nuance notes

a world of words

Episode Three

Feature

In conversation with Dianne DicksJill Prewett interviews Bergli Books' founder

Can you tell a little about how Bergli Books came about?

All by accident and on a whim! I was unable to get any of the many publishers I contacted in London or New York interested in the collection of stories I had from writers, journalists, translators and business people about their experiences of living with the Swiss. Everyone here who read these stories wanted copies of them. Since the stories were particularly useful for conversation classes with Swiss people who were learning English, I quickly got fed up copying them for teachers. So I decided to publish them myself and in 1990 founded Bergli Books for that purpose. I could never have dreamed then that in 21 years there would be 30 more new Bergli titles with altogether about 200'000 books printed. But that first book was immediately a tremendous success and people started sending me more manuscripts and then one book led to another.

How do you find your clients?

Because many of the Bergli titles have been successful here, the word got around. Bergli has a good relationship with distributors and bookshops and many international firms recommend our books to their incoming staff from outside of Switzerland. People find us when they seek more information

All our books appeal to the Swiss themselves who are interested in how they are seen by others or looking for ways to improve their own international communication skills. People usually don't buy books because of an advertisement. Would you? The Bergli titles can be found in major bookshops in Switzerland or direct from us. We receive orders from all over the world through our web site and often have no idea how people found us other than Googling around.

What are the advantages of being a small publisher?

Bergli is not only small, but is in a niche of publishing English books where there are mostly only books in German and the local press mostly only reviews German books. That could be a disadvantage but being small and 'different' has always been an advantage for us. We do what we want and have a good time, dare to just try out new ideas. Big publishing houses have specialists (acquisition editors, copy editors, sales teams, designers) who always need new books to justify their existence. We bring out a new book only when we are convinced it has a chance to be a success for a long time. A great deal of loving care goes into getting a book to suit our niche market, into making it as attractive and enjoyable to read as possible. We've been very fortunate in having tremendous authors who also put a lot of their hearts,

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about Switzerland.

I don't believe large publishers are in a situation to dedicate so much time to the creative process and to working closely with authors to get it just right for their markets.

Would you share some of your successes?

The real successes have been surprises. Not only was 'Hoi' a success in 2005 and has had to be reprinted a number of times in ever larger quantities but there was a demand for it in a High German / Swiss dialect edition (published in 2007) and in a French / Swiss dialect edition (published in 2008). We would never have believed that so many people around the world would want this easy quide to understanding Swiss German. Also, Sue Style's 'A Taste of Switzerland' sells more copies each year. That's unusual in the book trade. And Margaret Oertig's 'Beyond Chocolate – understanding Swiss culture' has become the bible for newcomers to enable them to start feeling at home here. It is a rewarding experience to always be able to improve one's knowledge about the many facets of publishing (copyright, editing, layout and design, marketing, technology, and yes, also the financing). There is never a dull moment at Bergli.

The book world is changing fast. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future?

The book world has always been changing! When Gutenberg first started printing books there was an uproar about the poor scribes who would be losing their jobs and nobody then thought masses of people would learn to read. Everybody now is talking about digital editions and ebooks but a lot of people will always prefer to have a real book in their hands and to give as gifts. I try to refrain from looking back at the good ole days and even when I do, I am not convinced there was ever a time better than now. And I always enjoy new ideas. We've just produced our first ebook (Margaret Oertig's 'Beyond Chocolate') and are in the process of producing ten other Bergli titles as ebooks. There will always be new gadgets and gimmicks but I think most of us still prefer to curl up on a couch or lie in a bath or on a beach somewhere and enjoy a real book, one that you can write notes in, dog-ear the corners of or pass on to a friend to share.

souls, knowledge and writing skills into their texts.

You've decided to retire, but hopefully Bergli Books will continue. How would you like to see the company develop?

It isn't that I've decided to retire but I need to be realistic that at 71, to assure that Bergli can continue, I need to find someone to take over the reins. This is a business requiring many diverse skills and a broad background. A book is always a risk, profits are usually low. The book business is not for the faint-hearted or for someone who just loves to read. You've got to be adventurous, curious, a bit daring and a bit mad to jump into a business like this. I can promise you that I've never regretted a minute of it. Having Bergli has exposed me to many interesting challenges, brought me together with fascinating people and projects. Before I founded Bergli I worked in pharmaceuticals, in insurance and in banking and had some great jobs there. But people in the book business are special and I like to be around dedicated and creative people. I hope to find someone interested in intercultural issues who loves publishing and is full of ideas, determination and enthusiasm to take over a niche business that's thrived for over 20 years and has a good a chance of thriving another 20 with a skilled person at the helm. There are no businesses without problems, future threats and challenges. (Okay, maybe undertakers don't ever have to worry about running out of customers.)

You didn't ask, but I'd guess there are a number of writers reading this who might like to have some suggestions about finding a publisher.

Read lots of books and reflect on why you enjoy some and not others. Do your research and check the market to find the publishers who have brought out books similar to yours. Write a short and professional description of your project and attach samples of your work. Explain who the book is addressing and what qualifies you to write the book or project and why you think readers will want to buy your book from that specific publisher. Figure out what you can say to a publisher to convince her to risk an investment in you and your work.

More information about Bergli Books can be found at:www.bergli.ch

Contributions to nuance notes are always welcome.

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Back to business...

Dates to note

Friday, 9th March: Christos Tsiolkas will be reading at Kaufläuten in Zürich. Tsiolkas is an Australian author, best known for his controversial novel, The Slap (which has also now been made into a tele-movie).You will need to book a ticket to attend:http://www.kaufleuten.ch/tickets/id/lesung-christos-tsiolkas

International Women's Day (8th March) is being celebrated at Orell Füssli in the city. Jill will be telling stories from 1001 Nights. More details can be found here:http://www.books.ch/home/veranstaltungen/eventDetail/ARID-101 The Zurich Writers' Workshop have announced their next Writers' Workshop! Woohoo!To be held on May 18th – 20th, instructors include Diccon Bewes (Swiss Watching) and Sam North (The Old Country). Details on their website:http://zurichwritersworkshop.com/workshop

Distractions

Writing is good for your health! An article in the Sydney Morning Herald:http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/write-the-wrongs-20111006-1la6q.html/

Article on blogging in English for non-native speakers: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/10/13/7-golden-rules-blogging-in-english-for-non-native-speakers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney+(ProBlogger:+Helping+Bloggers+Earn+Money)

Paragraphs to Lovehttp://paragraphstolove.tumblr.com/

A History of the English Language in Ten Minutes:http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=gSYwPTUKvdw

For the onliners among us: A stupendous, tweakable Word Cloud creator for your ms/WiP/poetryhttp://www.wordle.net/

Books

Libby wrote a quick wrap-up of four Australian books on her blog, Writing Charlotte Aimes.http://writingcharlotteaimes.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/australian-literature-month/

Jill has embarked on the Eclectic Reader Challenge.Read about it – and join the conversation! – on her blog: http://jjmarsh.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/the-eclectic-reader-challenge/

Blogging adventures

And while we're on the subject of blogs... We (Jill and Libby) have both been blogging like crazy lately, and we'd love to hear about your blogging adventures!

Please do tell us about great blogs you've visited, or about your own blog; it's a great opportunity to link to each others' blogs and to build the network.

In the meantime, here's agent Andrew Lownie's blog (this article on what commissioning editors look for in manuscripts):

http://www.andrewlownie.co.uk/2012/01/10/what-editors-want-2012

Mini Lit-Quiz Who sits at the cat's table, and on which ship?

Last month's answer: Don DeLillo's Underworld

Competitions

Bridport Short Story Competition is now open. htt p://w ww.bridportprize.org.uk/

Mslexia also have a good bunch of links to UK short story comps on this page:http://www.mslexia.co.uk/whatson/listings/master.php?listing=2

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