Danish agents is rather poor. Although the big houses fight for the bestselling Danish authors and foreign agents have entered our market we mainly deal directly with the authors. Consequently most authors stay with their publisher for years.
We definitely know the turmoil of reorganizations in the big conglomerates. In this respect Gyldendal’s situation is unique, after all, since the house is and has been independent since the foundation. Our main stockholder is the Danish art museum Louisiana. This is a cultural institution in itself and guarantees stability and understanding of the special conditions of publishing.
Welche Erwartungen haben Sie an das Fellowship-Programm und die Frankfurter Buchmesse 2008?
My expectations regarding the Frankfurt Fellowship Programme are to get an insight view of one of the most important book markets in Europe. I am under the impression that the German publishing industry is highly professional and am looking forward to meet with important publishers, editors, marketing staff etc.
Besides, travelling in a group of young editors and publishers will be educational in itself. I expect us to share important tips and experiences. As to the book fair I would love to find a strong narrative non-fiction title since this genre is prosperous.
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.
