Publisher Wolfgang Bader on good stories, special books and why we still love reading in the digital age.#novum
Interview with Wolfgang Bader
Mr Bader, what does a book need to make you believe in it as a publisher?
Whenever I am presented with a new manuscript, I often ask myself a very simple question: Why should anyone actually buy this book?
For a publishing house, this is a crucial question. For me, it is also a very personal one, because I don’t see books merely as products. I am an avid reader myself, and I know the feeling of opening a new book without yet knowing where the story will take me. That is why, when I consider a book, I am not only interested in whether it can sell, but above all in why it might move, interest or intrigue someone.
Books today compete with countless other forms of media for our attention. What makes them appealing despite this?
That’s true. Books are now competing in a way they never have before. Information is available at any time. We can Google things, listen to podcasts, watch videos, stream series or browse social media. Much of this is free and accessible within seconds. So why do we still reach for a book?
With non-fiction and specialist books, the answer initially seems quite simple: a good book can convey knowledge, provide guidance or explore a subject from a particular perspective. Its strength often lies not simply in gathering information, but in putting it into context and making it understandable. Especially in an age of information overload, this kind of selection can be valuable.
But of course, that still doesn’t explain why we choose to read a novel, since we don’t usually expect it to provide us with valuable information …
Exactly. And in the same way, a crime novel doesn’t have to fill a gap in our knowledge, nor does an epic fantasy have to solve a practical problem. We don’t read these books because we need to know more afterwards. We read them because we want to experience something. We want to feel the suspense, become emotionally invested in the characters, be surprised or disappear into another world for a few hours.
To me, this is one of the great strengths of a book: it doesn’t always have to teach us something. It can simply make us feel something.
And I see this as one of the key reasons why books remain so popular even in a digital world. They don’t just offer us content. A good book takes us on a journey – through a particular story, distinctive language, an intriguing perspective or a voice that speaks to us.
Does a book have to reach as many people as possible to be successful?
Being desirable is not the same as appealing to the mass market. A book doesn’t have to interest everyone. There needs to be a reason why someone wants to read this particular book. That is also why I would never measure a book’s success solely by how high its sales figures are.
Of course, every publisher is delighted when a book reaches a large readership. But there are also books that appeal very precisely to a smaller target audience and can be successful precisely because of that. A specialist subject, an extraordinary life story or an unusual literary work doesn’t have to interest millions of people to offer genuine value to the right readers.
Perhaps the opposite is even true: the more clearly a book knows what it wants to be and whom it wants to reach, the easier it is for a reader to recognise why they would want to own it.
What matters is whether the book reaches the people it was intended for.
In my day-to-day work as a publisher, I therefore don’t just ask myself what a manuscript contains. I also ask what promise the book makes to its reader. What can I expect when I open it? What story, idea or perspective will I find inside?
So, for you, a book is more than just its content?
Absolutely, and I notice this very clearly in my own life, too. Some books have been sitting on my shelves for years. I’ve long since read them, yet every now and then I pick them up again. Perhaps because I want to revisit a particular passage. Perhaps because they remind me of the time when I first read them. Or simply because they mean something to me.
That is precisely what fascinates me about printed books. They are not just text on a screen, but physical objects that we can own, give as gifts and return to time and again. A book can become part of our home and, over time, even acquire a personal history of its own.
What significance does that have today?
Perhaps it is more important in a digital world than we might initially think. In the digital realm, we can access almost anything instantly. That is precisely why owning, keeping and consciously choosing a book takes on a different meaning.
And it offers us something else, too: a chance to slow down in an increasingly hectic world. A book doesn’t give us everything in a matter of seconds. We have to give it time, read, concentrate and engage with an idea or a story. It doesn’t force us to keep clicking onwards. Instead, it offers us the opportunity to stay with one thing for a while.
What, in your eyes, truly makes a book valuable?
For me, the value of a book lies in the way it brings all these things together: selection, context, language, perspective, emotion and the opportunity to take the time to engage with it.
When we discuss a manuscript at the publishing house, of course we also consider the market, the target audience and its commercial potential. But I believe the economic question should never be the only one. Ultimately, there has to be a book that people genuinely want to read.
A book becomes interesting when someone reads the title, looks at the cover, picks it up to read the blurb and thinks: This is exactly what I want to read.
For me, that is where the true appeal of a book begins.
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– The novum publishing team