BEA has released preliminary attendance figures for this year’s show. The total was 21,664 people, almost even with last year’s final tally of 21,919 people. The falloff was slightly higher among “attendees” (as distinguished from exhibitors), who numbered 13,028–a decline of 6 percent, or 844 people, from a year ago. The organizers say over 500 fewer authors were enrolled as attendees, accounting for much of that decline. But overall, Reed’s business at Javits grew with the inclusion of BlogWorld attendees, giving them a total of 23,067 people in the building. Show director Steve Rosato writes on his blog that “the […]
Book Fairs
Making Information Pay Presentations
BISG has posted the slide presentations from last week’s Making Information Pay conference. Among the highlights were Hachette Book Group’s COO Ken Michaels impressive account of how the company has rebuilt its structure and processes for the new publishing paradigm–from creating content once in a centralized, standard way that drives all forms of distribution and all parts of the publicity and marketing process to reenvisioning job titles and management structure for new ways of doing business. Andrew Savikas reminded everyone how even a technical publisher like O’Reilly needed to learn by constant experimentation over the past five years, and the […]
LBF Wrapup: A “Busy” Fair Belies Unpredictable Mood
In the unscientific lexicon of trade show reporting you will tend to find a limited set of standard vernacular for describing fair activity. Regardless of numbers, there’s either “busy” or “not busy.” This year’s London Book Fair has clearly been voted “busy,” allaying any speculation that last year’s volcanically-challenged show had somehow broken the habit of attendance. As usual, though, the packed first two days have given way to a much quieter third and final day. The weather was unseasonably lovely up until today, which always helps the collective mood, even if you never actually see the sun shine once […]
You Say There’s Been a Revolution
While executives debated questions of evolution and revolution at the London Book Fair, one of the rare aspiring authors in attendance was describing his participation in an actual revolution to prospective publishers from around the world. Google executive Wael Ghonim, who was one of the people behind the anonymous Facebook page and related efforts that helped galvanize and organize the uprising in Egypt, held half-hour sessions describing his experiences and his plans for REVOLUTION 2.0. Intended for release next January 25, rights are being represented here by Michael Carlisle of Inkwell Management (along with his partner Richard Pine, who stayed […]
At LBF, Questions of Digital Revolution vs. Evolution
As book fair business unfolds in rather traditional fashion–23,000 people having meetings with each other–a number of panels aired the anxiety-making question of the digital era: Is this revolution or evolution, and who of those 23,000 survives and prospers in that transition? An international panel of executives took on that topic in one of this morning’s panels, with Penguin ceo John Makinson beginning the conversation by allowing that “I’ve never been in a revolution…but it certainly doesn’t feel like evolution when I come in to the office every day.” Makinson noted that “at every step of the way something dramatic […]
Frankfurt to Expand Rights Center
While today’s focus is on a full London Book Fair, where the rights center has sold out its 575 tables, organizers of the Frankfurt Book Fair have announced the expansion and reenvisioning their rights center. Previously located on part of one floor in hall 6, this year it will encompass all of hall 6. A new StoryDrive Business Center will comprise part of that expanded agents center, presenting “a new meeting place for representatives of the film, games and book industries.” FBF director Juergen Boos underscores that in the digital transition, “the business of content has taken on even more […]