Karl-May-Verlag faces an uncertain future: The publisher is looking for a successor

There was a time when the noble green volumes were passed on with great gesture in the family: “The Treasure in the Silver Lake”, for example, or “Among Vultures” or “Winnetou”. It was the same with Bernhard Schmid.

"My father recommended the books to me, even though they weren't required reading. But I really enjoyed reading them," reports Schmid. Even if he didn't see it coming at the time, it was clear early on what he would do in his life. Namely, to publish the man's books that he had devoured at a young age - the work of the writer Karl May (1842–1912).

That's exactly what his father Lothar and his grandfather Euchar Albrecht had done in a publishing house that was unique in its own way. The Karl-May-Verlag publishes almost exclusively Karl May's work, supplemented by publications that deal, for example, with the Saxon writer's correspondence. This only happens once in the German-speaking world.

Anyone who meets the now 64-year-old Bernhard Schmid at the publishing house's headquarters in Bamberg immediately feels like they are in a museum. There is a large bust of Karl May in the hallway, and right next to it is a cardboard cutout of Winnetou. The Apache chief is May's best-known fictional character; his blood brotherhood with the surveyor Old Shatterhand has not only captivated generations of readers, but has even continued to inspire the cinema. The older ones still know the films with the Frenchman Pierre Brice in the role of Winnetou from the 1960s, the younger ones have at least seen the parody. Bully Herbig's “The Shoe of Manitu” from 2001 and its sequel “The Canoe of Manitu” from 2025 are among the most successful German films.

Bernhard Schmid, a tall man with a soft voice, has now taken a seat at a small conference table that barely fits into the cluttered rooms. The books with which the publisher has been earning its money for 113 years are on the shelves everywhere. Its striking design has hardly changed since the early days: a green cover, gold lettering and a colorful cover photo that shows, for example, Winnetou with braided hair and a lowered rifle. The publisher has now published 98 volumes of the collected works. Over the years, Karl May has had an estimated circulation of 100 million copies in German-speaking countries, an extraordinary success story. In Bamberg people are proud that the house writer is leaving Goethe and Schiller behind.

Today, however, Karl May is having a hard time. Bernhard Schmid doesn't even know where to start. “Hardly anyone reads anymore, the number of non-readers is constantly increasing.” In his view, this disrupted a cycle that had worked well for many decades. In the publishing house they talk about the three “Karl May ages”: “The ideal starting age for Karl May readers is ten to twelve years old; many discover him again at around the age of 40 and then remember him in retirement,” says Schmid. “But the starting point was always the youthful love for Karl May.”

Many people lack this entry point today. The consequences can also be seen in the few figures that the publisher discloses to the outside world. At its peak, up to twenty people worked at the headquarters in Bamberg; today there are only four: Schmid himself, his wife, an editor and a part-time assistant. After more than thirty years in the company and a whole life with Karl May, Schmid has become tired: “I want a good future for the publishing house and put it in other hands.” The publisher is currently in discussions about this, but he doesn't want to say much about it. Just this much: The publisher is debt-free, has a turnover of 750,000 euros per year and makes a nice profit. The most popular volume is still “Winnetou I,” which, according to Schmid, sells four-digit numbers each year.

But for whom could taking over this publishing house be worthwhile? The question is not that easy to answer. Because the buyer would have to find answers to the declining interest in the former popular writer Karl May. There is not only the larger group of those who have never had a book by the Saxon in their hands. The changes in many bookstores can also be noted: While there used to be a regular wall with Karl May's works there, today they are hardly to be found. This makes it more difficult for casual buyers to discover Karl May. And those who stop by the store looking for a quick gift also miss out on the books.

Just complaining about bookstores and the general decline in reading pleasure would be too easy. After all, there are still many successful books and publishers, as will be seen at the Frankfurt Book Fair next week. New trends such as “Booktok” – the short introduction of books on the social media app Tiktok – have so far taken place without Karl May. Schmid sees potential here that a younger publisher could exploit.

That's not certain either. Couldn't it be that Karl May's works have simply fallen out of time after so many years? The literary scholar Helmut Schmiedt has studied May's work for decades. Until last year, the seventy-six-year-old taught at the University of Koblenz. There he repeatedly asked his students whether they had ever heard of Karl May. Recently, fewer and fewer arms have gone up. His explanation for this is: “Today there are alternative heroes, just think of Harry Potter.” The “Indian romanticism”, which is particularly expressed in the “Winnetou” volumes, has also outlived itself. “The Western is no longer the dominant film genre these days.” Films like “The Manitu Canoe” show that May’s works are embedded in cultural memory. “But the books will no longer be a mass success.”

What sounds like a swansong for the writer is not entirely intended that way. The scientist believes that May is a curiosity in one respect. “To this day he is one of the most successful German playwrights.” This may cause disagreement among feature writers, but here too the numbers speak for themselves: the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg attracted almost 440,000 visitors this year, and around 200,000 visitors annually in Elspe in the Sauerland region. As an event, Karl May still works excellently. However, Karl-May-Verlag does not profit from the ticket prices of up to 45 euros.

In any case, the copyrights that the publishing house, which was originally co-founded by May's widow Klara, was able to claim for itself for several decades have long since expired. For some time now, competitors such as Anaconda Verlag, which is part of the Random House group, have been taking advantage of this by publishing the author's most popular books at lower prices. “The Treasure in the Silver Lake” costs 7.95 euros there, while Bernhard Schmid has been charging 32 euros for it since October.

Schmid's sales figures have recently increased, especially when there have been controversies. A dispute arose a few years ago over a children's film, which the publisher had also hoped would generate new interest among a younger generation: "The Young Chief Winnetou" was released in German cinemas in 2022. The film was criticized in parts of the media as a “reproduction of cultural stereotypes”, and this also involved a word that was already mentioned in this article: “Indian”. Schmid can really get angry as soon as the topic comes up: "Many Native Americans call themselves Indians. Isn't it more of a form of racism when we Germans once again want to know better than those affected themselves?"

Ravensburger Verlag published the books for the film at the time, and there was also a puzzle. Schmid had been interested in publishing it, but saw the marketing in better hands with the big house. When Ravensburger stopped delivering the books during the discussion, the Bamberg publisher did not understand the decision. “In my view, that was patronizing the audience.”

In the short term, the dispute had an unexpected side effect for Schmid: “We had an increase in sales for all Winnetou titles.” But Karl May was never rediscovered by young audiences.

What could be saving ideas now? In the past, the publisher has done well by focusing on prominent May readers. Bamberg-born Thomas Gottschalk, for example, agreed years ago as a fan of the works to appear at the publisher's stand at the book fair. At the time it was a real marketing coup. Today the new national soccer coach Jürgen Klopp could possibly be a candidate. He once said in a podcast some time ago: “Whoever raised me is Winnetou, Karl May.”

Maybe this could be an initial marketing idea for Bernhard Schmid's successor. In addition to selling his company, the publisher has one big goal: He wants to publish a final book. It would be Volume 99 of the Collected Works.