A few of months ago, I translated my debut novel (Das Erbe des Seefahrers / The Mariner’s Legacy) from German to English. It was surprisingly elaborate and took almost as much time as it took me writing the book, so I totally understand the high prices for professional translation services. My main reasons to translate the book myself were:
In the end, I had a look at different covers from other publishers. US covers are often lighter or have brighter colours and more abstract imagery than the corresponding UK covers. Most covers used for the German market were the US version, however, if a new German cover was created then they leaned more towards realistic imagery with people and houses than abstract images. Last but not least, I found that even for bestsellers and known authors, many book covers were the same across markets, therefore I decided to keep my book cover the same as well. See for yourself. Here is a selection of nine books with their covers for the: German, UK, and US market.
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For a few months now I have come to enjoy the attention of book promotors on Instagram. It's exciting to get some attention from people who think that you and your book are worth some more attention, isn't it? You might have seen the serious bookstagram pages where dedicated readers stage their favourite books because they love and believe in them, right? Most often the insta-book-promotors that get in touch with you have very uninspiring post with flat book covers on unicoloured backgrounds and with a hodgepodge of genres that make the eye hurt. Moreover, I quickly realized that everyone and anyone charges a "small fee" for their services. Whilst I have nothing against paying for services - on the contrary, I think more people should actually do this rather than to expect freebies - most if not all of these Instagram pages are not worth your while or your money. Now, there are the really obvious bots who just comment that you should promote your book on xyz. XYZ might have an impressive following, but the boot is usually a newly created, often private account, with very few followers. And there are hundreds of thousands of them bugging you every day. Block them, ignore them, report them, what ever, not sure if they would interact if you actually contacted them. The mother-pages-of-book-scammers probably will get in touch if they haven't done so already. Usually, what you will see is a friendly message informing you that they have send you a message and to please accept it as they are really impressed with your page/book and would like to "co-lab". If you show interest, they usually let you know that they charge a "small fee for their services", but that it's totally worth it. I hear you say $20 is not much and what's the worst that can happen? By all means, go for it, but here are a couple of things to check out first: 1. Do they put in any effort in presenting the books? 2. Are they giving 5-star ratings for anything and everything? 3. Do they have a theme and promote selected genres that actually match your book? 4. Are they promoting books from the big publishing houses (I know it's nice that they give us self-publishers a platform, but it's still good to check out the crowd you are mixing with)? Drilling a little deeper: 4. How many likes do their posts generate? 5. How many comments do their posts get? 6. Are the people commenting genuine readers or generic (aka bots) travel/food/beauty/insert-other-trend bloggers? Still not convinced? 7. Check out any of their "reviewed" books on Amazon, Goodreads, or any other genuine book page (especially the ones they claim they are using), and see If the book has any noteworthy ranking, increased number of reviews since insta-book-promotion, and if you can find the review of the insta-book-promotor anywhere else but their own Instagram page. Last but not least ask them what their ROI (return on investment) is; in other words, how much does their promotion actually increase any book sales, which is what you want, right? They probably won't have an answer to it as they won't be able to measure it, but it's something to think about. Is your money really best spend on some dubious instagram reviewer or are there better ways to promote your book? But this is something for another post. Stay tuned. Something for my English speaking/reading audience. I am currently working on publishing my first book “The Mariner’s Legacy”. At the moment, it is only available in German, my mother language, and I am therefore focussing on marketing my book to the German market. No worries, a translation of my book and other projects in English will follow soon. In the meantime, some information about the German book market. Germany has a very strong book culture and takes the second place, after Great Britain, for sales of American books and the third place, after Great Britain and Australia, for sales of American e-books, according to the Export Sales Report of the Association of American Publisher (AAP). However, the German market has also developed with many more self-publishing and distribution channels. Of course, German readers buy through Amazon, which makes about ~40% of the e-book sales. But the major German book sellers (Thalia, Weltbild, Buch.de, Hugendubel) launched their own e-reader, the Tolino, in 2015 and sales via the Tolino platform cover ~45% of the market. Then, there is Neobooks, a platform by the publishing house Droemer Knaur; epubli (sister platform to Neobooks); BookRix (used to belong to publishing house Bastei Lübbe); Tredition; Xinxii; Feiyr; and BoD, who are the oldest self-publishing platform in the country and specialized on print on demand. If you are interested in finding a brick and mortar publisher, some of these platforms offer programs to present your self-published book to their attached publishing houses. However, if you are aiming at getting your book out to readers, Tolino is probably your best choice. For a self-published print-on-demand book, you really want to be listed in the “Verzeichnis lieferbarer Bücher” (VLB, register of deliverable books). The VLB is an independent database that most bookstores will query to order books. Check whether your print-on-demand provider automatically lists your book with the VLB. If not, then you can list your book yourself. You will need an ISBN and pay a yearly listing fee. Another thing to consider for publications in the German language (books in a foreign language are excluded) is that Germany has a fixed book price system. That means that all books everywhere must have the same price, no matter whether it is sold through a small local bookstore or a large chain. Here is a very informative post on the German book market and the German audience, albeit a little out-dated by now in terms of publishing platforms. What are your thoughts and experiences with expanding your sales to other countries or market your book in a foreign language? Comment below. |
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March 2023
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