The American Collective Stand, which represents U.S. publishers at the Frankfurt and London book fairs, will be attending the Beijing International Book Fair for the first time next year. ACS has about 1,200 square feet of space, giving it room for up to 16 stands plus space for individual titles. The fair will run September 1—5.
ACS head Jon Malinowski said he expects Beijing to be "the next big book fair." He noted that British publishers have drawn lots of interest from the Chinese at recent fairs, but that with the exception of some of the largest academic and professional publishers, few American companies have attended. "It's American publishers the Chinese want to see," Malinowski said.
Among the publishers already committed to space with ACS are Thomas Nelson, Free Spirit Publishing, Capstone Press and MBI Publishing. The Association of Educational Publishers is also taking space to represent titles from its member publishers. Since all titles must be submitted to Beijing officials by April 1, U.S. houses have until March 1 to contact ACS. For more info, publishers may call (914) 739-7500.
