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.

Frankfurt Executive Panel Set

Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy is one of five executives who will discuss publishing issues at the Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry panel at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The panel, which includes PW as a sponsor, will be held Wednesday, October 6, from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. in hall 4.2, room "Dimension."

Frankfurt 2010 Briefcase, Part II

Last week, we covered what rights the major U.S. agencies will be selling at next month's Frankfurt Book Fair. Below are the big books the largest U.S. trade houses will be shopping.

Frankfurt Preview: Agency Briefcase

What will the American agents be pushing in the rights tent at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair? In this week's PW we lay out all the big books the agencies will be selling rights for in Germany, highlighting titles from John Grisham, Ken Follett, David Bowie, and Jon Stewart, among many others.

Frankfurt 2010: The Agency Briefcase

What will the American agents be pushing in the rights tent? Among this year's offerings are Martin Amis's "most ferocious antihero," Nelson Mandela's journals, John Grisham's latest Confession, David Bowie's stuff, Jon Stewart's guide to Earth (and Earthlings), and Ken Follett's Giants.