Adriaan van Dis about VBK takeover: ‘I will stay with my publisher, we keep each other young and agile’

‘It is unknown territory and that can turn out well or not so well. None of us can clearly see what this will mean’, responds Geert Mak, affiliated with Atlas Contact, which falls under VBK. According to the group, the acquisition makes it easier to publish Dutch-language books abroad from now on.

Mak sees this as a positive development; According to him, it is an advantage that authors are ‘better connected’ to the English language area. ‘It is difficult for you to cross the ocean as a Dutch author and suddenly there is a sturdy bridge there. That offers all kinds of opportunities. On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon corporate culture is different than here, it is much harder. The Netherlands has always been cozy.’

According to Mak, the authors have been ‘sworn’ that the profiles of the eleven individual publishers such as Atlas Contact will remain intact. ‘If this is maintained, it will be a positive development. But how strong does the protection remain in practice? In five years’ time, will we throw up our hands and say, this is a disaster? We do not know.’

The author speaks of a logical development, considering the changes in the Dutch book market. ’20 percent of the books sold are already in English. I am not happy about that, Dutch is a nice language for an author to express yourself in. But the younger generations are internationalizing like crazy.’

He also sees commercial opportunities for authors to benefit from other markets. ‘Look at streaming services like Netflix, they need stories. You see connections develop between authors who provide such stories, so that more happens to your work than before.’

‘More English-language work on the market’

Lisa Kuitert, professor of book science at the University of Amsterdam, is critical. She fears that the takeover of VBK is mainly a matter of money and that Dutch literary authors, who do not regularly populate the top 60 bestsellers, will ultimately lose out. ‘VBK talks about rolling out Baantjer to the American market, but the opposite seems much more logical to me. Namely that more English-language books will appear on the Dutch market. This takeover is a shame for the Dutch cultural heritage on which VBK is built.’

According to Kuitert, who last year published a book about the history of VBK (Shared stories) published, Anglicization has been advancing on the Dutch market for years, and the takeover of VBK represents a new step in that direction. ‘It is interesting for S&S, which has to keep shareholders satisfied. This way it can sell more English-language books on the Dutch market. But Dutch literature is produced in very small editions. I am concerned about the pulping of the book supply, with mainly work being published that can easily be sold internationally.’

No transfer

Writers such as Mak and Adriaan van Dis are still staying away from the word ‘switch’. “I stay with my publisher, we keep each other young and flexible,” responds Van Dis, also affiliated with Atlas Contact. ‘If I were young, I might switch to a smaller publishing house. But this may make it easier for authors to gain a foothold abroad. In the United States, for example, I only had two books. Not that I’m really working on that, I’m just enjoying writing.’

‘From S&S I completely understand it. A lot of English is already read here; As a large publishing club you want to see where you can still make progress. Conversely, I am very curious about the agreements that have been made with the Dutch authors,’ responds publisher Nelleke Geel. Geel was previously associated with Atlas Contact and started her own company, Meridaan Uitgevers, five years ago. She speaks of ‘a huge move on the Dutch market’.

Like Professor Kuitert, Geel mainly sees an opportunity for authors who publish series, such as those mentioned earlier Baantjerseries. ‘Such a series is easier to translate abroad than work in the literary field.’

Keep your own face

Yet Geel does not see it in black and white: ‘The work of Lucas Rijneveld, for example, continues to survive abroad, while we might have thought that it was too rooted in the Reformed Netherlands to catch on. We may quickly find things too Dutch for the foreign market, but that is not always true.’

Geel started her own publishing company to ‘be close to everything’, from promotion to author contact. ‘In the Netherlands we currently have many independent publishers, which is a nice counterbalance to such a group publisher. I’m not too worried about that. The most important thing is that the publishers that now fall under VBK do not lose their own identity.’