Reflections on the Frankfurt Book Fair 2018

With almost a week and 18,000 km of distance since this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's major publishing event can be viewed with healthy perspective.

There's simply no event like this global gathering of book people and the opportunity to showcase New Zealand authors, illustrators, designers and editors to the world is unique.

Front of house with style: PANZ Director Catriona Ferguson and Stand Manager Heike Reifgens on the NZ stand

Some of the NZ publisher crew on the opening morning, from left: Joy and Beau Davidson (DHD Publishing), Dame Wendy Pye (Sunshine Books), Linda Cassells (Calico Publishing), Catriona Ferguson (PANZ), Tracy Strudley (Global Education Systems), yours truly (Oratia) and Nicola Smith (Essential Resources)

Having a collective stand organised by the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) made it possible for our nine publishers to be there, helped by the contribution of Creative New Zealand and Education New Zealand.

Our stand in Hall 6.0 was striking and easy to access, with ample space for meetings or for visitors to walk on and pick up a book.

We shared our floor with collective stands from Australia, Canada, Israel, the UK and the US,a longside major multinationals like Hachette and HarperCollins, independent publishers and a host of publishing services companies (printers, freight forwarders, distributors and more).

This was the 70th Frankfurt Book Fair, and the organisers matched that anniversary with the same milestone for the Univeral Declaration on Human Rights to underpin the need for a free, fair and open book industry worldwide.

Gathering for the official opening of the fair, which welcomed the Prime Minister of Georgia (this year's guest country)

The impressive Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, addresses the official opening with reflections on human rights, culture and the key role of the book

A public lending library in
Gallus, Frankfurt

Georgia made for a fascinating guest of honour, with its long literary tradition, unique alphabet and history of struggle for independence.

Wearing hats as publisher for Oratia, representative for Massey University Press and Te Papa Press, and president of PANZ meant a packed schedule. As a consequence I didn't get to stroll the corridors of the six massive halls much, but from the scores of meetings and events the Kiwis engaged in, there was a reassurance about the place of publishing in the world.

Numbers of professional visitors at the fair might have been slightly down, with the Friday's foot trade rather quiet, while concerns about persecution and populist politicians are worrying many.

A little corner of Frankfurt was Oratia ...

But there is also undoubted confidence in the book's place in modern society, excitement in the growth of audio and consumer desire for beautifully designed and printed work, and greater coherence in international links.

PANZ is liaising ever more closely with fellow associations and book fair organisers in countries like Canada, China, Ireland, Italy and Mexico, considering shared issues (copyright is a hot topic). The opening evening of the fair saw a repeat of our Irish and New Zealand publisher dinner.

IPA President-elect Hugo Setzer (right), who visited New Zealand in June for the PANZ International Conference, visited our stand on the Friday while I was meeting Indonesian agent Alda Trisda (second from right)

Talk of fairs to come: David Unger (centre), international representative of the Guadalajara International Book Fair, with interested Kiwi publishers

Having Auckland University Press director Sam Elworthy on the Executive Committee of the International Publishers Association adds further to this international engagement. New Zealand simply has to be at the table when global issues of copyright and freedom to publish are debated.

As for the books on Oratia's stands – the runaway social-media success of I Need a New Bum! drew further attention to our picture books, while there was much admiration for the fine illustrated works from Te Papa and Massey, particularly the stunning Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing.

Blue skies, hot days – a most non-autumnal Frankfurt ...

... but inside, the normal bustle and business

The Frankfurter Messe was, as ever, really crowded, though as the following statement from the book fair reports, marginally quieter on the professional days than in 2017. Perhaps it was the weather – never I experienced such hot days for the fair, leaving those of us emerging from the southern hemisphere winter sweltering. We will need to prepare for climate-change fairs from now on.

Frankfurt, 14 October 2018 – The 70th Frankfurter Buchmesse ended with an increase of 0.8 percent in visitors at the weekend and a slight decrease of 1.8 percent during the trade visitor days. A total of 285,024 (2017: 286,425) visitors attended the fair, 0.5 percent less than in 2017. Overall, international attendance increased at the fair this year, both in terms of exhibitors and trade visitors. With 7,503 exhibitors from 109 countries taking part at this year’s Frankfurter Buchmesse, the fair experienced a slight increase. The Literary Agents & Scouts Centre (LitAg) also grew once again, with 528 booked tables (2017: 500 tables), 795 agents (788) and 337 agencies (321) from 31 countries, including 19 new agencies. A total of 3,000 people took part in the conferences and workshops in THE ARTS+ area, while 125,000 people visited the innovative area in Hall 4.1. The BOOKFEST events in the Frankfurt Pavilion and in the city attracted 25,000 visitors.

“As the most international event of its kind, Frankfurter Buchmesse is the ideal place to discuss topics affecting the global community. We saw a noticeable increase in the need for political participation; the desire is increasing to represent one’s own position and participate in the public discourse. A number of topics predominated during this year’s activities, including the importance of human rights, along with displacement and migration, populism and civic engagement. During the trade visitor days, the focus was on international book markets and industry trends,” said Juergen Boos, Director of Frankfurter Buchmesse. Many trade publishers said of this year's fair that business was strong, from the connections they made to the titles they bought and sold.

For more, click on this link.

Wiewed with a bit of hindsight, it is still the relationships that make Frankfurt. No number of phone calls or emails can substitute for the face-to-face contact, the casual meetings, the friendships that after years lead to a deal or the ability to kick off an introduction to another NZ publisher.

With Erivan Gomez, publisher of Telos Editora, which will publish the Brazilian edition of I Need a New Bum! next month

With Malaysian publisher and agent Linda Tan Lingard

Old and new friends at the New Zealand stand party last Friday:

Frankfurt has just opened up its brilliantly reconstructed old town, which had been destroyed in Second World War bombing

Auf Wiedersehen Frankfurt – bis 2019!

Frankfurt balances the book

This year’s Frankfurt Book Fair was upbeat. Books are really in business, with an ebbing of hype about digital erosion and a brisk trade in rights and projects for many at the fair.

The New Zealand stand

On the New Zealand stand in Hall 6.0 there was a real buzz, and lots of fruitful discussion. The collegial feeling among the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) exhibitors, supported by Creative New Zealand, makes working in this busy fair so much more productive.

Poster listing countries in Hall 6.0

It goes without saying that Frankfurt is hectic, with 7,300 exhibitors from 102 countries spread across six multi-levelled halls. Having France as country of honour this year was a big deal.

There’s normally a percentage of appointments that turn into no shows — just getting around the many halls in the Frankfurter Messe can lead to big delays — but not this year.

We had around 50 meetings for Oratia, with rights interest strong for a number of new children’s and non-fiction books. 

Armando de Santiago (Guadalajara Book Fair), Catriona Ferguson,
and Frankfurt Book Fair organisers Hanife Içten and Grace Moss 

Distribution and coedition interest was strong for the two publishers I represented there, Massey University Press and Te Papa Press.

The fair enabled PANZ director Catriona Ferguson and me to network with fellow publishers associations (among them Ireland, Canada, Australia and Brazil) and other book fairs (especially Taipei and Guadalajara).

The main concern shared among publishers, distributors and agents was the challenges faced by book retailing. Rising commercial rents and bleeding of sales to online booksellers, many of whom avoid local taxes, are challenging a lot of our retail partners — making initiatives like NZ’s upcoming Bookshop Day on 28 October all the more important.

Still there is a palpable confidence in publishing just now, as Publishers Weekly reported in its round-up on Frankfurt – noting that overall visitor numbers were up on the past two years.

Meeting up at Frankfurt, clockwise from top left: Herwig Bitsche (NordSūd Verlag, Zurich) and Monika Osberghaus (Klett, Leipzig) with their German children's book award finalists; me with our Spanish publisher Carlos Arnanz of Ediciones Salamanca and translator Francisco Molina; selfie with Malaysian Book Publishers Association Honorary Secretary  Sheik Faisal and Lei Lim of Oyez Books; and in the company of our esteemed Italian agent Guido Lagormasino. 

  

In review: Frankfurt Book Fair 2016

The New Zealand stand in Hall 6.0 at the Frankfurt Book Fair

The Frankfurt Book Fair remains the largest and busiest of the many book fairs that occur around the world annually. For many in the book publishing business, being at Frankfurt is the apex of their working year, none more so than literary agents and rights managers who battle it out to get their authors the best advances and print runs in overseas markets.

For New Zealand publishers the fair offers the chance to reconnect with colleagues and business partners from the seven seas. The collective stand organised by the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) and assistance from Creative New Zealand make it possible for smaller publishers to promote their authors at the fair – which this year grouped nearly 7,000 exhibitors from over 100 nations.

This year Oratia was able to squeeze 35 meetings into the three professional days from Wednesday to Friday – with a bit of overflow on the Saturday (the fair opens to the public on the weekend). Those encounters included international print and ebook distributors, fellow publishers, literary agents and scouts, booksellers, journalists and printers.

Wearing my industry hat as PANZ international councillor, I joined in association meetings with the fair organisers, had exchanges with other book fairs including Guadalajara, London and Taipei, and helped to manage the impressive New Zealand stand.

Our stand in Hall 6.0, among other English-language publishers, is impressive not just for its visual impact and size, but also for the camaraderie that brings exhibiting publishers together.

Some of the NZ crew

The Friday evening party, with excellent Kiwi wines generously sponsored by the New Zealand Embassy in Berlin, is regarded as one of the book fair's premium social events. This year’s was no exception, attracting an estimated 300 guests from around the publishing world.

But it’s all in the follow-up, as Frankfurt veterans will tell you. Now begins the long haul of sending sample copies and PDFs, talking page lengths and print runs and prices, in the hope that our authors and illustrators can reach an international readership.

After Frankfurt, though, those fortunate enough to attend can all make those sorts of decisions better, having shared with our peers among hundreds of thousands of books. This year the fair’s total visitor numbers were slightly up on 2015, at 277,000, with trade visitor attendance up +1.3% to 142,300 – testament to the continuing buoyancy of the global book industry.

– Peter Dowling

At the New Zealand stand party: Linda Cassells of Calico Publishing with Annabel Robertson, Second Secretary of the New Zealand Embassy in Berlin

Sam Elworthy of AUP (left) and Rod Fee of Eunoia Publishing epitomise the NZ team spirit by serving at the bar (Photo: Anton Blank)

At the New Zealand party

Friends and exhibitors at the party

Around the international halls

Frankfurt Book Fair 2015: Getting together and getting better

Smaller and better: that's my feeling after four days at the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair, the major event on the world publishing calendar.

The Frankfurter Buchmesse organisers condensed the layout of the fair this year, bringing English-language publishers from the distant and cavernous Hall 8 to reside across three levels in Hall 6. With the New Zealand stand well positioned on the ground floor, it was a lot easier to connect for meetings in the other halls and to feel part of this great global village of books.

Compliments again to Anne de Lautour and the Publishers Association of New Zealand for the very cool and visible design of the collective stand on which Oratia Media took its place alongside 14 other Kiwi publishers – and to our stand staff Christiane Arheilger and Heike Reifgens. There’s a supportive spirit of collegiality and fun all week (rated as the week’s best by many fair regulars).

With PANZ Director Anne de Lautour on the NZ stand

Meetings here are conducted at half-hour intervals, which on the busiest days this year meant over 15 official encounters with publishers, agents, distributors and service providers at our stands and theirs – before dinners and gatherings into the night. Along with reviewing current business relationships, presenting new books, seeking rights deals and pitching new series and book ideas, I started communicating our soon-to-be-public rebranding and development plans.

At the New Zealand party: Michael Duckworth (University of Hawaii Press) and Scott Beatty (Trajectory)

Smaller and better also describes how the book industry is looking now. Sure, bookstores have closed, publishers have pulled out of some markets and tightened their lists, and ebooks have generally not delivered on their promise. But a leaner publishing industry has got smarter and is seeing a consumer move back to print, and for independents there’s market share to be grabbed and easier international connections to be made.

For our authors, exposure to the international publishing community will hopefully lead to seeing their books overseas and in translation. With our Chinese agent Fanny Yu of CA-Link I toasted the sale of mainland Chinese rights to Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird’s I Need a New Bum!, and I got a good response to their new book Mister Spears and his Hairy Ears. Our new international picture book series Indigenous Voices, which includes a great new story from Tim Tipene, is exciting a lot of interest also. And the September release of Hirini Moko Mead’s classic Te Toi Whakairo: The Art of Maori Carving is also promising good sales offshore.

With Fanny Yu of our Chinese agency CA-Link

I was also delighted to present some fine NZ books from outside our own programme, including Neil Coleman’s hard-hitting YA novel Roskill, David Bell’s YA fantasy novel The Dog Hunters (first in a very promising series), David Lupton and Leonel Alvarado’s beautiful The Divine Remains, and the sumptuous Coast, Country, Neighbourhood, City, which profiles the work of design studio Isthmus.

Our section of the NZ stand

So much of world publishing is dominated by big US, UK, French and German corporations. Alongside good meetings with colleagues from all those markets, this year Frankfurt brought me great exchanges with publishers from publishers as far flung as Belarus, Chile, El Salvador, Ireland ... Big is beautiful but so is small.

Peter Dowling is managing director of Oratia Media (www.oratiamedia.com) and publisher of its books division Libro International (www.librointernational.com), and is international councillor of the Publishers Association of New Zealand.