In Messe Frankfurt’s Agora at Frankfurter Buchmesse. Image: FBM, Alexander Heimann
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Challenges and Determination
Among the several fellowship programs operated each year by Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 16 to 20) ,the Special Program for Publishers From Ukraine and Neighboring Countries is an intensive training and networking program for publishers, editors, foreign rights managers, and literary agents from Armenia, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic and Ukraine.
Participation requirements are at least two years of professional experience in publishing with a focus on rights and licensing trade and a good command of English.
This year’s participants bring to Buchmesse, in many cases, the youth that some in the world publishing industry may have been a bit late in recognizing is important in the progress needed by the arts and business of literature.
Publisher Morten Entrekin and others have said to Publishing Perspectives this year that it’s past time for more new talent, more fresh observations, more developing leadership to find its way forward at the trade show and in the daily international work of the book business. This is one of the things that the special program and others are providing and cultivating.
We commend these programs to you, and will feature a selection of participants from the Frankfurt Fellows and the Invitation Program in our Frankfurt Show Magazine you’ll find waiting for you on October 16.
Here are comments from several of the special program fellows ahead of the events to come.
From Georgia, Nuka Gambadshidze is the publisher and rights manager with Sulakauri
Nuka Gambadshidze
‘Demonstrations and new waves of oppression’
About her work, she tells us:
I’m a publisher and rights manager. My tasks include the entire lifecycle of the book: I read manuscripts, present book projects for approval to the editorial board, manage communication with the author, and oversee the publishing project entirely. I also prepare briefs for cover designers and marketers.
My official position is rights manager, so apart from this extra work, my main task is to sell rights—publishing and adaptation.
I prepare rights and adaptation catalogues and visit book fairs, fellowships, and film adaptation markets, as well as pitching titles to publishers and producers.
We’re a general publisher, but we have a curated list for both translated and Georgian literature. We publish only up to 15 new original (Georgian) titles per year, therefore, combining two or even three positions in one, especially for a small market like ours, is inevitable. I’d of course still prefer to focus on international affairs more, to have more time for market research and presentation of our great literary pieces, which would certainly improve our rights sales numbers.
Publishing Perspectives: What are the main challenges you see in your country’s book market today for publishers?
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I need to repeat what we, the Georgian publishing industry and literary circles, have been talking about for a few years now : politics.
Not just local politics, but for global processes as well, because the ongoing Russian invasion and ruthless war in Ukraine make our region very susceptible to Russian political influence and military threat.
Our current government seems to be a product of that influence, and however unlikely it might seem that this affects every single creative person, especially writers and publishers, it is a fact. Amid all the malign practices and censorship laws, we barely manage to go through a month without demonstrations and new waves of oppression.
Currently, a large majority of writers, translators, publishers, and other humanities professionals are boycotting the ministry of culture, and this fact keeps us from funding opportunities that were crucial for new translations and rights sales in the past years. The processes have reached a dead end, which means that the progress we’ve made is slowly reversing.
When you manage literature in a country of only 3.4 million people with a unique language and alphabet, investment in culture should be ongoing.
Our industry needs more translators from Georgian and a better outreach to Europe and the United States. But at the moment we’re tied up in a fight for democracy and freedom of publishing on a local market.
People who sell rights and promote Georgian literature internationally have to do extra research and work without institutional support. Instead of focusing on our direct tasks for Frankfurt, Georgian publishers collectively organize the stand, work on the concept and design, the logistics, and the look for additional funding.
In a way, this comradery and unanimity is admirable, but with limited resources and burned-out professionals, not a lot can be achieved.
Publishing Perspectives: Will this be your first time at Frankfurt Book Fair?
This will be my second time as a publisher, but I’ve visited Frankfurt before as an organizer of the national stand and literary program. My first time visiting Frankfurt and working at the book fair was in 2018 when Georgia was the guest of Honor country. It was exhausting but also the experience that made me a fan of the event and the trade show.
Going to Frankfurt as a publisher and rights manager is very different and nonetheless tiring. Last year I overdid it with scheduling meetings and my voice was gone on Day Three. I hope to have a more wholesome and targeted experience this year.
This year I also have fellowship engagements, meetings ,and networking events, so I tried to make more thorough and careful calls when it came to booking meetings. Still, my calendar is already full, but I hope the meetings, information exchange, and conversations will be more substantial and many of them will lead to a closed sale.
I also hope to get to know the publishers whom I haven’t met yet, to network well, and to have the great social experience that the Frankfurter Buchmesse never fails to be.
From Romania, Vlad Adăscăliței is rights manager for Storia
Vlad Adăscăliței
‘An increasing consumption of English-language books’
About his work, he tells us:
At Storia Books, I dedicate most of my time and energy to rights management, which encompasses negotiations, contract oversight, and royalty reporting. In addition, I’m involved in scouting new titles and developing our adult fiction imprint. My background in bookselling informs my decision-making and sharpens my instinct for identifying what captivates readers browsing for their next book. I strive to integrate this perspective into our title selection process, aiming to balance commercial viability with our passion for exceptional stories.
While my primary focus is on these operational aspects, I find myself wishing for time to read more of the submitted titles and explore innovative strategies for engaging our readers.
Publishing Perspectives: What are the main challenges you see in your country’s book market today for publishers?
Romania ranks last in the European Union in terms of book consumption, which makes boosting literacy and readership a constant uphill battle. All the publishers fight for a slice of a very small pie.
Rising inflation has led to increased production costs, which in turn have driven up book prices, further discouraging readers from purchasing new titles. Additionally, financial difficulties among some book distributors and a lack of coherent state policies regarding the book market and reading in general further complicate the landscape.
At the same time, there’s an increasing consumption of English-language books, especially among younger readers. This trend poses a significant challenge for local publishers, as it reduces the market share for Romanian translations.
Publishing Perspectives: Will this be your first time at Frankfurt Book Fair?
This is my second time in Frankfurt, and my excitement remains just as strong. There’s something uniquely invigorating about connecting with people who have dedicated their lives to books and who continue to fight against the poverty of imagination.
I’m eager to learn about the growth strategies of other publishers, discuss the impact of AI on the future of publishing, and explore the development of the audiobook market. As young adult literature is a priority for Storia, I am particularly interested in discovering innovative ways to engage young readers that extend beyond algorithms.
I’m also particularly inspired by the opportunity to engage with Ukrainian publishers in this special program. Their dedication to continuing their work amid the daily hellish presence of war is truly remarkable.
And, of course, I hope to return with some great new titles for our readers.
From Ukraine, Svitlana Smilian is right and grants manager with One More Page
Svitlana Smilian
‘Average salaries in the industry don’t inspire people to continue’
About her work, she tells us:
I deal with all the aspects of purchasing licenses, from book scouting to royalty statements. Occasionally, I work with grant projects (mainly national translation grants for different languages).
There are two essential parts of my job: the first is book scouting, which includes choosing titles of interest, presenting them to my editorial team, reviewing the manuscripts, and deciding what fits our portfolio and vision; the second is working with license agreements, which entails translating them into Ukrainian for my colleagues, amending problematic terms and getting them approved by our legal and financial departments. I’m generally okay with my workload.
However, being able to dedicate more time to reviewing the manuscripts more thoroughly before acquiring the rights would be great, as sometimes one overlooks stylistic advantages or plot drawbacks while getting acquainted with a text rather superficially.
Publishing Perspectives: What are the main challenges you see in your country’s book market today for publishers?
The challenges our book market faces are largely associated with the war. Being a publisher, the main issues we see are:
- Lack of skilled staff. It’s getting tough to engage a translator or literary editor: the market is growing and many of those professionals are booked for years by different publishers. Also, average salaries in the industry don’t inspire people to continue working with books.
- Printing. As you may know, the Russians destroyed one of the biggest printing factories in Ukraine, Faktor Druk, and it’s a loss not only in terms of machinery and buildings but the people who were experienced printing professionals. A lot of the printing powers of Ukraine are located in the Kharkiv region, which is close to the border and the frontline, which means many people have left, hence staff shortage as well.
- Electricity shortages. Because of continuous Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power infrastructure, publishers and printing houses face productivity issues. For example, as a publisher, when you only get two hours of electricity at once, three times a day (six hours overall)—as was the case in the summer of 2024—you have to adjust, which means either working at night, or buying power stations, or going to a cafe or a coworking space that has an alternative source of electricity to work. Also, when a printing factory has to stop its operations for four to seven hours a couple of times a day, it has consequences, both technical and in terms of productivity.
- All of the above triggers the book prices to go higher. This is the problem since the buying capacity of Ukrainians is not growing as fast, to say the least.
Publishing Perspectives: Will this be your first time at Frankfurt Book Fair?
Indeed, this will be my first time at Frankfurt. I truly hope to get acquainted with lots of foreign publishers, as well as find some interesting titles to publish in Ukrainian, get to know the practices, achievements, and challenges of the book markets and separate publishers of other countries to incorporate their experiences at home upon return. I’m also excited about presenting some of the great Ukrainian titles of One More Page to foreign publishers.
From Hungary, Bence Szenderák is an editor with Jelenkor
‘Reading slowly becomes a somewhat anachronistic pastime.’
Bence Szenderák
About his work, he tells us:
As a literary editor at one of the most prestigious literary publishing houses of Hungary, I oversee the publication of around 10 to 14 books a year, a few of which are always collections of poetry from debuts and veteran poets alike, from receiving the manuscript to handing it off to print. (Of course, I cannot stress the importance of my typesetter colleagues enough.)
Most of my time is spent preparing and finalizing manuscripts, but that’s only one building block of my job—albeit the main one.
It’s also indispensable to build trust with the authors I work with, giving them feedback on texts not yet ready to be submitted, or mulling over minute details of their work.
The greatest blessing and biggest burden during the publishing process—for me personally—is having the cover designed. Relaying both the broader context of the book and the hopes and dreams of the author, as well as the PR and the editorial department to the designer, mediating ideas and brainstorming can be a challenge. I like to think that I’m comfortable with written language and its expectations, but cover art is a league of its own.
I’m also responsible for reading and responding to incoming manuscripts, which is always a rollercoaster. Still, I find it rewarding to be able to give (hopefully helpful) feedback to aspiring poets
ands writers.
And other areas I’d like to focus on? Where do I start? As far as FOMO reaches [“fear of missing out”]—anything and everything related to books: reading. And getting to hear and learn more about texts and art and literature and philosophy, book design, and how to choose papers, how to put together a publishing portfolio. Organizing, listening, being everywhere and doing everything all at once. Refining my taste.
Publishing Perspectives: What are the main challenges you see in your country’s book market today for publishers?
As I imagine is the case anywhere in the world, the shifting media landscape has literary publishers on the back foot.
As more and more venues of entertainment open up and get saturated, reading slowly becomes a somewhat anachronistic pastime, or a pastime that is harder to engage with in general, especially in a country where investing in education isn’t exactly of the utmost importance. And although the number of published titles and yearly turnover have been growing,
Hungary is a relatively small market which has unfortunately been heavily affected by recent inflation and paper price hikes, making book prices steadily rise, and consumers weigh their choices more carefully. As a literary publishing house, Jelenkor has an even smaller target audience, as 49 percent of our consumers have chosen general fiction in 2023, as opposed to the 12 percent and 6 percent who have bought upmarket fiction and poetry, respectively.
Publishing Perspectives: Will this be your first time at Frankfurt Book Fair?
Yes, it’s my first Frankfurt, hopefully not the last. I’m very excited to take part in this year’s Special Program, and meet colleagues from countries whose literature I am not as familiar with as I could or should be. Other than seeing the largest book event of the year, I hope it will be the starting point of long-lasting professional relationships. I am also looking forward to flipping through beautiful books of course.
From Ukraine, Slava Svitova, co-founding CEO with Creative Women Publishing
Slava Svitova
‘Planning is for a month at most, not six months or a year’
About her work, she tells us:
I’m managing a small publishing house called Creative Women Publishing based in Kyiv. We’re a Ukraine-born feminist publishing company founded in 2020 by seven women. We publish empowering and high-quality books in the Ukrainian language during wartime. Our books primarily focus on feminist themes and topics important to women, such as self-development, career growth, self-discovery, body image, relationships, creativity, art, financial literacy, and fiction centered on women’s empowerment. We publish in Ukrainian and are excited to add more foreign titles to our portfolio, as well as to translate our own books into other languages.
Most of my time and energy goes to keeping the strings of the team attached as some of our colleagues remain in Ukraine and two of them got relocated to Germany and the United Kingdom because of the war. The group dynamic and well-being of the team is extremely important: If books burn, we print them out again, but if people do, that’s irreversible and tragic.
In our publishing house, I’m the one to negotiate the purchase of the foreign rights; choose the books for the current and next year portfolio; manage the preparation process of all books till the print run is ready; and make sure all the timelines are met. Since our publishing is now growing, we’re working on optimizing and automatizing our business processes to keep the work smooth and more organized.
Our company began at the Creative Women Space, a physical venue which was based in the heart of Kyiv from 2018 to 2020 and became the center of Ukrainian women’s empowerment until the onset of COVID-19. Because of the national lockdown related to COVID, we had to close down the venue. But we decided to take our mission and values and transfer them to another project, one that could exist online and unite women and books. That was the time when Creative Women Publishing was born and has been successfully growing ever since, without challenges. Along with the books, we want to promote reading and help women get new ideas, articulate those ideas, and fulfill them the best they can.
We’d like to embrace the opportunity to collaborate with international publishing houses and offer our books for translation into different languages since the topics of the books we print might resonate for many publishers. Our three bestsellers are Unspoken: Ukrainian Women Share Their Hidden Stories (2021, nonfiction) and Unspoken: Ukrainian Men Share Their Hidden Stories (2022, nonfiction), which address taboo topics affecting both women and men in Ukrainian society, as well as the funny book in a pop-feminism style, I Forgot My Panties (2024, nonfiction) by Maya Tulchynska, a collection of short stories in which the writer takes on misogyny, periods, impostor syndrome, inequality in society, and other sensitive topics in such a way that we laugh at it. That laughter gives us the strength to change our own lives and the lives of other women for the better.
Publishing Perspectives: What are the main challenges you see in your country’s book market today for publishers?
The key challenges for the publishers in Ukraine are the war and the time. The war has brought instability and chaos to most of the teams during its first year: many local teams got scattered around the world, some of the key employees went to the frontline and became a part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In the war’s third year, the central challenge remains just staying alive.
Moreover, Ukrainian printing houses and warehouses full of books get destroyed and burned down by the Russian bombs. Most people who stay and work in Ukraine push it to the limits every single day to give good results despite constant air raid alarms at night and during the day, explosions, blackouts, losses, and a total burn-out. And still, the people are able to perform and keep going in conditions that are absolutely not normal regarding all possible world norms of normality.
Planning is for a month at most, not six months or a year. We realize we’re facing a “new normal” here in Ukraine. But despite the circumstances, this genocidal war has triggered a boost in Ukrainian book publishing sphere: new publishing houses appear every month; new fancy book stores appear on the maps of both bigger cities and small towns; the network of existing book stores grows; publishers reprint prominent Ukrainian works of classics (both fiction and nonfiction) and give voice to beginning writers of all genres.
So time is the key. As Ukrainian publishers want to fulfill all their publishing plans, print out the desired books before the blackout, before the electrical systems are destroyed by more of the Russian bombs coming nearly every day in different parts of the country, the publishers hurry up. Every single day is a new blessing, as we get to wake up after the night of explosions and possible death tolls.
Publishing Perspectives: Will this be your first time at Frankfurt Book Fair?
Indeed, taking part in Frankfurt is a great honor and possibility for me as a representative of our small feminist Creative Women Publishing house as well as a representative of the Ukrainian creative industries sector in general. It’s a possibility to become a part of a larger international professional community, take a seat at a table, tell our story, and mark ourselves on a bigger map.
It’s also a great chance to be able to share more about Ukrainian literature, both classic and contemporary, and the values it translates, which might possibly explain the nature of the existential war we are currently fighting against Russia to a larger number of people who are ready to listen and understand; show the great chorus of the talented and authentic Ukrainian voices; and the topics these voices are choosing and verbalizing through their books.
The special program is supported by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, and curated and organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH in cooperation with International Book Arsenal Festival and Goethe-Institut Ukraine.
More from Publishing Perspectives on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, more on independent publishers is here, more on politics is here, more on diversity is here, and more on the German book market is here. More from Publishing Perspectives on the Ukrainian market is here, and more on the freedom to publish and the freedom of expression is here.