Project: Sustaining Cultural Diversity in Literary Translation. Leverage database on translation markets, explore applicability of proven innovative models, network and train practitioners along the value chain
Coordinator: Ruediger Wischenbart Content and Consulting (AT)
Partners: Beletrina, zavod za založniško dejavnost (SI), Fédération des Editeurs Européens (BE), Fundacion German Sanchez Ruiperez (ES), Lietuvos Leideju Asociacija (LT)

Project amount: 275.707 EUR
Grant Awarded: 165.424 EUR (60 %)
Project duration: 1. 10. 2020–31. 3. 2022

The project aims at empowering small and medium sized publishers, particularly in fragmented markets, to better leverage new business & organizational models & related innovative practices along the publishing value chain, to compensate for ongoing loss in economic viability.

Fostering cultural diversity through literary translations is in significant parts assured by actors of very limited resources for exploring and implementing new ways. The proposed project will support such, with a bundle of intertwined actions, trainings and capacity building initiatives:

– Gather relevant and experienced stakeholders in at first learning seminars, & subsequently pilot building workshops (authors, translators, publishers, retailers, policy and grant manager), develop skills and routines for analysis of publicly available sales and market data, D2C marketing, using new distribution channels, building collaborative structures among peers from other markets, as well as tap into other media to exploit authors’ content, e.g. develop audiobook libraries or learn how to target streaming TV and games companies);
– Back up the learnings with an online-questionnaires to address a broader number of stakeholders;
– Build a library of case studies of successfully implemented novel practices (e.g. crowd funding approaches, building of consumer communities, discoverability tools & strategies for identifying new attractive authors and titles, etc.;
– Work with existing networks of authors, translators and grant sponsors on how to use ‘non-traditional publishing models’
– Build pilots for small collaborative structures especially between publishers in different markets;
– Assure sustainable usages for the gained insights by formatting learnings & collaborative best practices from the training & capacity modules for similar actions beyond the duration and the scope of the project.

The experts’ and participants’ network will ideally form the seed for an academy.