International: The author as event
Some call it total festivalitis, for others, it's about sales. It could be said that there is a new industry of reading events, and it's not just the authors who hope to make money.
Be it Etonnants Voyageurs in Brittany, the Hay Festival in the UK or Litcologne in Germany – literary festivals are in fashion. In Germany in particular, reading formats have evolved in a variety that is often more event-like, attracting not just intellectuals, but a mass audience as well. "The wider public is often on the lookout for something unusual", as Munich author Diana Hillebrand has observed.
"Packaging and presentation are very important today", confirms Florian Koch who organises literary events in Frankfurt. Everyone profits from the large-scale literary events: the organisers, the public and the authors for whom readings are part of their job. Not just to raise the profile of a new book, but for financial reasons too. Because authors generally secure their income with a mixed calculation. Reading trips and reading festivals have been and still are an important mainstay for them.
New on the market: agencies for marketing authors
Adding the event factor to the literary business, or total festivalitis, as critics call it, can potentially produce more sales for authors. But others have also discovered this niche. Fairly new here for example, are agencies which have specialised in arranging readings for authors on a commission basis. "There's an emerging industry", according to Nikolaus Hansen, co-organiser of the Harbour Front Festival announced for September in Hamburg, and managing director of Atrium and Arche Verlag.
Sabine Fecke, owner of a readings agency in Stuttgart, sees her work as supplementing publishing activities, as she explained in an interview with the magazine "Federwelt". It can be an advantage for authors when "their " agency is always on the lookout for appearance opportunities and not just when a new book has to be marketed. In addition, agents are probably better and tougher when it comes to negotiating the fees which, for midlist authors, can be between 300 and 500 euros per appearance. Nevertheless, earnings are not just dependent on negotiating skills, but above all on the ranking within the league of German-language authors. "There are different market values", says Hansen. But it is not just literary success alone that counts or attracts. Anyone who has already shown entertainer qualities or whom it has been possible to market off and online as a "literary star" with good media impact, has good chances of adding tidy sums to their royalties with their readings – in whatever format.
France asks its authors to show idealism
The situation is very different in France. "In France, there are no fees for writers on reading trips", says successful Grasset author Adrien Goetz. "The publishers reimburse my travel and hotel expenses. But that's all." It's different, according to Goetz, when authors are invited not to promote a book, but to give a talk or take part in a creative writing workshop. For that, a fee is generally paid. But this income is marginal for writers. "Unlike perhaps the USA, writers in France are not stars who receive fees for their appearances", adds Charles Ficat, editor with publishers Bartillat. There is no money for non-fiction authors giving readings in bookshops, for example. Bartillat author Daniel Lindenberg was recently invited to the FNAC branch in Orléans to read from his essay on May 68 published in 2008, followed by a discussion. To the relief of the small publishing company, as the organisers, the entertainment store paid the travel and accommodation expenses. But there was no fee for Lindenberg.
