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| Christian Schumacher-Gebler, CEO of Bonnier Germany, speaking with Publishing Perspectives editor-in-chief Porter Anderson at the Frankfurt Book Fair last week. | |
In an executive talk with Publishing Perspectives editor-in-chief Porter Anderson Friday morning, Bonnier Germany CEO Christian Schumacher-Gebler spoke at length about the rise in the export of English-language titles to Germany. He said he understands that U.K. publishers face "price pressure," "quality problems," and other issues in their market, and therefore try to "ship as much as they can" to Europe. He described it as "arrogant and ignorant," saying it could "destroy" European publishing.
Using a writer like Sally Rooney as an example, Schumacher-Gebler explained that when she publishes a new book, German, French, and other European publishers will create a "high-quality hardcover edition" in their respective languages. And while there will be a "very nice hardcover" produced in the U.K., too, they will ship in parallel a "crappy paperback edition" that sells for around €10 (about $11.60). Those cheap paperbacks "destroy our window for different formats" and can "destroy markets." Noting that royalties are based on sales price, Schumacher-Gebler added that the situation was also bad for authors.
Nevertheless, Schumacher-Gebler continued, there is a "super easy" way to solve the problem, at least in theory: European publishers having the English-language rights in their own territories. While U.K. publishers, and the agents who "do big deals," might balk at the idea, the current situation is not tenable, he asserted.
Asked whether any progress was being made on that front, Schumacher-Gebler said some European publishers are "working heavily" on the issue, while he suspects that some may not be allowed. Once European publishers belong to "international groups," he elaborated, they may not be able to push for things like English-language rights. At the same time, he said, "all German publishers" want to do these English-language editions. Some push for it harder and others "a little less."
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During a meeting of the International Association of Museum Publishers, W.W. Norton client services director Elizabeth Gaffin offered the international audience an assessment of the U.S. trade market. While there was an expansion of the market during Covid, most of the industry is now experiencing "contraction," she said.
Broadly speaking, publishers in the U.S. feel "uneasy." The political environment is "unsettling," and the militarization of certain cities has reduced traffic to cultural institutions, bookstores, and more. For those not in the investor class, "life feels more expensive" than ever. Discovery channels, meanwhile, have consolidated into a few channels "driven by algorithm."
Amazon commands a "massive share" of the U.S. market and for most publishers constitutes at least 50% of their total sales. However, the sales contraction in the U.S. over the past year has been "most evident with Amazon." Their buying, Gaffin said, is no longer "on steroids," they are more readily giving the buy button to "third parties," and their discounts are "not as deep."
Museum stores have become a "mixed bag." Many have reduced their footprint for books, opting for gift items instead, and many museum stores are managed by a third-party company called EventNetwork that is more focused on margin.
Libraries are not the "reliable book buyers they used to be," Gaffin reported, as many budgets have shrunk. Despite that, and although there has been a "move toward e-books," it is still possible to reach the library market, with "professional review coverage" and "excellent metadata" being key.
"One heartening development" in the U.S. is the recent boom in new independent bookstores, and while indies make up only about 10% of the market, Gaffin noted, they "punch above their weight."
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| Véronique Cardi | |
"French people are still very interested in holding a physical book and going to the bookshop," said Véronique Cardi, CEO of Hachette Livres' Éditions JC Lattès and Éditions du Masque during an executive talk Thursday morning.
In conversation with Porter Anderson, Cardi discussed the adoption of e-books and audiobooks in France, which has been much slower than in the U.S., U.K., and Germany. In France the "physical object is still very strong," though French publishers still aim to do simultaneous releases in print, digital, and audiobook in most cases.
Thanks to France's fixed book prices, the country has a "very strong" network of booksellers, with about 3,500 bookshops across the country and some 700 in Paris alone. Physical bookshops, she said, are where new voices are "still discovered."
A "new challenge" in the French market, Cardi added, is readers' preference for choosing English-language titles over French translations. Among younger people especially, it is "more trendy" to have the original version. For major international titles, it's become extremely important to have the French version available on the same date. It "wouldn't be possible now," she said, to let too much time pass.
She also pointed to a concerning trend that has emerged despite all of that, of boys ages 16-19 spending on average less than 10 minutes reading per day but five hours on screens.
Asked about AI, Cardi expressed doubt in its editorial and creative uses and related an anecdote about experimenting with a new AI tool. She asked it several questions about a particular novel and found that it got basic facts wrong about the narrator. She did seem bullish, however, on AI's marketing applications. --Alex Mutter