The Frankfurt Book Fair just ended was as busy and as quiet as ever. If that sounds paradoxical, it should. The world's largest book show has always been a bundle of contradictions. There's never a big book, and yet many of the world's best-known literary agents keep coming back. It's impossible to get into the Bertelsmann party, yet everyone and their schwester was there. Millions of dollars in global rights are sold, yet all anyone seems to be doing with any seriousness is drinking.
So what happened at this year's show? Herewith, our rundown of the important players—and how they fared at Frankfurt.
Ed Victor: His biggest move was Clapton before the fair, though Doubleday was selling world. But Victor made up for it with some solid smaller sales, especially in fiction.
Trident: Like Victor, no standout book. But the company said it drummed up $10 million in business—particularly by selling Elizabeth George to option publishers.
Richard Nash: Why, exactly, is a cash-strapped Brooklyn publisher plunking down thousands to tote around what has to be the world's most expensive book show? Because small publishers have increasingly realized they can sell foreign rights for books they own and make their money back in spades. Nash sold his Paul Berman book about Joschka Fischer to publishers in about half a dozen countries and he's still going strong.
Google: What to say? A year ago they announced they'd change publishing as we know it. This year they caught flack for it. The debate between Google's Tom Torvey and National Book Network/ Rowman & Littlefield head Jed Lyons over Google Library at PW's dinner was rated a draw.
American Authors: Malcolm Gladwell, Stephen Hawking and others turned up at the show to promote European editions of their books. Look for more U.S. publishers to use Frankfurt as a springboard to publish foreign editions—it's such a one-stop media extravaganza.
Byng/Entrekin: Okay, so the pair has flogged the launch of The Myths—the most ambitious, magnificent project in the history of publishing and the world—at seemingly every trade show this century. Still, the series, which has famous writers writing on famous myths, is pretty cool. And they threw a great reading to match.
The Russians:Nobody seems to know exactly what they're doing there; there isn't exactly a bustling industry of Muscovite sub-rights. But boy, do those guys throw a party. Last year's legendary fete—the caviar gets better with each telling—gave way to a less raucous gathering this year, but for anyone with a hankering for endless vodka and strange synthesizer music, it was the place to be.
The Fair Itself: No doubt, overall attendance could be higher, especially from the Europeans. (It was slightly up this year.) This is their big media showcase, after all. But it's show manager Jurgen Boos's first year. Give him time. He's got ideas.
