Translation: Julie Summers

With our sights set on the future in this issue of the paper, it’s the perfect time to look to the world of publishing, with its ever-changing landscape. A Student Paper journalist sat down with Guðrún Vilmundardóttir, founder and publishing director of Benedikt Publishing, to discuss a new era of literature and what the future may bring. Guðrún founded Benedikt in 2016 with the goal of publishing a diverse mix of quality books with a particular focus on fostering the author-publisher relationship.

The Icelandic Book Market

The literary landscape here in Iceland has undergone significant changes in recent years, particularly with regards to the advent of social media, the appearance of new publishers, and an increased emphasis on high-quality translations. Guðrún says she welcomes the shift toward making foreign literature more readily available to Icelandic readers: “Being able to offer a good, wide selection of translations is really great for our market. There’s sometimes this fear that they’ll struggle [to find an audience], but many of these new publishers are really focusing on high-quality translations.” As an example, she points to a series published by Angústúra that highlights female authors from distant lands. Another trend Guðrún has noticed is an increased interest in narrative nonfiction, a term used to describe nonfiction books that essentially read like novels, citing Patrik Svensson’s The Book of Eels as an example. She also notes that the so-called “cozy thriller” is a favorite of publishers around the world these days: “Something sort of light and easy, feels like an exciting crime thriller without being too gruesome or challenging – there’s enough of that in the world these days.” Books have been increasingly competing for people’s attention for years, but book sales have recently begun climbing again. “People have more time now and are looking to books, TV, and movies for an escape from reality – for a way to feed the soul,” says Guðrún.

The same year Guðrún founded Benedikt, other new publishers popped up as well. “Forlagið and Bjartur & Veröld were the biggest publishers by far, and the feeling was that the market was saturated, that it was time to start looking in other directions.” She says the fact that several different parties had the same idea at the same time shows that there was space for something new, for more choices in the publishing world. “Being a giant in the business has its pros and cons, and the same is true about being a small operation,” says Guðrún. “You just have to be careful not to take on too much when your company is so small. But there are definite benefits to managing everything yourself.” She says she enjoys having so much variety in her work: “You can’t concentrate on reading or editing all day long, so it’s nice to be able to switch over to being the marketing department, get book club picks ready to be mailed, or even hand-deliver an online order, if the customer is within walking distance,” says Guðrún, mentioning the idea of “giving the earth a rest.”

The impact of smaller publishers

Guðrún says all the smaller publishers that have cropped up improve the selection and variety of books on the market. “Micro-publishers are amazing,” says Guðrún. “The more publishers available for writers to work with, the better.”

Asked whether authors notice a positive difference working with smaller publishers, Guðrún says she hopes so: “I think that’s the most exciting part of all this, that’s the best part of the job: connecting with the author and working on new titles. Of course, that’s the part of the job you focus on the most. That’s what you want to be able to offer.” Publishing a new book involves numerous steps, everything from proofreading and editing to marketing, so it’s important that author and publisher have a good rapport.

Translations of foreign titles

When Guðrún is asked how Benedikt selects the books they want to translate, she says it’s a “free flow.” Benedikt operates Sólin, a book club that delivers high-quality translations right to subscribers’ doors. “For the book club, we simply choose books we find captivating and that we want to introduce to readers. There’s no single method.” Guðrún says she subscribes to many periodicals, is in touch with a whole network of publishers and agents, and reads a lot, “but often maybe just the first 50 pages to see if the book is a good fit for us or not.” She keeps tabs on foreign publishing houses, explaining, “I have my favorites; if we have more than one author in common, then it’s likely there might be more, that we’re on the same wavelength. That’s sometimes how we discover new authors to translate into Icelandic.”

Social media and publishing

Guðrún says self-publishing is easier these days and that the advent of social media has enabled people to reach others within their circles of acquaintance, which is good for small print runs. Asked whether social media affects marketing, Guðrún says yes, but notes that more traditional advertising mediums are still used. “There was a time when you could print a full-page ad in the newspaper and be fairly certain that the entire country would see it,” she comments. Today, things are a bit more complicated; “to reach a larger audience, we use a combination of social media advertising and more old-fashioned methods.”

Promoting books internationally has generally centered around two annual book fairs, one held in London in the spring and the other in Frankfurt each autumn. These events are an opportunity for agents to introduce publishers to new titles. “And then there’s the way you just run into people you know there – that’s how you get the news. If two or three people mention the same book to you one day, then you absolutely have to look into it,” explains Guðrún. But with the global pandemic still raging, the future of such book fairs and the ways the industry may change remains to be seen.

In closing, we ask Guðrún what’s coming up for Benedikt and she answers that she is preparing to receive new submissions. “We get a lot of new manuscripts this time of year,” she says, adding that there’s a certain week in February, when the days are getting noticeably longer, that the most manuscripts come flooding in. “So we’re really just at the starting gate right now getting ready for that.” Without a doubt, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the future of publishing.

A New Era of Publishing

The Icelandic Book Market

The impact of smaller publishers

Translations of foreign titles

Social media and publishing