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Happy Birthday, Buecherfrauen!

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It’s Women in Publishing (“Bücherfrauen“) Germany’s 25th anniversary this year. There is a big celebration coming up at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week, and here is my tribute to this great network.

First I woul like to clarify something: I don’t want any men to freak out and think with an organization like this, women want to turn things around and try and dominate you now 😉

Women in Publishing’s motto is: “For women, but not against men”.

Celebrating buecherfrauen networkingThe network was founded because there have always been a lot of women working in publishing, but in the beginning there was no woman at all at the top and even today there are still not that many.

I wrote about the power of networking earlier in another article and Buecherfrauen have certainly been a powerful network for me. Many years ago, I joined them in Germany, I attended events and sometimes helped organizing them as well. I would now like to say thank you to some of the women that I met somewhere along the way:

First of all thank you Marlies for telling me about the network in the first place. Thank you also to my first small local group in the North-West of Germany in the Bielefeld/Osnabrück area about 15 years ago for welcoming, inspiring and motivating me to follow my passion. Thank you to Inge, who was part of the group and introduced me to a big publishing house. And Inge did a great job last year editing “Pentecost”, the first self-published book that I translated into German. Thank you to Eva for offering to let me sleep on her couch in Frankfurt this year in case I wouldn’t find any other place to stay – it is a shame I can now not make it, but I hope I will be able to attend again next year!

Thank you to everyone whom I have met during all these years. And when I moved to London, it was only natural to join the sister organisation Women in Publishing in the UK – I was part of the committee here for several years and it was great to make new friends and continue networking in a different country, but in a similar way.

Here’s to everyone who has contributed to making the organization a success.

Happy birthday and cheers to you all!
anniversary-157521_640[If you are reading the following dates after October 2015, they will be outdated, but there are other interesting events at the Book Fair each year]

These are the details of the main event at the Frankfurt Book Fair:

There will be an award ceremony for the “Woman in Publishing of the Year”, the prize goes to Frauke Ehlers, long standing member of the network, the laudatory speech will be held by Silke Weniger and a welcoming speech by Federal Minister Manuela Schwesig, followed by the actual party.

Thursday, 15/10/2015
4:30 – 6:30 pm

Reading Zone of Independent Publishers
4.1 C37
Exhibition site

Before this event at the same place from 3.30 – 4.30 pm  there is another one, also organized by Buecherfrauen:

A talk with Indonesian Women in Publishing about literature and the book trade in Indonesia – the country is the Fair’s guest of honour this year.

Participants:

Laura Prinsloo of  Kesint Blanc Publishing

Kartini Nurdin of Yasayan Pustaka Obor

chaired by Eva Streifeneder

 

In addition, you can find Buecherfrauen at their stall 4.1 D55

You might also be interested in the following Book Fair event:

LiBeraturpreis 2015: Madeleine Thien

The LiBeraturpreis is the only German literature prize that is awarded exclusively to women from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Arab World. In 2015, Madeleine Thien will receive the award for her novel “Dogs at the Perimeter” (German title: “Flüchtige Seelen”, Luchterhand 2014, translated by Almuth Carstens), which deals with the repercussions of the terror regime of the Khmer Rouge.

Saturday, 17/10/2015
4.30 – 5.30 pm

Venue:

Weltempfang – Stage, 3.1 L25,  Exhibition site

 

And if you speak German, you may like to read another tribute to Buecherfrauen, written by German author Nina George.

 

Related article: The Power of Networking

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What Do Translators Want?

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I have had interesting discussions with other translators following my last article and Joanna Penn’s interview with me on her blog, therefore I am now writing a bit more about creative translations.

Most of the literary translators I have talked to really like their work and none of them has been in it for the money – well, at least I do not know anyone who got rich by translating, if this is the case for you, then please let me know how you are doing it 😉

Film subtitling – better paying alternative for creative translators?

When I first moved to London, I wasn’t earning enough money with literary translations to make a living in this expensive city and I was looking for alternatives. After a while I discovered subtitling, because many films were put on DVD and there was a demand for subtitlers at that time. After a while, though, the subtitling agencies had found enough translators and the demand decreased also because all the old films were already on DVD. Now the companies gradually started lowering their rates until they were so low that I quit again and took on different work. However, something interesting happened recently: I was contacted again and was offered a higher rate, due to the fact that Netflix needs a lot of film subtitlers who translate into German and probably into other languages as well these days. If you are looking for work like this and especially if you have experience, you could for example contact IMS.

Zeichnung verschiedene WeltsprachenIt is all about demand and supply and tough negotiation

Even though there is a demand for subtitlers right now, I suspect this is going to change sooner or later, as subtitling is rather popular. You are watching films all day and you even get paid for it, right? It’s not that easy, though, and it does need some skills. Nonetheless, I do understand why it is popular. If you are someone who is just starting out and wants to learn something related to translation, I would rather go for a more general type of course like the MA in translation, interpreting and subtitling  at the University of Esssex instead of a course in subtitling alone. I have no doubt that the industry will change again and the more skills you have, the better.

Some female literary and subtitle translators are saying they love what they are doing so much, because it is something creative that allows them to work from home with small children and they have a husband who is the main bread-winner. This is very understandable, but there is a problem with this – if you consider translation only an additional income and don’t rely on it to earn a living, you might be willing to accept low rates and this will affect the standard rates in the industry. And there is another very unpopular, but nonetheless relevant issue: The divorce rate is nowadays so high in most countries that you might not have a husband forever…

People can often earn more money if they are not afraid of tough negotiating. This does not come easily to most women who were taught to be nice girls and don’t demand too much. I admit that I have problems with fighting for my rights all the time as well and therefore I prefer a different long-term solution.

My own alternative: self-publishing

As mentioned above, you can read more about my own choice and the translation process in self-publishing on Joanna Penn’s blog.

 

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“Translation Is Like Housework…

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…it is only visible if it has been badly done.”

Pieke Biermann, German literary translator and author, said this in an interview many years ago and there is a lot of truth in the statement. In a way, being invisible is actually required. The translation should be a good read in the same way as the original and you are not supposed to guess straight away that you are not dealing with an original work.

housework vector graphicThe vast majority of readers do not even care whether they are reading a translation, let alone who translated the book and I am not just talking about average readers. A friend of mine teaches creative writing and literature and when we happened to talk about a book she had worked with in one of her classes, it turned out I was the translator – she had not noticed.

Even though translations are vital for the success or failure of a book in another language, they are not just usually invisible, but also generally poorly paid. The housework metaphor fits here as well – housework is important, but what about the money? Poor payment does not exactly encourage a great outcome if the translator needs to make a living and thus has to finish the translation as fast as possible. This is especially true for translations into languages other than English. Into English pays better, since there are simply not as many translators who can do the job – translators are usually translating into their own language. English native speakers are often not encouraged to learn foreign languages, therefore these translators do not have as much competition as their colleagues from other countries.

But despite the low income, most literary translators are still doing a great job as they are usually really passionate about their work. I believe that self-publishing can be an interesting alternative for them that might provide more long-term income, if they are prepared to participate in book marketing and play a much more visible role than they are used to.

I am cooperating with author J.F. Penn and we have recently self-published her first thriller Pentecost in German on a split-royalty basis, which means we are sharing the income. This is a risk, but at the same time there is more potential than going the traditional route with publishing houses if it goes well. Another way would be to be paid a fixed fee. I suspect most translators would currently still want to choose this route, because their low income does not allow much risk-taking. They should bear in mind, though, that they have the freedom to choose a self-published book which they really like and find worthwhile for translation.

If authors and translators are working on a split-royalty basis it is in the translators‘ own interest to contribute as much as possible to the book marketing. I must admit that this does not come easily to me – I am just not used to being visible. Therefore I am glad to work with an experienced self-published author like Joanna who has such a great positive attitude and I intend to share more of my experience on this blog.

You can read my interview with Joanna Penn on her blog.

And here is the German book trailer:

 

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