New Joint Book Imprint Manilla

In a new cross-border joint venture, Bonnier Books is bringing some of the top authors of its non-English publishers to an English-speaking public with Manilla, a new imprint that is a join venture of Bonnier Zaffre in the U.K. and Ullstein in Germany.

The new imprint will kick off with six books from some of Ullstein’s top authors this spring, with another six later in the year for a total of 12 during 2016. For 2017, the imprint plans to add books from Piper Verlag in Germany, as well as books from Bonnier Books publishers in Finland and Poland.

“In fiction, especially popular fiction, it’s not easy to find an Anglo-Saxon publisher willing to invest in the translation – only 3 percent of books in English are translations. Even if the book had been a tremendous success in the German-speaking countries, its qualities being hailed by readers, rights sold to other countries,” says Ulrike Stenglin, who works with the initiative from the Ullstein side.

“In the last few years however, we have seen popular fiction translated from German gain momentum in an international market: Oliver Pötzsch, whose books no traditional U.S. publisher wanted to translate, sold over a million copies via Amazon; Petra Durst-Benning, Corinna Bomann and Nele Neuhaus all sell well internationally. At Manilla we believe here are no boundaries to a good story.”

As for the name Manilla, Stenglin explains that it comes from the Bonnier family mansion in Stockholm, which is called Nedre Manilla. “Its eventful international story represents the idea of our joint venture!” she says.