The US Book Market
With industry wide projections based on sales reported from 1,963 companies with combined revenue of $15.3 billion, the publishing industry grew in both 2009 and 2010, aided by $1.6 billion in sales from e-books. Total estimated revenue for all publishers rose 3.1% in 2010, to $27.9 billion, following a 2.5% increase in 2009. E-book sales across all publishing categories rose 29.4% in 2009 and 38.9% in 2010, and accounted for 5.8% of total industry revenue in 2010 (See Section II, Part C for more on E-Books). Overall U.S. publishing unit sales are up as well. 2.57 Billion net units sold in 2010 represent a 4.1% increase since 2008.
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The German Book Market
The industry's sales turnover increased in 2009 by 0.8 per cent to just under 9.7 billion euros, having risen by 0.4 per cent in 2008. The classic retail book trade ended 2009 with a zero in the black (+ 0.1 per cent), having had to take a loss of 1.5 per cent the year before. Department stores suffered yet another considerable drop in sales at a figure of just under 20 per cent. Book clubs also registered a drop of 20 per cent, after a decline of 1.8 per cent in 2008. The mail order trade was the big winner again in 2009, increasing its sales by 11.4 per cent. But this increase is entirely accounted for by online book sales, which are estimated to have risen by around 15 per cent.

After an only small increase of 0.6 per cent in 2008, sales for German book publishing companies rose by a clear 3.8 per cent in 2009.

As of May 2010, the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels – German Publishers & Booksellers Association – had 5,787 members, including 1,833 publishing companies and 3,814 bookselling businesses.

The German Book Office and the Frankfurt Book Fair both maintain translators databases to facilitate the quick and easy finding of suitable translators.
The German Book Office and the Frankfurt Book Fair both mantain translator databases that assist in facilitating a quick and easy search for a suitable translator. The German Book Office uses its translator database to recommend qualified translators to publishers and literary organizations who seek translator recommendations for certain projects.

If you regularly do tranlsation work form German into English and would like to be considered for inclusion in the database, please send your CV and a sample translation (if possible, and preferably with a copy of the original text) to post@newyork.gbo.org

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the translator database or the German Book Office.

The Geisteswissenschaften International - Translation Funding for Humanities and Social Sciences is awarded by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels - German Publishers & Booksellers Association, the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, VG WORT and Germany's Federal Foreign Office to innovate original German-language works for humanities and social sciences. The GBO promotes all titles that receive this award and for which English language rights are still available.
Nonfiction Rights List Fall 2011

The GBO works closely with the Frankfurt Book Fair in promoting children's and YA books from Germany and puts together a children's books rights list.
Rights list children books

The GBO also helps US publishers in getting information about available rights and recommending suitable readers or translators.

US publishers are encouraged to submit their applications to the Goethe-Institut New York.
If an application is accepted, the Goethe-Institut New York will forward it, together with a supporting statement, to the central office of the Goethe-Institut in Munich. There, a committee will evaluate the application. If an application is approved, the committee will decide on the amount to be granted. If an application is rejected, the Goethe-Institut New York will inform applicants directly.

Please submit completed applications and supporting documents to: Goethe-Institut New York
Brigitte Doellgast
72 Spring Street, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10012
Tel.: +1 212 439 8695
Fax.: +1 212 439 8705
E-mail: doellgast@newyork.goethe.org
Web: ww.goethe.de/newyork

Translation funding for nonfiction works on humanities and social sciences from Germany is available through a new grant from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, and German Federal Foreign Office. Geisteswissenschaften International: Translation Funding for Humanities and Social Sciences from Germany rewards innovative academic works on humanities and social sciences written in German by providing funding for the translation of such works into English.

Applications will be accepted from publishing companies with academic publications in the fields of humanities and social sciences. They should submit their own selection of titles for which a rights option agreement is already in place, and provide a brief summary of the reasons for their selection. The amount of funding will depend on each individual case and the actual translation costs. The titles to receive funding will be chosen twice a year by an independent selection panel made up of academics, qualified journalists and scientific publishers.
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Send your correspondence to:
Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels
Anke Simon
Phone:  +49 (0) 69 1306-384
E-mail: simon@boev.de

Funding for nonfiction titles by German authors is available through the Goethe-Institut Translation Grant. Please visit the website of the Goethe Institut for more information.
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The Arts and Culture Department of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education offers translation funding for contemporary works of poetry, prose, drama, and essays to publishers and translators.

Send applications to:

Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur
(BMUKK), Sektion VI – Kunstangelegenheit
Abteilung VI/5 (Literatur- und Verlagswesen)
Minoritenplatz 5,
A-1014 Vienna
Austria

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The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia provides assistance to foreign publishers for the translation of literary works by Swiss authors for publication abroad.
Contribution to Publications

Send applications to:
Pro Helvetia
Schweizer Kulturstiftung

Schweizer Kulturstiftung
Hirschengraben 22
CH-8024 Zürich
Tel:  +41 44 267 71 71
Fax:  +41 44 267 71 06
E-mail: info@prohelvetia.ch
Website: www.prohelvetia.ch

The New York State Council on the Arts offers funding literary translations into English based on the accuracy of the translation and the literary quality of the original work. Grants range from $2,500 to $5,000 and the request for funding must be sponsored by a nonprofit organization. The registration deadline is March 1st and the application deadline is July 3rd. Visit the NYSCA website for complete details:
NYSCA Site

The PEN Translation Fund offers grants from $2,000 to $10,000 for the translation of literary works from a variety of languages into English and proposals are judged on the quality of the original work and of the translation. For more information or to download an application form, visit the PEN website:
To the PEN site

The Volkswagen Foundation wants to increase global exposure to scientific findings originally presented in German. To this end, they are underwriting a contest for outstanding current German-language scientific studies to encourage international debate and cross-cultural enrichment.

Until December 31, the foundation is accepting submissions of full studies (or shorter articles that have appeared in scientific journals) that have been translated into English or another world language. Independent submissions from authors or publishers will not be accepted. Publishers and translators may submit a piece if the award would then be granted to a scientific institution or university.

The final selection will be made by an interdisciplinary and international panel of judges.
More information (in german)

Questions, please contact:

Dr. Thomas Brunotte, VolkswagenStiftung,

Kastanienallee 35, 30519 Hannover, Germany

brunotte@volkswagenstiftung.de,
Tel.  +49 511 8381 297

A Foundation for Knowledge