31 Oct Observations from a Week of Meeting Publishers in Amsterdam

After a week of meetings in New York City, 2 Seas Agency co-founder Marleen continued her Eastbound journey and flew to Amsterdam, where a week of meetings with Dutch publishers awaited.

By Marleen Seegers — Article first published in October 2025

From September 29 to October 4, I returned to Amsterdam for my biannual visit to Dutch publishers. The Netherlands is an essential market for 2 Seas, not least because of my roots. We negotiate a considerable number of deals for Dutch translation rights annually and represent international rights for a select number of Dutch publishers.

^{English-language titles on display at Boekhandel Van Rossum, including English translations from the French (Les yeux de Mona, third book from the top right)}

It is therefore crucial that I regularly visit Dutch publishers at their offices. This allows me to have more in-depth conversations, which always offer valuable insights into both the challenges and the strengths of the market.

As I’ve discussed in previous articles and interviews, Dutch publishers continue to navigate the realities of increasing competition with English-language books: one out of every five books currently bought in the Netherlands is written in English. This was poignantly illustrated when, upon landing in Amsterdam, I went straight to one of my favorite bookstores, Van Rossum. One of the tables next to the entrance was entirely dedicated to English-language books. I even noticed English translations of French titles, of which we’d sold both the English and the Dutch translation rights.

^{The Dutch edition of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, published by A.W. Bruna}

Due to this growing challenge from the English-language market, I continued to sense a genuine appetite for books originally published in other languages. Success stories such as Elena Ferrante’s books (Wereldbibliotheek), Paolo Cognetti’s The Eight Mountains (De Bezige Bij, which 2 Seas sold on behalf of the MalaTesta Agency), and, more recently, Mélissa Da Costa’s Tout le bleu du ciel (Manteau), have paved the way for a more diverse translation landscape in the Netherlands, which traditionally was a lot more UK and US-centered. Of course, the Dutch have also followed the Japanese and Korean healing fiction craze.

This does not mean English-language titles are no longer being acquired; however, Dutch editors are more hesitant. When they do go for it, they should be able to publish before or around the same time as the UK/US edition is released. Additionally, especially if the title appeals to a younger readership, they usually have to come up with different ideas and approaches to make the Dutch translation more attractive to readers than its original English export edition, which is generally a few Euros cheaper.

In this BookTok-sensitive era, they often use the same cover and title as the original edition, with an indication that this is the Dutch edition, like A.W. Bruna did for Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (sold on behalf of Quirk Books). A more luxurious-looking hardcover edition, with cloth binding and/or sprayed edges, has also proven to be a successful concept. The export edition is typically a more affordable version with thinner paper and a soft cover; it is lighter, making it less expensive to ship.

During my meetings, strong interest was expressed in several of our French and Italian titles. This led to the sales in the following weeks of The Salt of Life Can’t Be Found at the Grocery Store to Mozaiek, The Heirs of Lisbon to HarperCollins Holland, in a preempt (both sold on behalf of Maison Pop), and They Called Him Bennie Diamond to De Bezige Bij, at auction (published by Les Léonides, sold on behalf of Books and More Agency).

A similar picture can be drawn in the nonfiction sphere. Well-known English-language authors and unusual, out-of-the-box subjects written in English are still very much sought after, as long as they can be published in Dutch either before the US/UK publication date or around the same time. The advantage of publishing English-language authors, particularly in nonfiction but also in genre fiction, is that Dutch readers can generally read English with relative ease. The English language is therefore a double-edged sword, as these authors can connect with their Dutch readers on social media platforms, such as TikTok and Substack, and make them more engaged with their writing and ideas.

There is, however, a lot more curiosity for nonfiction written in other languages than there was a decade ago. I received a lot of interest, particularly in Charles Pépin’s latest bestseller, Where to Find Strength? And Other Existential Questions, and Mario Calabresi’s bestselling Rising at Dawn (Mondadori, sold on behalf of MalaTesta Agency).

Still, nonfiction editors continue to increasingly acquire Dutch-language authors, reflecting a trend I’d noticed in New York the previous week and also witnessed in Frankfurt a few weeks later: they’re interested in acquiring a translated nonfiction book only if it offers a perspective or expertise that their local authors couldn’t provide.

Like elsewhere, the pressures of rising costs, shifting readerships, and the omnipresence of English-language editions have led to an increasing number of discussions with Dutch editors around the use of artificial intelligence as a way of decreasing certain expenses. Especially in the commercial fiction genre, where translation grants are virtually non-existent, we have recently seen Dutch offers that are conditional on using AI-assisted translation for the first draft. This draft is then carefully refined through multiple rounds of human editorial review by genre specialists. In those situations, we always defer to our clients’ opinion on the matter.

Over the past decade and a half, the Dutch publishing world has witnessed numerous mergers and consolidations, bankruptcies, and significant challenges with printing and distribution. Only a handful of independent publishers are left. However, as I wrapped up my meetings in Amsterdam, I was struck by the resilience, curiosity, and optimism I witnessed. 

On the weekend, I was back in my hometown Maastricht where I visited one of my favorite bookstores of all time: Boekhandel Dominicanen. I always love walking around in this 700-year-old Gothic cathedral, spotting titles in Dutch that we’ve sold on behalf of our international clients, and Dutch titles we represent internationally on behalf of our Dutch clients: