Translations traditionally play a rather significant role on the German book market especially in the area of fiction. Against the background of an overview of the German publishing sector and current developments in book production, three different publishing houses attributing special importance to translations within the context of their own publisher's profile are presented: Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin Verlag and Antje Kunstmann Verlag. Analyses are carried out as to the way in which these three publishing houses individually handle specific tension between cultural and economic logic, which characterizes this section of the literary field. This paper concentrates on the import of English and French literature.