21.10.16 www.thebookseller.com


FEATURE DUTCH LESSONS


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many bestsellers. However, Dutch TV programmes do expect their guests to speak Dutch, so here foreign authors can lose out. Yet, in the Low Countries—as in the


UK—authors are finding innovative ways to promote their work. While e-books represent only around 4%–6% of the market—compared to the around 20%–25% of the UK and US markets—digital is still critical, not only as a promotional tool but also to engage readers in a conversation. A good example is the Antwerp-based Flemish playwright and author Jeroen Olyslaegers, who has a huge online following. He often voices strong opinions on politics or society on Facebook which generate debate not just among his fans but in the wider media too. His profile has helped boost his newest title Wil, a brutal, beautiful novel of Antwerp during the Second World War. As a publisher I am always impressed


how inventive authors are. Saskia De Coster, whose book We & Me has just been published in an English translation, launched the Flemish version by asking people to record themselves reading one page aloud a day, which she posted on her website. This included one video filmed from a maternity unit, where a fan had just given birth to her daughter; and one read, in Dutch, by comedian Ruby Wax. We’re seeing increased innovation in book events, too. De Coster regularly takes part in art installations and multimedia “happenings”, and new literary, cultural and cross-disciplinary centres are springing up across the Netherlands, with prominent examples in The Hague (B-Unlimited),


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Pictured are Herman


Koch above, one of few successful author exports into the UK/US markets in recent years; however booksellers in the region have been impressed with the ingenuity of authors such as Saskia De Coster right in terms of audience engagement


Dutch paperbacks are better designed and of higher quality, printed on wood-free paper. Some English- language paperbacks appear to be printed on ennobled toilet paper.” The Dutch booksellers were all


Amsterdam (SPUI25) and the small city of Middelburg (Kloalveniersdoelen). Asscher, for one, applauds these new


spaces: “They provide room for literary debate, for book launches and for discussions between writers, scholars, journalists and artists. Thanks to the dynamism of social media, it is now possible to organise a well-attended gathering at even a few days’ notice. This also contributes to a less traditional and more energetic style of promoting books and writers.”


Dutch paperbacks are better designed and higher quality, printed on wood- free paper. Some English- language paperbacks appear to be printed on ennobled toilet paper


Ad Goos, owner of Vrije Boekhandel


LESSONS TO BE LEARNED But what can those in the UK book trade learn from their counterparts in the Dutch-speaking world? Ad Goos, owner of Breda bookshop


Vrije Boekhandel, suggests some British publishers could improve their production values: “In general the


grateful for the Dutch system of a fixed book price. There’s no Belgian equivalent—though Groene Waterman’s Stroep would welcome it—but it also impacts the Belgian book market. Stroep is impressed by British pan-industry promotional campaigns, such as Books Are My Bag and World Book Night, and impressed that the UK Booksellers Association launches campaigns specifically in support of independents. I personally believe we can learn


Eric Visser founded Breda-based De Geus in 1983, building it into one of the Netherlands’ biggest and most respected independent publishers. In January 2015, Visser launched London-based World Editions, which publishes English translations of world literature, with an emphasis on Dutch and Flemish writers


from the British regarding how to deal with the literary works of our great deceased authors. I believe Brits can learn from the Netherlands, Belgium and other countries about how to value “world literature”. As most Brits don’t speak other languages well, they limit themselves too much to their own literary production. World literature could open eyes and new worlds. I’ll leave the last word to Asscher in


Amsterdam: “What the British could learn from the Dutch is how to maintain the fixed retail price for books. (To say nothing of how to stay in the EU.) But what the Dutch should learn from the British is how—just for once—to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.” 


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