Today I am speaking with Finnish publisher Outi Karemaa.
I personally find the Nordic publishing market fascinating, not least because it is relatively difficult to sell into those markets. I like challenges!
Outi and I speak about those challenges, the state of the Finnish publishing market, and also about the rising popularity, and therefore competition, of English-language books on the Finnish market which we're seeing in other Nordic countries and the Netherlands as well.
Show Notes:
- The Spy and the Traitor (Crown, 2019) and Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy (Crown, 2020) by Ben Macintyre
- The Mitford Murders (series) (Minotaur Books) by Jessica Fellowes
Outi Karemaa (born 1969) is an experienced Chief Executive with a long history of working in the publishing business. She is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused on history from the University of Helsinki.
Outi started her career in the publishing business 1998 and worked at Edita Publishing as a Publishing Manager and then as a Publishing Director. In 2010 she started as a CEO of Metsäkustannus, which is a publisher of magazines and books.
In 2019 Outi started as a CEO at book publisher Minerva. After the biggest book publisher of Finland WSOY (Werner Söderström Ltd.) bought Minerva a year ago, her title has been a Publisher. Minerva is nowadays an imprint of WSOY, so Minerva still has its own publishing list. Minerva’s main areas are fiction, general non-fiction, as well as gift and hobby books and books for children. Outi lives in Helsinki with her family and a very social cat.
