The world's biggest book fair was inaugurated on Tuesday, with an increased number of exhibitors expected to focus on the digital and multimedia sectors that are rapidly transforming the industry.
The fair expects 7,533 exhibitors from 111 countries, a three-percent increase on the previous year, the exhibition's director Juergen Boos told reporters.
"Well-told stories are the engine of the book fair and new technologies ensure one thing above all: the demand for content is increasing," he said.
Gottfried Honnefelder, president of the German publishers and booksellers association which organises the fair, said only about one percent of the 9.6-billion-euro German book market was currently made up by digital offerings. However, he said he could see the market rising to 10 per cent in the near future.
Full report here Hindustan Times
Showing posts with label frankfurt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frankfurt. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Sunday, April 19, 2009
In search of India
The theme of the London book fair this year is Indian writing, writes Amit Chaudhuri in the Guardian. Vikram Seth, Amartya Sen, William Dalrymple and other writers in frequent circulation in this country are going to be joined by writers - K Satchidanandan, Javed Akhtar - distinguished or popular on their own terrain but less known here, for five days of discussions and celebrations. Something like this happened in 2006 to the Frankfurt book fair, when planeloads of Indian novelists and poets descended on the Intercontinental Hotel, waved to each other over breakfast, and then read from their work to courteous audiences in the afternoons and evenings.
The theme then, too, was India; and the "idea of India" acted as a catalyst to a process that might have already begun, but received, at that moment, a recognisable impetus - the confluence, in one place, of literary and intellectual dialogue with what is basically business activity, each bringing magic and movement to the other. The India-themed Paris book fair followed swiftly.
For full story, clIck hereThursday, March 12, 2009
Leipzig book fair starts
The Leipzig Book Fair, on from March 12-15 is the second largest book fair in Germany after the Frankfurt Book Fair.
China, which, will be the guest of honor at the Frankfurt book fair in October this year, is promoting its literature and publishing sector at the fair.
The fair, which is held annually over four days at the Leipzig Trade Fairground Leipzig, Saxony, is the first large trade meeting of the year and plays an important role in the market and is often where new publications are first presented.
China, which, will be the guest of honor at the Frankfurt book fair in October this year, is promoting its literature and publishing sector at the fair.
The fair, which is held annually over four days at the Leipzig Trade Fairground Leipzig, Saxony, is the first large trade meeting of the year and plays an important role in the market and is often where new publications are first presented.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
'Indian publishing has opportunities'
At a time when the world seems to be focusing solely on the financial crisis, there are regions where the talk is about using that very fact as an opportunity!
This also rather succinctly sums up the Publishers’ Round Table “Global:Local” held February 27, organised by the Frankfurt Book Fair and the German Book Office New Delhi. With the presence of arguably the local industry’s most significant publishers and other players, as well as international participation from Argentina, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, China and the Arab World, the one-day round table represented a hitherto seldom experienced platform on the Indian subcontinent.
“Global vs. local” was the theme that set the ball rolling by questioning the whole notion of publishing for a local market and the need to be thinking globally. Moderated by publisher Karthika VK of Harper Collins India, this particular session had speakers like Ajay Shukla talking about the success of STM publishing. He illustrated the global reach of a nation like India, where content is now being developed not only to cater to the indigenous market but also to global markets. Insights were also offered on local experiences in different parts of the world like China, Morocco and South America.
The second session focussed on publishing services. The key word for globalisation in the last decade has been outsourcing. With its huge knowledge base and skilled manpower, India has been tapping into this opportunity rather well. Similar trends in China and South America were observed, as well. Naresh Khanna, publisher of Indian Printer and Publisher, moderated the discussion and also presented his research on the huge and unexplored potential of the Indian market. The session was then steered into a rather animated discussion about the competence of outsourcing companies and service providers. Richard Charkin of Bloomsbury cited his own experience of printing in India, which was not such a profitable activity for his own publishing house.
The session after lunch dealt with the role of independent publishers in a global scenario. Urvashi Butalia moderated the discussion and pointed out the challenges and advantages of being an independent publisher, as opposed to a multinational publisher which is governed more by market forces, minimising risk and slow decision making processes. This view was immediately countered by Mike Bryan of Penguin who said that the reverse is true for them. Their passion and risk taking is sometimes much greater than that of the independents. Interestingly, it was later discussed that both these publishing houses have also found a harmonious way of co-publishing which is a good marriage of the global and local!
The last, highly anticipated session was about the global financial crisis and its impact on publishing. With input coming from every part of the world, the picture looks rather fuzzy. Richard Charkin established that the UK is witnessing a very bad slump, primarily due to the breakdown of retail. Ana Maria Cabanellas from Argentina pointed out that publishers in South America are already coping with the crisis by coming up with innovative models. Haissam Fadel remarked that the Arab World, when it comes to trade publishing, is rather new in the field and, hence, still hasn’t seen good days to be able to talk about bad ones. Stella Chou from China was very optimistic and considered this to be a very temporary phase. The opinion from India was on the one hand similar to the UK with a huge slump in retail but in the words of the major educational publisher Dhanesh Jain of Ratna Sagar, this is also clearly a time for opportunities: “If mobile telephony can reach 400 million people, then books or content of any sort has a huge potential.”
Positively associated with the Frankfurt Book Fair, the platform was well received by Indian publishers as an activity for bringing people together and creating an exchange. Prepared by the German Book Office New Delhi, the event, in the words of Richard Charkin, “is the very essence of publishing having a global consensus”.
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest book fair in the world – with more than 7,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries. It also organises the participation of German publishers at more than 25 international book fairs and is associated with the Cape Town Book Fair in South Africa and the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. It maintains the most visited website worldwide for the publishing industry at http://www.book-fair.com/. The Frankfurt Book Fair is a subsidiary of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association.
This also rather succinctly sums up the Publishers’ Round Table “Global:Local” held February 27, organised by the Frankfurt Book Fair and the German Book Office New Delhi. With the presence of arguably the local industry’s most significant publishers and other players, as well as international participation from Argentina, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, China and the Arab World, the one-day round table represented a hitherto seldom experienced platform on the Indian subcontinent.
“Global vs. local” was the theme that set the ball rolling by questioning the whole notion of publishing for a local market and the need to be thinking globally. Moderated by publisher Karthika VK of Harper Collins India, this particular session had speakers like Ajay Shukla talking about the success of STM publishing. He illustrated the global reach of a nation like India, where content is now being developed not only to cater to the indigenous market but also to global markets. Insights were also offered on local experiences in different parts of the world like China, Morocco and South America.
The second session focussed on publishing services. The key word for globalisation in the last decade has been outsourcing. With its huge knowledge base and skilled manpower, India has been tapping into this opportunity rather well. Similar trends in China and South America were observed, as well. Naresh Khanna, publisher of Indian Printer and Publisher, moderated the discussion and also presented his research on the huge and unexplored potential of the Indian market. The session was then steered into a rather animated discussion about the competence of outsourcing companies and service providers. Richard Charkin of Bloomsbury cited his own experience of printing in India, which was not such a profitable activity for his own publishing house.
The session after lunch dealt with the role of independent publishers in a global scenario. Urvashi Butalia moderated the discussion and pointed out the challenges and advantages of being an independent publisher, as opposed to a multinational publisher which is governed more by market forces, minimising risk and slow decision making processes. This view was immediately countered by Mike Bryan of Penguin who said that the reverse is true for them. Their passion and risk taking is sometimes much greater than that of the independents. Interestingly, it was later discussed that both these publishing houses have also found a harmonious way of co-publishing which is a good marriage of the global and local!
The last, highly anticipated session was about the global financial crisis and its impact on publishing. With input coming from every part of the world, the picture looks rather fuzzy. Richard Charkin established that the UK is witnessing a very bad slump, primarily due to the breakdown of retail. Ana Maria Cabanellas from Argentina pointed out that publishers in South America are already coping with the crisis by coming up with innovative models. Haissam Fadel remarked that the Arab World, when it comes to trade publishing, is rather new in the field and, hence, still hasn’t seen good days to be able to talk about bad ones. Stella Chou from China was very optimistic and considered this to be a very temporary phase. The opinion from India was on the one hand similar to the UK with a huge slump in retail but in the words of the major educational publisher Dhanesh Jain of Ratna Sagar, this is also clearly a time for opportunities: “If mobile telephony can reach 400 million people, then books or content of any sort has a huge potential.”
Positively associated with the Frankfurt Book Fair, the platform was well received by Indian publishers as an activity for bringing people together and creating an exchange. Prepared by the German Book Office New Delhi, the event, in the words of Richard Charkin, “is the very essence of publishing having a global consensus”.
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest book fair in the world – with more than 7,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries. It also organises the participation of German publishers at more than 25 international book fairs and is associated with the Cape Town Book Fair in South Africa and the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. It maintains the most visited website worldwide for the publishing industry at http://www.book-fair.com/. The Frankfurt Book Fair is a subsidiary of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Publishers' meet in Delhi
A day-long round table by organised by the German Book Office (GBO) in Delhi saw a number of participants - including most of India's leading publishers and printers, engaged in rather spirited discussion over the future of publishing in India.
The usual divide between the multinational subsidiaries and independent publishers was a part of the story. The meet looked at whether publishing was local or global - and there was this realisation that while publishing had to be essentially local, the main tasks for publishers was to find the next big author who could transcend boundaries and languages.
The usual divide between the multinational subsidiaries and independent publishers was a part of the story. The meet looked at whether publishing was local or global - and there was this realisation that while publishing had to be essentially local, the main tasks for publishers was to find the next big author who could transcend boundaries and languages.
Among the participants were Juergen Boos, President, Frankfurt Book Fair, who has been visiting India fairly frequently in recent times. Another interesting participant was an old India hand, Richard Charkin, executive director, Bloomsbury, in the past with Macmillan in India.
Among the Indian publishers present were Mike Bryan (Penguin), SK Ghai (Sterling), VK Karthika (Harper), Urvashi Butalia (Zubaan), Thomas Abraham (Hachette), Renuka Chatterjee from Westland, Pramod kapoor (Roli), PM Sukumar (Harper).
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