Translations

Export editions have continued "cannibalising" sales for international publishers, while the market has become increasingly more competitive, The Bookseller heard at the 2024 Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two.. This is particularly felt in countries like The Netherlands, where English literacy levels are high, and increasingly in larger territories like Germany.

Around the world, it's common for fiction writers to moonlight as translators. Even in places where there's a robust network of governmental support for writers, translation work provides, at least in theory, a welcome injection of income. Since it's difficult to make a living writing novels or stories, collecting an extra source of funding is important.  Read more

With English as a shared language, there is a natural relationship between the American and British publishing industries. Most of the world's top publishing companies, be they conglomerates or independent publishers, have operations in each country, typically in New York City and London. Literary traffic travels both ways across the Atlantic.

Translating is complex. First in the work, which requires writing without writing, finding voices that are not ours: being invisible and leaving no trace of a new voice but reflecting the voice of the original author. The irony is that we are not really invisible because readers can spot a bad translation.

Something interesting has been going on in publishing this year. Not the thumping increases in overall revenue - up 5 per cent to £6.7 billion across digital and physical books in the UK and Ireland. And not the surge in export markets: despite Brexit, exports are up 8 per cent to English language domains.  Read more