The Frankfurt Book Fair 2015 – Self-Publishing Area in Germany is Growing
I asked my friend and colleague Christina Löw to write a little guest blog post about her experience at the Frankfurt Book Fair this past October, since I couldn’t be there, and she was kind enough to provide it. Christina is my translation partner and valued proofreader; she’s also a writer who likes to write for children and loves to immerse herself in fantastical stories.
The Frankfurt Book Fair is one of two big German book fairs: Frankfurt always takes place in October and Leipzig in March. In Frankfurt, it was again five days full of books, ideas, trade and trends – networking and socializing included. However, I could only be there for one day this year.
Which meant: One very full day to take everything in – or at least as much as possible. Aside from having a look at the always beautifully arranged pavilion of the guest of honor, this time Indonesia, and marveling at the books displayed in the art book section (after all I’m an art historian), I focused on two areas: children and young adult books on one hand (I have so many ideas right now for this audience) and self-publishing on the other.
Especially the self-publishing area has grown during the last years and usually showcases new technical developments and opportunities for authors. This includes a broad variety of service providers who would like to help you publish your book – for a price, of course. But, although there are still those, who just want to get your money (vanity publishers), there are those who are actually helpful.
While the market is growing – and the possibilities seem almost endless – it becomes more and more important to know exactly what you need: The services offered differ greatly in what’s done for you and what you are enabled to do yourself. It’s about what do you want to do yourself, and what don’t you want to do yourself. And to which degree.
In addition, there are differences regarding the commitment: Some service providers come with an own “imprint” – most actually do – but it differs if you can cancel the contract at any given moment, or only once a year. Sometimes, the contract is renewed automatically, sometimes you have to renew it yourself if you want to stay with the company. Or you can use several publishing services at once as not all of them require sole exploitation rights. Mostly you pay once – depending on the “package” you order, sometimes there is an additional fee to get out of the contract.
As it is quite complex, here are some of the players I encountered, some are older, some newer. And of course the ones listed below are just examples of the variety you can chose from. I wouldn’t recommend one unconditionally over the other as which service you choose depends, in my opinion, almost solely on the service you wish to get.
- different packages, starting at 99€ for the starter package: just publishing (diy-deal with online-templates); ebook or print
- no cancellation fee (termination possible at any time)
- no automatic renewal (term 2 years), during this time sole exploitation right
- different imprints for different genres
- one overall package (changes possible) for 149€: ebook, paperback & hardcover; marketing included; templates for cover/design
- termination possible after first term (min. 1 year, without cancellation unlimited)
- no sole exploitation right
- no publishing fee (ISBN & deposit copy for national library included)
- all rights remain with the author
- just ebook
- complete diy
- different packages, starting at 0€ (just ebook, ISBN & deposit copy for national library included); other packages include ebook & print
- sole exploitation right during term (not listed)
- not listed if cancellation fee
It remains to be recapped that self-publishing is a growing factor in the German book publishing world, as evidenced not only in Frankfurt and Leipzig, but also in the variety of services for authors sprouting up all over the web. This year, there was even a “Self-publishing Day” – a whole day dedicated to self-publishing, held in Münster in 2015, where indie authors could get together and share their experiences. I’m sure we’ll see many more developments of this in the future.
