Frankfurt 2010

The 2010 Frankfurt Book Fair was an upbeat affair, thanks in part to a surging e-book market that now translates into a meaningful percentage of trade book revenue, the introduction of the iPad from Apple, the coming launch of Google Editions, and the growth in popularity of reading devices, smartphones, and the Android mobile operating system.

Frankfurt 2010: Frankfurt Attendance Dips Slightly, but Organizers Are Encouraged

Attendance at the Frankfurt Book Fair dipped slightly this year, but not nearly as much as organizers had expected given the state of the global economy. Attendance for the first three days of the fair, before the gates were opened to the public, stood at 149,945, down roughly 1.7% from the 152,530 attendees in 2009 for the same three-day period.

Frankfurt 2010: Libel tourism--No Passport Required

Two industry lawyers look at the potential impact of the recent changes in US libel law and the proposed changes in the UK

Frankfurt 2010: Digital Meets Content at More Upbeat Show

While thousands of rights deals were concluded at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, the 2010 event will most likely be best remembered as the year fair organizers fully embraced the digital revolution. Approximately 350 panels were dedicated to digital issues.

Frankfurt 2010: As Fair Winds Down, Disruption Yields to Opportunity

"Apps, apps, apps," said Carolyn Fortin, from Canadian packager QA International, when asked about the conversations she has had with publishers at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair. Last year, she added, her conversations were about "books, and the future of the publishing industry."

Frankfurt 2010: Making A Difference with E-readers

Fraknfurt 2010: A 'Library Open to the Whole World'

The capital city of this year's Guest of Honour at Frankfurt, Argentina, is gearing up to take on the mantle of World Book Capital 2011, which runs from 23 April (UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day).

Frankfurt 2010: Publishing – hot again or what?

In the 1980s and 1990s, publishing seemed to go out of fashion as a number one career choice for the brightest and best graduates.

Frankfurt 2010: A New Era For Access

The importance of encouraging reading and literacy can never be understated. However, for those with print disabilities, their right to access reading is often overlooked. While charities and organisations have strenuously worked to rectify this situation, publishers are also working to meet their own responsibilities in this area.

Frankfurt 2010: Penguin Appeal

In the 80 years since Noel Coward wrote his play Private Lives, China is still mostly described in terms of its huge size. When Penguin arrived in China in 2005, certainly the scale of the market was a significant part of its appeal: China was not only the world's most populous nation, it was also highly literate, mobile and online.

Frankfurt 2010: HMH Announces Fund for Learning

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) has launched a $100m Innovation Fund to "promote and support solutions aimed at engaging all education stakeholder groups".

Frankfurt 2010: Rights Deals: 10/7/10

Quercus has acquired WEL rights in the latest novel by Frank Schaetzing, author of The Swarm, a book-of-the-fair a few years back. The new novel is LIMIT, published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch in Germany and now sold in 17 countries. The deal was concluded via Tanja Howarth, representing K&W.

Frankfurt 2010: Our Digital Future with Evan Schnittman

After eight years as vice president of corporate and business development at Oxford University Press, Evan Schnittman left in August to become Managing Director of Group Sales and Marketing, Print and Digital at Bloomsbury.

Frankfurt 2010: Piracy pitfalls

A prevalent concern within the book industry is that the ramifications of piracy, though serious, are becoming more acute and are often overlooked by the general public. Strong yet nuanced campaigns to reduce physical and digital piracy are therefore essential to combat the problems.

Frankfurt 2010: Steady Dealmaking is Hallmark of 2010 Fair

There are, as one agent put it, three kinds of Frankfurts: ones where everyone is buying everything, ones where no one is buying anything, and then the middle ground where there is a steady stream of dealmaking. The consensus is that the 2010 fair falls into that last category.

2010 Ranking of the Global Publishing Industry

Livres Hebdo has released its annual rankings of publishing companies from across the world, published in cooperation with Buchreport (Allemagne), The Bookseller (United Kingdom) and Publishers Weekly (USA). The rankings were released at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Frankfurt 2010: Spanish-Language Titles Click with Americans

Agent Antonia Kerrigan, who has long represented Spanish-language authors, sold three big Spanish-language titles at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair. Kerrigan closed two major deals with Simon & Schuster's Atria imprint and a third, before the fair, with Holt.

Frankfurt 2010: Google Editions Makes a Strong Impression at the Fair

We may as well get this out of the way: soon. That's still the best estimate of when Google Editions will launch in either the U.S. or Europe. But traffic at the Google booth in Hall 8 of the Frankfurt Book Fair has been bustling, and Google's cloud-based e-book program has been warmly embraced at this year's fair--quite a change from last year.

Frankfurt 2010: Time to Tango

In 1976, when the Dirty War in Argentina was at its height, I remember burning books – not dramatically, with bonfires in the middle of the street – but surreptitiously, throwing them down the trash chute in the kitchen of my flat.

Frankfurt 2010: Fair Comment: Juergen Boos, Director of the Frankfurt Book Fair

A lot has happened in the 365 days since the last Frankfurt Book Fair. The ash cloud from Iceland brought air traffic to a halt for a short time – and with it, the international trade fair business. For many the financial crisis seems to have passed its peak. Google, with its Google Books and Google Editions projects, ensured there would be heated discussions within the industry.

Frankfurt 2010: Rubin Nabs Debut Thriller for Six Figures

In a major pre-Frankfurt pre-empt, Holt President and Publisher Steve Rubin paid a high six-figure sum for North American rights to Mark Allen Smith's Information Retrieval in a two-book deal from Nat Sobel at Sobel Weber Associates.

Frankfurt 2010: Mulligan to Launch Imprint at Profile

Geoff Mulligan is to launch a new literary fiction imprint at Profile. The Clerkenwell Press, which will publish its first titles in autumn 2011, will be a bespoke list of international writing of "literary fiction in its broadest sense", potentially including translations and memoir.

Frankfurt 2010: Looking To a Leaner Industry

In his opening keynote speech at the second annual Frankfurt Tools of Change conference, author and media scholar Douglas Rushkoff pulled no punches. "It sounds sad to say it this way... But not as many of us are needed as we used to be," he told the audience.

Frankfurt 2010: Frankfurt's StoryDrive Kicks Off to Small Crowds

Frankfurt may still be a rights fair, but it's trying to change. Change, however, rarely comes quickly or easily. StoryDrive, one of the newly launched programs at the fair intended to beef up the show's digital offerings, was pitched by organizers as a series of panels that would expound on storytelling in the digital era. But with an anemic turnout Wednesday morning to two of the program's inaugural panels, there may still be kinks to be worked out in the programming.

Frankfurt 2010: Will Frankfurt Soon Be an E-Book Fair?

The writing has been on the digital wall for some time, but with new initiatives and a noticeable emphasis on e-books, the 2010 Frankfurt Book Fair is embracing the digital future. From a StoryDrive program, a schedule of panels that seeks to break down barriers between books, games, films, and other media; to the launch of the Frankfurt SPARKS initiative, organizers are making an effort to "unite the worlds of publishing, technology industries, media and the Internet culture in order to develop collective viable business models," said Juergen Boos, director of the Frankfurt Book Fair, and to pioneer a role "as a content and media fair."

B&T in Pact to Offer Dutch, Flemish e-Books via Blio

Baker & Taylor announced an agreement at the Frankfurt Book Fair with Dutch wholesaler Centraal Boekhuis to distribute Dutch and Flemish digital content on Blio, the newly released digital reading software developed by technologist Ray Kurzweil and his firm, KNFB Reading Technology.

Frankfurt Book Fair on Normal Footing; TOC Kicks Off Event

The travel advisory issued by the U.S. government about a higher terror threat in Europe has had little, if any, impact on the Frankfurt Book Fair, which officially starts tomorrow. Before the exhibit halls open, the Tools of Change conference was in high gear today with a keynote by Doug Rushkoff.

Major Last-Minute Deals Make for a Few Titles to Watch in Frankfurt

With the Frankfurt Book Fair kicking off on Wednesday, PW takes a look at some big-ticket deals that have closed in the days before the event. In addition to the titles we mentioned in our agents’ and publishers’ roundups, here are a few books to watch in Germany:

--Jonathan Lethem’s new novel, Dissident Gardens. Eric Simonoff at WME sold North American rights, in a two-book deal, to the family saga, which follows three generations of politically left-leaning Americans and is set in Sunnyside, Queens. Doubleday once again signed the author, but we hear he may be moving houses in the UK, leaving his longtime publisher, Faber. An insider said Faber made an offer, but there is a lot of interest in the UK around the title and Lethem may go elsewhere.