Romancing the Globe
Country Profiles: Germany and Holland
by Deanna Carlyle
© 2008 Deanna Carlyle

This article first appeared in the March 2008 issue of the Romance Writers Report.

Do you want more money? Do you want to see your work published far and wide? Then you came to the right article. Foreign rights sales of your novel can put euros in your pocket and a smile on your face. But as with any sale, getting to “yes” isn’t always easy. Sometimes you have to help your luck along. Hence this article profiling Holland and Germany’s romance publishing scenes.

COUNTRY PROFILE #1: HOLLAND

What’s Their Scene?
In Holland, Harlequin reigns supreme in the romance scene, where their books are known as “Bouquet” and are widely distributed in supermarkets and corner magazine shops. This is great news for Harlequin authors, who are for the most part English speakers, but not so great for local romance authors, who must look to the smaller romance publishers in Holland for work and, increasingly, to the newly successful chick-lit imprints that are more open to local and foreign authors of all stripes.

After Harlequin, the next largest Dutch romance publisher is Candlelight, which, like Harlequin, publishes only translations, almost exclusively North American historical romances from publishers such as Zebra, Avon, Signet, and Bantam. The remaining romances in Holland are divided among several large Dutch publishing houses (see sidebar), most of which prefer American romance in translation, too. The few houses that do publish original Dutch romance novels are discussed below.

Most Dutch romance writers publish traditional regional romances, and most of these writers are over sixty—some over seventy—and about to retire. At the same time, the younger, homegrown women’s fiction authors are finding their voice and their stride.

Anita Verkerk, for example, one of the most successful Dutch chick-lit authors (www.anitaverkerk.nl), got her start writing romances for the Dutch “pulp fiction” line, Favorite Romances, which are not books, but rather paper magazines that feature medical romances, regional romances, castle romances, mother and child, and maternity hospital stories. From there, Verkerk moved on to longer works of greater complexity, helping her publishers to grow with her. “One of the largest Dutch publishers for regional romances, named Kok, now publishes original Dutch chick-lit (I’m one of their authors),” Verkerk relates, “and another publisher, Ellessy, who specialized in thrillers, has opened a second line for original Dutch romance. Over the past two years, I was the only romance author for this publisher—he was giving it a try with my books, but he is now expanding the line with other authors, too. It was a great challenge to help him build this line, and it’s really wonderful that it became such a success. We Dutch authors have started to conquer our own market at last!”

Verkerk, who is an RWA member actively looking for a US chick-lit publisher for her novels, says RWA has been a great help to her. “Without RWA and the mailing lists I would never have found my current American publisher, NCP. And I wouldn’t have known anything about the American romance market. I also do a lot of online courses, sponsored by RWA chapters to improve my skills (No such courses exist here in Holland). . . . Besides, RWA supports me in a psychological way. In the US, romance is popular—there are romances on the NYT bestselling list. I really hope that this lightening bolt of recognition will strike Holland one day.”

Why has that day been slow in coming? Verkerk explains it’s due in part to Holland’s Calvinist cultural roots. “Our shops are closed on Sundays, our Queen goes to church every week, our government is in fact rather Calvinist, too. This means that having fun for fun’s sake is, in fact, considered ‘not done.’ We even had a female minister who said that we could have a laugh, but it should be ‘functional’ (whatever she meant by that). Everyone had a good laugh about her, by the way. :-)

“So,” Verkerk concludes, “if you read a book, you can't just read for fun; no, the reading has to serve a higher purpose. You have at least to learn something from it. Our literature can take romance as a subject, but ‘happily ever after’ is considered bad. The couple has to endure the most terrible things, and in the end one of them or both will die. These kind of books have long, long sentences, difficult words, etc. (I seldom read them; I find them boring). That is why ‘happily ever after romance’ doesn’t count here, and we have so very few romance writers.”

Yet despite all this, romances continue to be a popular guilty pleasure in Holland, one recognized by smart booksellers. “Most [romance] translations are put on prominent shelves. Fortunately, my Dutch chick-lit novels also get a prominent place now. Their popularity is growing.”

What’s Hot in Holland?

• Historicals (Scottish, Regency, gently paranormal, Western, the latter published by Candlelight Publishers)
• Foreign or exotic settings, like Venice, Tuscany, New York (especially among chick-lit authors)
• Conservative language, no swearing, no F-words
• Sweet love scenes, sex is alluded to (there are exceptions among the Harlequin imprints, especially their Sexy line, and among so-called literary novels, e.g., Heleen van Royen’s Happy Housewife).
• Regional romances set in Dutch villages and towns (popular among readers over fifty)

Do It Yourself
“In Holland, a first novel is usually submitted directly to a publisher, after which publisher, editor and writer enter into a long-term relationship.”—Floris Kleijne, author of the award-winning science fiction story “Meeting the Sculptor”

Editors in Holland are accustomed to fielding queries from unknown writers, and since most Dutch professionals have a good command of English, querying them in English should pose no problem. Be aware, however, that as with querying at home, sometimes it’s hard to get through. Keep in mind, too, that the smaller publishers may find the cost of translating your work prohibitive.

Still, if your Dutch language rights are yours to sell, there’s no reason not to query a Dutch editor directly. In a sidebar to this article, you’ll find the main Dutch romance publishers listed in the International Literary Market Place (ILMP). The ILMP lists editorial directors only in its free online searches (tip for cyber-searchers: save to disk to get at the editor names and addresses, which otherwise aren’t accessible for free). For other editor names, be sure to call the publisher first before querying. If you’re feeling adventurous and resourceful, you can also search for publishers on the following site, which links to most Dutch publishers: http://uitgeverij.startpagina.nl/.

Agents, Subagents and Scouts, Oh My 
There are very few literary agencies in Holland, and fewer still that negotiate sales and contracts for foreign agents and publishers. Those listed in the ILMP are as follows:

• Caroline van Gelderen Literary Agency
• International Literatuur Bureau BV
• Marianne Schönbach Literary Agency (formerly known as Lijnkamp Literary Agents)

If your work is already agented, your agent may have a co-agenting relationship with one of these Dutch agencies. If not, and if you control the Dutch rights to your work, you’ll want to sign with a publisher with good Dutch subagent or publishing contacts or, at the very least, approach the subagents yourself. It’s worth a shot. As with agent hunting at home, the worst that can happen is your query goes unanswered or the agent passes on your project.

Then, there are the international literary scouts. Some writers dream of being discovered by a scout working for a foreign publisher. But literary scouts operate differently from agents. Scouts are paid by foreign publishers to hunt for recently sold projects that might fit into their clients’ publishing program. Scouts don’t field queries from individual writers. In a sidebar to this article, I’ve tagged those women’s fiction publishers in Holland who hired an American scout in 2007. Such an investment on their part is a sign that these publishers are willing to do whatever it takes to become and stay competitive in their market.

How Do I Promote in Holland?
“There aren't any magazines for romance readers here. . . . I've done several courses on promotion, so I do lots of promotion myself on the one and only chick-lit internet site we have, www.chicklit.nl. In the meantime, my publisher now pays for a chick-lit banner ad on this site.”—Anita Verkerk, author of the new Dutch chick-lit novel, Princess Flirt

Unlike the enterprising Verkerk, who learned the value of self-promotion from RWA, most Dutch authors leave book promotion to the publisher. Dutch romance publishers focus less on the readers and more on their immediate sales channels, sending catalogues and representatives to bookstores and book fairs.

With good reason. Publicity for the romance genre in Holland is hard to come by; there’s no dedicated magazine for romance readers, and even the glossy women’s magazines tend to see popular women’s fiction as not literary enough to grace their pages.

An individual fan of Candlelight romances has done much to connect readers to their favorite foreign authors by linking to all the Candlelight author websites (www.chasingdreams.nl/candlelight/websites), but as she laments in a recent site update, Candlelight hasn’t yet created a promotional site for its authors, and she herself is short on free time.

Another good review site in Holland is www.boekreviews.nl, which features romance and women’s fiction reviews, interviews and contests.

Aside from these sites, there is one other Dutch review site for romance and women’s fiction, Euro-Reviews (http://euroreviews.eu.funpic.de/), but unfortunately, my email to the review coordinator came back with a message saying the address was no longer active. However, as the ads on the site look recent and there’s an extensive list of enthusiastic reviewers in the “About Us” section, I thought I should mention Euro-Reviews as a potential publicity resource.

COUNTRY PROFILE #2: GERMANY

What’s Their Scene?
Germany is the second largest book rights market in the world after the US. Not bad for a country the size of an American state. The German romance publishing scene is correspondingly large and vibrant, and though it is dominated by American translations, German romance writers and readers are beginning to claim more of their own turf.

Twelve years ago, the first romance readers’ review website was founded (www.die-buecherecke), and today it and its sister sites are going stronger than ever. In addition, four years ago, the first romance writers organization, DeLiA was founded (http://www.delia-online.de) and three years ago, the first romance magazine for readers was created, LoveLetters, (http://www.loveletter-magazin.de) with an active online blog. At last, the channels of communication between German romance authors, publishers and readers have opened up.

Another strong suit in the German romance publishing scene is distribution. “As publishers concentrate on sales, distribution is very good and widespread,” says German romance and chick-lit author, Sigrid Goddard. “From small bookstores to big chains, from Germany, Switzerland to Austria—women’s fiction is as prominently placed as in the US.” The shorter magazine style romances by German authors (Kelter publishers) and the abridged Harlequin translations (Cora) also have excellent distribution, if no ISBN. These books do not appear in brick-and-mortar and online bookshops, but rather in a widespread network of supermarkets, Lotto shops, kiosks, tobacco shops, newspaper shops and train stations shops, where they get plenty of exposure.

But, despite these gains and successes, the romance writing scene in Germany isn’t as structured and transparent as in the US. Why, you ask? Because American writers organized earlier and now routinely hire agents to sell their work, and because German culture in general tends to more elitist and exclusionary (and I say this having researched and written a cross-cultural study on the topic), the idea being that not everyone can or should write, and that literature with a capital “L” is practically a writer’s cultural duty. Of course, plenty of German writers—especially commercial fiction writers—believe otherwise, but they’re hindered by the prevailing mindset.

“Why is this?” I asked author Sigrid Goddard. Her answer confirmed my observations. “Mainly because there are very few German writers who choose to break with the traditional expectation of an intellectual novel in order to write for an audience who wants to be purely entertained. But this is changing slowly.”

What’s Sought in Germany?

• Paranormals (newly hot; two years ago the publishers didn’t want to look at them)
• Settings like France, Spain, Italy, and even Holland and Scandinavia (Germans hold the current world record for most miles traveled).
• Historicals, especially Scottish highlander settings, but also Victorians, medievals and Viking romances (more continental settings are desired, but hard to come by).
• Erotica and romantica for and by women (the larger publishers looking to get into this; only a handful of small publishers currently publish these)
• Romantic suspense (though the publishers class them with thrillers, which confuses and annoys the hardcore thriller fans).

Do It Yourself
In Germany, querying editors—not agents—is the norm. There’s no guarantee, however, that your query will find a receptive editor there, but at least you’ll be in nearly the same boat as most German writers. As with all querying, be sure to do your research and call the publisher beforehand to check you that have the right editor name for the type of story you’re pitching. Publishing assistants in Germany generally have a good command of English, so if you preface your call with a polite request to speak English, you should have no problem communicating.

To spur you on, here’s a success story from Ruth Nestvold, American author of the newly sold manuscript, Yseult, an historical fantasy with strong romantic elements whose North American rights, as of this writing, are still on offer. Nestvold sold the novel directly to Random House Germany. “While I was busy sending about half-a-dozen [US] queries a month out, another writer on the Codex workshop asked on the discussion boards if anyone knew anything about the German publisher Piper and whether they were legit. This writer had been contacted by one of Piper's slush editors because he had read and enjoyed several of his short stories and wanted to know if he had a novel. He did, but only in rough draft. Anyway, this editor requested to see the manuscript anyway once it was revised.

“When I read about that story, my first reaction was envy, along the lines of ‘why doesn't anything like that happen to me?’ Luckily, I realized fairly quickly how whiney that sounded—and that I was in a very good position to see if something like that could happen to me. So I translated my query letter and my one page synopsis, did some market research on fantasy publishers in Germany, and shot off three query letters.

“The first editor, Urban Hofstetter of the German imprint of Random House, Blanvalet, called the same week—a day after I got the first rejection. He asked me to send the complete novel as a Word file so that he could read it on his laptop during his commute. A month later, he made me a very decent offer.

“The third editor (Klett-Cotta) called after Hofstetter already had the manuscript and said he would be interested if Hofstetter turned it down. Both he and Hofstetter were particularly impressed with the professional quality of both the query and the synopsis—something apparently writers in Germany have little chance to learn, since there is no culture of teaching creative writing to speak of, and not much in the way of courses for people to learn the fine points of the submission process.”

While Nestvold’s command of German and her acquaintance with German speakers helped her to translate her pitch, you don’t necessarily have to do the same. There’s a reason why Germany has such a strong economy: Germans work hard at being international competitors, and learning English is crucial to that effort.

Agents, Subagents and Scouts, Redux
 “I still get curious looks from other German authors if I mention I have an agent.”—Sigrid Goddard, author of German romantic comedies and chick lit

Although there are quite a few literary agents in the German-speaking world (the best ones Swiss, according to Goddard), their profession isn’t as well recognized as in the US. Thus, some agencies specialize in subagenting for English-language properties and do a brisk trade with translation rights. In general, the most active agencies for German and foreign romances include:

• Thomas Schlueck GmbH
• Agence Hoffman
• Verlagsagentur Lianne Kolf
• Michael Meller Literary Agency
• Literarische Agentur Kossack

German-language Agencies that handle commercial women’s fiction include:

• Copywrite – Literaturagentur
• Literarische Agentur Silke Weniger
• Anke Vogel Literaturagentur
• Literarische Agentur Michael Gaeb
• Literaturagentur Petra Hermanns
• Mohrbooks AG, Literary Agency
• Literatur- und Medienagentur Ulrich Pöppl
• Verlagsagentur Autoren & Management
• Paul & Peter Fritz AG - Literary Agency
• The Berlin Agency (Jung-Lindemann & Olechnowitz)
• Liepman Agency AG
• Hagenbach & Bender
• Piper & Poppenhausen Literarische Agentur

In a sidebar to this article, I’ve also tagged those publishers in Germany who hired an American scout in 2007, an indication that they’re willing to invest in finding future projects.

How Do I Promote in Germany?
“German romance readers love to learn more about their favorite authors. But not all of them understand English. . . . Our LoveLetter magazine, website and blog serve as a bridge between foreign authors and their German fans.”— Kris Alice Hohls, Publisher, LoveLetter (www.loveletter-magazin.de)

In addition to providing reviews, interviews and ad space, LoveLetter magazine is an important source of market information for German romance editors. “I know of many cases of romance editors pursuing German-language rights after reading a review of or article about an English-language book in LoveLetters, or after receiving a recommendation from the editors of LoveLetter,” Hohls tells RWR.

Well-connected with the American romance scene, LoveLetter magazine receives English-language review copies from individual American authors as well as from a wide array of American publishers and publicists. In addition, LoveLetter editors welcome article ideas that accompany new trends and releases.

Another excellent review source is Isolde Wehr’s Die romantische Bücherecke (www.die-buecherecke), which includes not only comprehensive lists of new romance releases each month, including Harlequin (CORA) titles, but also an extensive archive of reviews and an amazing list of German-language romance links that lead to sister sites. Wehr, known as Germany’s most famous romance reader and genre expert (she’s been featured in magazines) turned her passion for the genre into a full-time editorial job at Moments Verlag, a publisher specializing in romances by German authors. While her homepage is a veritable hub for the German romance community, Ms. Wehr does not on principle accept review copies from authors because she doesn’t have enough time to read all the books sent her.

A last and tantalizing promotion opportunity for American authors targeting Germany is centered in Italy of all places. Wehr recommends that English-speaking romance authors attend the Women’s Fiction Festival (http://www.womensfictionfestival.com) in Matera, Italy, a wonderful opportunity for authors, readers and publishing professionals from Europe and overseas to meet, greet and promote.

What are you waiting for?
With every click of the mouse, the world gets a little smaller. With every written word, the world gets a little closer. With every longing look and steamy kiss, the world gets a little. . . okay, never mind. What I’m trying to say is 2008 could be your year to explore new horizons for your work, to see publishing in a new light, to see America as it’s seen from abroad in a new light.

* * *
Deanna Carlyle’s young adult fantasy novel, The Last Virgin at St. Gilles Charm School, recently garnered agent representation in New York and an extra ten pounds on her hips. A working screenwriter in Germany, she also teaches “Screenwriting Techniques for Novelists.”

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