Claudia Kaiser: Emissary of Books Exchange between China and Germany
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In every October, Frankfurt, germany becomes a Mekka where publishers around the world go on pilgrimage. As a saying popular in the Chinese publishing circle goes, “those who have never been to Frankfurt are not real publishers.” Germany is by no means the largest book exporter in the world, nor is German the most popular language in the world. But the Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest and most important book fair in the world, attracting thousands of publishers and journalists from more than one hundred countries and regions every year. Why is it so appealing? We have to trace its history first.
As early as in the middle of the fifteenth century, Johannes Gutenberg who lived close to Frankfurt invented the movable typography and published the first printed version of Bible. 180 books of the first version were sold out before official publication. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Frankfurt became the most important book trading place in Germany, open not only to Germans but also other European countries that belong to the Latin family. Books were shipped to Frankfurt in boxes and book traders from different regions took them back to their own countries or regions for sale. In 1949, the first modern book exposition was held here and it has become an annual fair ever since. As book traders, readers and the publishing industry are becoming increasingly international, the book fair has attracted attention from the world’s publishing industry and Frankfurt has become the biggest and most important book trading center in the world.
The present vice president of the Frankfurt Book Fair Ms. claudia kaiser had been appointed as the foreign expert for the “Program of Promoting Chinese Books Overseas” since 2009 and the appointment has been extended recently. She was born in Germany and specialized in book marketing. She embarked on the study of China in the University of Hamburg and did some translation work. She served as the foreign expert for Beijing Review (China International Publishing Group) and set up BIZ Peking in Beijing in 1998 to promote Germany publications in China and offer advice for Chinese books’ going global. She is undoubtedly the culture ambassador of Sino-Germany books exchange.
Claudia’s initial role in China was a German book copyright promoter. Before BIZ Peking was established in Beijing, the sales of copyrights of German books in the Chinese market were unsatisfying. In 1995 and 1996, China was not in the top ten countries where German publishers sold translation copyrights. However, in 1998 when BIZ Peking was founded saw a significant breakthrough that China became a country that owned the largest number of translation copyrights granted by German publishers. Back then, there were no foreign agencies that were active in the Chinese market in promoting copyright transaction and translated books. Therefore, the establishment of BIZ Peking opened a door for the Chinese publishing industry to gain information and seek cooperation, which turned out to be stunning success. In the following years, China has remained in the top-ten list of countries that Germany exports copyrights. In 2008, 599 German publications were sold to publishing houses in Mainland China. Claudia was proud of what she had achieved, but at the same time, a figure dep-ressed her. In the same year, only 28 copyrights of Chinese books were sold to Germany. The horrible trade deficit probably stirred her deeply, to the extent that she accepted the invitation from the Chinese government with pleasure and promised to help promote Chinese books in other countries.
As Claudia mentioned in an interview, the Chinese government has made a lot of efforts in promoting Chinese books overseas, but there are still some problems. One of them is with the contents of books. Foreign readers are interested in how the contents are presented. In fact, many foreigners have keen interest in China. What interest them most are the history of China, especially the contemporary history, and problems that China has encountered in the process of development. They are also interested in traditional Chinese culture like acupuncture, Chinese philosophy and literature and areas in China inhabited by ethnic minorities, such as Xinjiang and Tibet. In Germany’s book market, the best-selling translated books are translated from English or French, 70% of which are from English. Another problem is with translation. The Chinese government has carried out the program of“China Book Internutional” to subsidize the translation of books that publishers intend to globalize. But in fact, the number of books translated into German is very small. And translation takes plenty of time for it is a comp-licated job.
What’s more, in terms of book marketing, it is urgent that global distributing channels be explored for Chinese publications. Can Chinese books be bought on ? Can Chinese books be found in the purchase order lists of German book wholesalers? Can service of on-demand printing of Chinese books be provided? How many kinds of academic periodicals in Chinese can be subscribed to and bought on line? How many characters can be subscribed to with mobile phones? These are questions that should be taken into consideration when it comes to the internationalization of Chinese publications.
Digital publication is the topic being discussed by publishers all over the world and was attached special importance to the 2011 Frankfurt Book Fair. As the vice president of the Book Fair, Claudia admits that the German publishers are conservative and afraid of digital books. As a result, the development of digital publication in Germany is much slower than that in the USA and is obstructed by many problems. The most severe one is the high price of digital books, which is only 10% to 20% lower than paper ones. Copyright is another big problem. Therefore, the Frankfurt Book Fair will be more devoted to promoting the exhibition and practical application of digital products, and digital publication will become the topic to focus on and discuss this year and even years to come.
The project of Hot Spots the Frankfurt Book Fair brings out for the cooperation between publishers and professionals in the fields of science and technology will once again represent the six developing trends in the media and publishing industries, such as social communication media, mobile contents and E-Learning. “Hot Spots” are display windows presenting the innovation consciousness and ground-breaking products of the Frankfurt Book Fair, including the “Hot Spots” of children’s books and comic books, “Hot Spots” of digital relationship, “Hot Spots” of professions and scientific and technological information, “Hot Spots” of education, “Hot Spots” of publishing service and “Hot Spots” of mobile and terminal, six sections in total. Among them, Pavilion 4.0 will serve as the “Hot Spots” of publishing service where service providers in the printing industry and digital sectors gather. “Hot Spots” of education in Pavilion 4.2 will be house to a wide array of innovative text books, textbook supplements, games for solemn purposes, learning games and learning software. “Hot Spots” of professions and scientific and technological information in Pavilion 4.2 will provide a platform for professional information, contents in the fields of science and technology and library as well as exhibitions and exchange offered by service providers. “Hot Spots” of digital relationship in Pavilion 6.1 will be focused on products and solutions that link users closely to contents, ranging from self-help publication and online PR to social media platforms and E-marketing. “Hot Spots” of mobile and terminal in Pavilion 8.0 will fully display the mobile technology, from tablet PCs and E-readers to Apps, then to network providers and copyright owners of book contents.