IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017 - International Publishers Association

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IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017 - International Publishers Association
IPA Global Book Fair Report
           2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017 - International Publishers Association
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

Contents:
   Introduction                                               03
   AMERICAS                                                   05
   Special focus: Mexico                                      08
   Guadalajara International Book Fair                        09
   AFRICA                                                     11
   Special focus: Nigeria                                     13
   Nigeria International Book Fair                            15
   ASIA and OCEANIA                                           16
   Special focus: South Korea                                 19
   Seoul International Book Fair                              20
   EUROPE                                                     21
   Special focus: Greece                                      26
   Thessaloniki International Book Fair                       27
   ALDUS network                                              28
   MIDDLE EAST and CENTRAL ASIA                               29
   Special focus: Egypt                                       32
   Cairo International Book Fair                              33
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017 - International Publishers Association
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

Introduction
Book fairs play a vital role in so-   trade attendees, some are de-
cieties. While public book fairs      signed for the general public,
promote books and reading,            and others are hybrids, often
their professional equivalents        separating their fair into profes-
allow publishers, agents, distrib-    sional and public days, or
utors and retailers to meet and       providing separate areas. In
do real business. They also           Frankfurt, for instance, the first
draw media and public attention       three days are trade days while
to the book industry and provide      the public attends on the final
platforms for authors to meet         two days. In Geneva, there is a
readers. Book fairs are a mo-         special area dedicated to the
ment where many creative pro-         conferences for book profes-
fessions converge.                    sionals.
In an age when business is of-        The main function of profes-
ten done remotely, book profes-       sional book fairs is to be a mar-
sionals still believe that book       ket place for trade profession-
fairs have not lost their rele-       als. Book rights are bought and
vance. On the contrary, deals         sold, and agents pitch new titles
done at book fairs gain in terms      to publishers. In recent years,
of quality, and the human di-         buying and selling rights has
mension of these exchanges            become the most dynamic ac-
becomes a pledge of trust.            tivity of fairs.
This special report provides an    People selling book rights at
extensive calendar of interna-     book fairs are located either on
tional book fairs. It focuses on   publishers’ stands or in a spe-
one book fair per continent, giv-  cial rights centre, while buyers
ing its national context, and of-  move around the fair from
fering a complete overview for     meeting to meeting. Book rights
people who want to attend          are offered via different models,
them.                              either on an exclusive basis to
                                   the potential buyer, simultane-
Book fairs come in all shapes
and sizes, attracting a variety of ously to multiple buyers, or via
                                   an auction. In a sense, a book
people and serving different
purposes. Some fairs only allow fair is a catalyst that propels
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017 - International Publishers Association
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

rights deals towards completion.                   Cairo and Guadalajara. A glance at the com-
That said, a book fair is also an exhibition. Pub- ments by first-time visitors reveals that the
                                                   standout recommendation for those discovering
lishing houses and companies from the wider
                                                   these ‘new territories’, is to lock down some ap-
publishing industry (distributors, technology
                                                   pointments in advance, and leave time for dis-
companies, printers and so on) use fairs to
                                                   covery, chance encounters and the unknown.
showcase their brand, products and services.
Some professionals simply walk around looking
at what others are publishing.
Book fairs also serve an important educational
purpose for book trade professionals, apprising
them of key trends through seminars, confer-
ences, panel discussions, presentations and
fellowship programmes. And book fairs offer a
range of events designed to facilitate network-
ing.
Livre Paris, Sweden’s Göteborg Book Fair and
the fairs in Bogota and Buenos Aires are promi-
nent cultural events promoting books and read-
                                                  International book fairs are also an important
ing to the public, but also providing a platform
                                                  aspect of the IPA’s work supporting publishers
for professional exchanges.
                                                  worldwide. IPA representatives are present at
Frankfurt Book Fair has established itself as the many of them, and some fairs host IPA events,
biggest international trade book fair, while the  panels and conferences. To name some in
five other top fairs in terms of professional at- 2017, the Charles Clark Memorial Lecture
tendance happen in: London (the largest spring 2017: A Debate on Fair Us, took place on 15
fair), Bologna (specialized in children’s books), March at the London Book Fair; a workshop on
Guadalajara (the gateway to Latin America) and The book price, taxes, custom barriers and ob-
New York (BookExpo - the main market place        stacles to book circulation: how books can
for US publishers). While these long-             cross borders? will be held on 26 April at Gene-
established fairs have plateaued somewhat in      va Book and Press Fair, while the IPA Prix Vol-
terms of their growth, newcomers are growing      taire 2017 award ceremony will happen at
fast, such as Beijing and Shanghai (specialized Gothenburg Book Fair, in September. In addi-
in children’s books) in China, and the Indonesia tion, the IPA-led Educational Publishers Forum
International Book Fair, in Jakarta. There are    open meeting will be hosted on 13 October by
also new additions such as Baku’s biennial        Frankfurt Book Fair, and its transatlantic coun-
                                                  terpart, the Educational Publishers Forum
book fair, which will hold its fifth edition this
                                                  Americas, will be staged at Guadalajara Book
year, and the Eurasian Book Fair, in Astana,
                                                  Fair.
with its second edition in 2017.
While some require a serious advance prepara-
tion in terms of making contact with potential
business partners and arranging professional
appointments, such as Frankfurt and London,
others allow visitors more spontaneity, such as
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017 - International Publishers Association
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017 - International Publishers Association
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017 - International Publishers Association
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017 - International Publishers Association
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

Fast facts:
                     Mexico
                     Sitting at the crossroads between
                     continents and with a centuries-
                                                            those selling their books for these
                                                            governmental programmes, which
GDP USD 307tn        old history of welcoming adven-        produced 145,195,723 copies or
(2016)
                     turers, immigrants and business-       26,762 titles. The same year,
GDP per capita       men, as well as intellectuals, art-    146,693,665 paper copies were
USD 18,900           ists and refugees from wars or         sold for 10,288,278,499 Mexican
(2016)               oppressive regimes, Mexico was         pesos (USD 525,078,548).
Population           seen as promising opportunity     The government is the main dis-
123,166,749 (July    and freedom, a cradle of creativity
2016)                                                  tributor of printed works, and was
                     offering the perfect blend of tradi-
                                                       responsible for distributing 35% of
   0-14 years old   tion and modernity, indigenous    all copies sold in 2015. However,
    27.26%           and foreign.                      these sales accounted for just
   15-24 years                                        14% of publishers’ revenues. The
    old 17.72%       In PricewaterhouseCoopers’ fore- second major distribution channel
   25-54 years      casting report The long view: how is the network of libraries, which
    old 40.69%       will the global economic order    accounted for 24% of all copies
                     change by 2050? Mexico is pre- sold in 2015 and was more profit-
Education public
expenditure 5.2%     dicted to be one of the top 10    able with 38% of all invoices in
GDP (2012)           economies in the near future.     2015. The third channel is repre-
79.2% of total                                         sented by direct sales to schools,
population is ur-    Mexican publishing                which made up 26% of publish-
ban (2015)                                             ers’ revenues.
                     and book fairs
Approx. 25% of                                              Digital sales accounted for
population living    The Mexican publishing market
                                                            97,583,278 Mexican pesos (USD
in and around        has a high public sector participa-
Mexico City                                                 4,980,774), an increase of 123%
                     tion rate. In 2015, of 308 million
                                                            compared to 2014, of which 45%
106.8m mobile        total copies produced, 53% (163
                                                            came from first editions, 20 mil-
phones               million) were produced by the
                                                            lion Mexican pesos (USD
70m internet us-     public sector, with 47 million pro-
                                                            1,020,773) more than in 2014.
ers                  duced by the private sector for
                     government purchases. This lat-        The main distribution channel for
                     ter arrangement accounts for           digital editions is foreign plat-
                     some 32% of private sector pro-        forms. They represent 70% of to-
                     duction and concerns national          tal digital sales. The second most
                     programmes of free secondary           important distribution channel is
                     school textbook distribution, text-    composed of individual publish-
                     books for English learning and         ers’ platforms and websites, and
                     books for libraries.                   makes up 27% of total sales.

                     In 2015, there were 228 private        There were 905 companies work-
                     publishing houses, including           ing directly or indirectly in publish-
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017 - International Publishers Association
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

ing, which represented 7,410 reg-
ular employees (a 2% drop since
                                       Guadalajara International Book Fair
2014), 737 short-term employees        The Guadalajara Internation-    have a platform. FIL was
(down 9% since 2014) and 2,830         al Book Fair – FIL Guadala-     conceived as a space that’s
freelance professionals employed       jara – was the brainchild of    open to thought, promotion
for specific projects (5% fewer        the University of Guadalaja-    of reading, discussion of ide-
than in 2014).                         ra, and celebrated its 30th     as and, therefore, for
                                       anniversary in 2016 with an     knowledge.
Even though results of the first se-
                                       outstanding programme built
mester 2016 were lower year-on-                                        It’s the most important pub-
                                       around the guest of honour,
year than in 2015, barring text-                                       lishing meeting in Latin
                                       the continent of Latin Ameri-
books, Mexican publishers re-                                          America and an extraordi-
                                       ca.
mained optimistic about end-of-                                        nary cultural festival. On top
year results, especially for trade     After Mexico City, Guadala- of the academic, literary and
publishing.                            jara is Mexico’s second larg- cultural activities directed at
                                       est city and considered the     the public of all ages (there
Several book fairs are organized
                                       cultural capital, with a repu- is a space dedicated to chil-
throughout Mexico during the
                                       tation for its mariachis, cui-  dren and young adults), FIL
year, offering an additional sales
                                       sine and tequila.               Guadalajara is also a fair for
channel and an important forum
                                                                       publishing professionals. For
for reading promotion. Examples
                                                                       three days more than 20,000
are the International Book Fair of
                                                                       people from around the
Minería Palace; Gran Remate del
                                                                       world come to exchange
Libro (Big Book Discount); book
                                                                       opinions at specialized train-
fairs in Zacatecas, Ciudad Juárez
                                                                       ing forums, as well as to
and Chihuahua. In addition, the        The IPA spoke to FIL Gua-       trade rights, or buy materials
International Children and Young       dalajara Director Marisol       for national and international
Adults Book Fair (FILIJ) is reputed    Schultz about what’s on of- libraries.
to be the biggest children’s book      fer at FIL, the fair’s achieve-
fair in Latin America and creates      ments and her aspirations       In 2016, professional activ-
the biggest income per participat-     for the future.                 ities were double those of-
ing publisher, with the biggest                                        fered in 2015. Was that a
sales coming at weekends.              How would you define            one-off or part of a trend
                                       Guadalajara Book Fair?          you’ll continue in the fu-
Finally, the three fastest growing
types of books are: textbooks and      MS: Over its 30-year life, FIL ture?
basic education (39.6% of in-          has consolidated its position In 2016 Latin America was
come), English learning (17% of        as one of the most important the guest of honour, which
income) and children’s books           cultural and literary events in led to a significant increase
(9%). This explains the success of     the Spanish-speaking world, in activities for professionals,
FILIJ, which takes place in No-        and as a place where for        and which probably won’t be
vember in Mexico City.                 nine days a year all voices     the case with Madrid, this
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017 - International Publishers Association
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

year’s guest of honour. Howev-        Rights Centre also get three         rights trading in Ibero-America.
er, we are always looking for         nights’ accommodation. All the       In this area the countries with
diverse content to allow differ-      benefits that we offer at the fair   the largest presence are the
ent kinds of professionals to         are open to all registered pro-      US, Spain and the UK, and in
analyse and discuss global            fessionals, regardless of origin,    recent years we have seen a
trends, to deal with the chang-       but we focus on promotion            strong contingent of publishers,
es and challenges in the pub-         among professionals from             literary agencies and transla-
lishing industry. From July,          countries where Spanish is not       tion support institutions from
we’ll start to refresh the offer of   an official language to generate     Nordic countries.
forums, meetings, congresses,         more business flow.
workshops, consultations, con-                                             As for annual public participa-
                                      We also have a collaboration
ferences, discussions and                                                  tion, there has also been a
                                      agreement with the American
round tables for professionals                                             gradual increase of attendees
                                      Library Association for partici-
this year.                                                                 and activities, although this is
                                      pation of librarians from the US     limited by the space itself.
What are the services to at-          that serve Spanish-speaking
tract non-Spanish-speaking            communities. This programme
professionals?                        allowwhich represents some
                                      major buying power.s us to at-
All FIL visitors registered as
                                      tract some 200 librarians,
professionals get the following
benefits:                       It should also be noted that FIL
                                staff take part in various inter-
    entry badge for the nine
                                national book fairs to make
     days                                                                  What are your ambitions for
                                new contacts and attract other
    their details published in markets. This has resulted in              FIL’s future?
     the professionals cata-    an increasing representation of  The fair has plans to diversify
     logue                                                       to other markets, with the idea
                                markets from as far away as
                                                                 of incorporating more and more
    access to the workspaces Asia.                              countries. Year after year, the
     and services in the Busi- What element of the fair has      fair renews its literary and cul-
     ness Centre                experienced the most growth      tural offer and is alert to global
     advice on potential con-    in recent years?               trends. Examples of new pro-
                                                                 jects are the recently created
      tacts for meetings at FIL FIL Guadalajara has seen sus-
                                                                 Braille book stands and the e-
      Guadalajara, if required. tained growth in the participa- book modules, and in 2017 we
FIL offers three nights’ accom- tion of professionals not only   will open a comic and graphic
modation for the following pro- from Latin America, but also     novel hall.
fessionals: librarians,           from the US, Canada, Asia and
booksellers, distributors, illus- Europe, but what stands out is
trators and translators. Compa- rising demand for the Rights
nies that reserve a desk in the Centre, the best platform for

Read more about Guadalajara Book Fair from a rights agent’s perspective:
Guadalajara: Discovering Latin American Publishing
Second Foreign Rights Trip to Guadalajara for 2 Seas Agency
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

Fast facts:
                   Nigeria
                   In recent years’ interviews, we         - Indirect sales: Some companies
                   learnt about the untapped potential     engage distributors who manage
GDP USD            of the Nigerians and their book mar-    sales as well as take care of some
1.092tn (2015      ket, but also the rampant piracy that   level of book marketing to end us-
est.)              it faces – 75% of books are estimat-    ers, while their sales representa-
                   ed as illegal copies.                   tives only do the promotion and
GDP per capita                                             manage the distributors.
USD 6,100          This time, the IPA                      - Direct sales: Some publishing
                   interviewed                             companies have their sales repre-
186,053,386        Gbadega Ade-                            sentatives involved in the direct
population (est.   dapo, CEO of                            marketing and sales.
July 2016)         Rasmed Publica-
                   tions Limited, President      of        Product categories and estimated
   0 –14 years    the Nigerian Publishers Association     market percentage include:
    old 42.79%     (NPA), and a member of the IPA
   15 – 24        Executive Committee, to learn more     - Textbooks (schoolbooks) 60% –
    years old      about this market and any develop-     curriculum based books, meant for
    19.48 %        ments in copyright enforcement.        study of particular subjects. This
                                                          applies to primary and secondary
25m pupils in      What is the structure of Nigeria’s schools.
primary            book market?                           - Textbooks (tertiary books) 20%
schools                                                   – books used in monotechnics, pol-
5m in private      The publishing industry landscape ytechnics, colleges of education,
schools            in Nigeria is not really far from what universities and research institutes.
                   operates in some developed coun- - Religion/motivational books
8m in second-      tries.                                 10% – read for personal or spiritual
ary schools        We can summarize it as follows:        development.
                                                          - Trade subject books 5% – de-
47.8 % of total
                   The types of book publishing com- signed or authored to develop prod-
population is
                   panies are key to understanding of uct user manuals or vocational skills
urban
                   the Nigerian book market structure: and provide special training in areas
150.8 m mobile     - Multinational publishing compa-      not limited to craft and design.
phones,            nies that are now being managed        - General books 5% – of general
86.1m internet     by Nigerian directors.                 interest in the areas of fiction and
users              - Indigenous publishing houses         nonfiction, mostly read for pleasure.
                   founded and managed by Nigerians
                   - Self-publishing – publishing com- What are Nigerian reading habits
                   panies mostly managed by individu- like?
                   als or a few people and as such
                   manage all publishing activities of    According to the UNESCO Institute
                   their books by themselves, includ- for Statistics (UIS), in 2015 the liter-
                   ing authoring, editing, production,    acy rate in Nigeria was 59.6%
                   marketing, distribution and overall    which is 103.5 million potential
                   financing.                             readers, based on the 2013 popula-
                   The structure of the book market       tion figure of 173.6 million.
                   and supply strategy vary from one
                   company to the other:                  In Nigeria, there are different read-
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

ing which we could categorize        Urban route connectivity, avail-   in collaboration with the Nigeri-
as:                                  ability of communication chan-     an Copyright Commission
- Utilitarian reading: to pass       nels as well as basic amenities    (NCC) has organized several
immediate exams, the most            make it easier for publishers to   advocacy events sensitizing
prominent in Nigeria – makes         make their products available      stakeholders to the havoc of
up about 85% of readers.             to end users. The contributions    piracy as well as its negative
- Spiritual/motivational read-       of urban book vendors/             impacts on education stake-
ing: to be spiritually, morally      bookshops as distribution          holders. NPA and NCC lead
upright and motivated to             channels/centres to the value      collaborative activities on rais-
achieve goals and realize am-        chain cannot be overstated.        ing awareness and fighting pi-
bitions – about 10% of readers.                                         racy. Both organizations are
- General reading: for pleas-        Are e-books and mobile de-         very active. Several book pi-
ure – about 5% of readers.           vice reading popular? Are          rates have been raided and
                                     Nigerian publishers publish-       convicted, as a deterrent to
What’s the ratio of local and        ing in digital formats or ex-      others.
foreign books?                       perimenting any new plat-
                                     forms?                             Port Harcourt was recently
Most schoolbooks in Nigeria                                             awarded the title of World
are curriculum based. Virtually      E-books and reading on mobile Book Capital. Are there any
all schoolbooks are local and        devices are at the introductory other ongoing nationwide ini-
tailored to local curriculum re-     stage and the adoption by pub- tiatives to promote literacy
quirements and exams. Curric-        lishers is gradually improving. It and reading?
ula standards are also speci-        is perceived that embracing e-
fied at tertiary level, but here a   books might increase piracy        This is a clear indication that
higher percentage is foreign,        and undermine intellectual         the Nigerian book industry is
which discourages adherence          property protection. Secure        striving to promote reading cul-
to and purpose of the National       management of e-books is per- ture, despite the challenges it
Tertiary Curricula.                  haps one of the main concerns faces. It also tells of a world on
                                     of publishing firms, and is con- the lookout to reward activities
We can make the following es-        sequently thought to be delay- that promote educational
timations:                           ing adoption.                      standards.
- Schoolbooks (curriculum            The e-book market is just
based) – 100% local                  emerging. Some publishing          Some examples of literacy and
- Tertiary books – c.70% for-        houses have it at experimental reading promotion in Nigeria
eign, 30% local                      stage while its adoption in an e- are: radio and television pro-
- Children books (general chil-      book pioneering state such as grammes, Lagos Book Festival,
dren readers)– 80% foreign,          Osun raised sustainability         Committee for Relevant Arts
20% local                            questions.                         (CORA), Nigerian International
- Religion books– 80% local,                                            Book Fair (NIBF), regional
20% foreign                          Are there recent develop-          book fairs in Ibadan
                                     ments in fighting piracy and (southwest) and Enugu
Nearly half of Nigerians are         enforcing copyright?               (southeast), book clubs, literary
urban. Does this facilitate                                             and debate programmes.
distribution?                        Yes, the Nigerian Publishers
Yes, it does facilitate distribu-    Association (NPA) recently in-
tion as major book production,       augurated a State Chapter to
marketing and selling activities     enable proper curbing and a
take place in the urban centres.     strong fight against piracy. NPA

See previous reports:
Book Piracy in Nigeria (2014)
Otunba Olayinka Lawal-Solarin on challenges facing publishing in Nigeria (2015)
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

The 16th Nigeria International Book Fair (NIBF)

Like the vast majority of the African book fairs, the Nigeria International Book Fair (NIBF) is a
large cultural and festive event aimed at the public. Designed for literacy and reading promotion
and managed by the Nigerian Book Fair Trust, NIBF 2017 is scheduled from Monday, 8 May un-
til Saturday, 13 May. It will be held at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos State. Regis-
tration is currently open. This is a privileged platform for showcasing educational materials and a
shop window for exhibitors where they can get a discount while booking their stands at least six
months before the event. It attracts visitors from Botswana, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Ni-
geria, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA and Zimba-
bwe.

NIBF stages such activities as: children's programmes, librarian workshops, teacher training
workshops, publishers' workshops, authors' workshops, authors' book reading and signing and
printers' seminars.

For more information visit: www.nibfng.org or contact info@nibfng.org
t: +234-803 402 69 71 / 702 686 71 56 / 702 686 71 57
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

South Korea
Fast facts:
                    The dynamic modern
                    Korean publishing industry
                                                             the lowest expenditure for books
                                                             since records began in 2003. The
                                                             average family income in 2015
GDP USD
1.929tn (2016)      • USD 4,25tln in sales                   rose 20.4% in comparison to 2010
                    • 45,213 new titles                      and average consumption expendi-
GDP per capita      • 9,714 translated titles                tures rose by 12.1%, but total
USD 37,900          • Import value of Korean publica-
(2016)                                                       amount of money spent on pur-
                    tions USD 319mln
                                                             chasing books dropped 24.1%.
Population          • Export value of Korean publica-
50,924,172 (July    tions USD 247mln                         Retail sales, including online sales
2016)               • 49,741 registered publishing           of titles and stationery, in 2015
    0-14 years     houses                                   were 5.5435tn won (USD 4.6bn)
     old 13.45%     • 19,055 libraries                       Online bookstore sales are an im-
    15-24 years    • 2,116 bookstores                       portant index in analyzing the sta-
     old 13.08%                                              tus of the industry. In 2015 the
                    Currently the bestselling books in
    25-54 years    South Korea are novels, comics           online sales of titles were 1.1509tn
     old 45.93%     and children’s books, and social         won (USD 950ml) compared to
Public education    science – in particular politics and     1.2804tn (USD 1bn) in 2014, a
expenditure         law – which has been driven by           10.1% drop. That said, online
4.6% of GDP         recent political scandals.               bookstore sales had increased
(2012)                                                       steadily from 2001 to 2011, and
                    Since 2004, 20 Korean titles have
82.5% of total                                               began to fall away in 2012.
                    won the Bologna Ragazzi Award
population is ur-                                            In addition, the arrival of a fixed
ban (2015)          and, since 2007, more than 60 Ko-
                    rean illustrators have been select-      book price system, which came
59m mobile                                                   into force on 21 November 2014,
                    ed for the illustration exhibition at
phones                                                       meant only the biggest online re-
                    Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
44.1m internet      These successes have brought             tailers navigated their way through
users                                                        2015 without incurring serious
                    greater visibility, interest and popu-
                    larity to Korean children’s books        losses. In anticipation of the new
                    among foreign agents and publish-        law, online bookstores offered spe-
                    ers.                                     cial discounts, inflating sales by
                                                             7%, before normality was restored
                    According to a family expenditure
                                                             and sales began to tumble in 2015.
                    survey released by Statistics Korea
                    in 2015, a family with more than         Bricks and mortar bookstores, on
                    two members spent 16,623 won             the other hand, were less affected
                    (USD 13.70) on books which               by the new regulations in 2015 be-
                    meant a decrease of 8.4% (from           cause many regional governments
                    18,154 won, or USD 15.00) in rela-       and educational offices implement-
                    tion to the previous year and was        ed a policy of buying books from
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

local stores for local public li-
braries.                            Seoul International Book Fair

The total production of South       Founded in 1954 as a national event, Seoul International
Korea’s publication industry        Book Fair has always played an important role in promoting
dropped by 7.7% in 2015 com-        reading culture and strengthening the Korean publishing in-
pared to 2010. Families’ reluc-     dustry. In 1995 the adjective ‘international’ was added to the
tance to buy books compelled        name to reflect its evolving scope. This book fair, which is or-
publishers to became more           ganized by the Korean Publishers Association, takes place
prudent and publish fewer ti-       from 14 to 18 June in Halls A and B1 of the COEX Convention
tles.                               and Exhibition Center. It facilitates an active international book
                                    trade and showcases the competences of Korean publishers.
In terms of total sales of titles
and stationery, the best year       In 2017, there will be a new cultural area created for the public
was 2011. There was a slight        where illustrators, art book creators and artists will promote
decrease in 2012 and 2013,          their works and communicate with visitors. This year’s guest
before a return to positive re-     of honor is Turkey, in celebration of 60 years of diplomatic re-
sults in 2014. Retail sales of      lations between the two countries. And Canada will be the
titles in 2015 again marked a       spotlight country as it celebrates 150 years as a country.
4.8% drop since 2014, the low-      Seoul International Book Fair is for public visitors and for pro-
est recorded level of the past      fessionals, with a steady increase in the buying and selling of
six years.                          rights since 2009. Professionals can access a rights centre
According to a survey conduct-      with 25 meeting tables, storage space and complimentary re-
ed on reading habits of Kore-       freshments. A table can be booked online from 1 May onward.
ans in 2010, 2011, 2013, and        In 2016 around 190 Korean companies had meetings with for-
2015, paperback reading by          eign publishers or agencies at the rights centre. The exhibitor
adults increased from 2011 to       application form can be downloaded here.
2013. However, in 2015, read-
                                    The Korean publishing market still has enormous untapped
ership among adults was of
                                    potential. There are many interesting and profitable titles in all
65.3%, which dropped 6.1% in
                                    publishing categories, but most are in need of good editors
comparison to the previous
                                    and translators. By visiting the Seoul International Book Fair,
year. An average adult reads
                                    foreign professionals have the opportunity to find great Kore-
9.1 books per year according
                                    an titles, such as Vegetarian, or Please look after mom.
to the survey in 2015 (it was
10.8 books in 2010). But the        Finally, more than 20% of titles published in Korea annually
purchase of books by regular        are translations, so foreign publishers and agents are encour-
readers increased to 14 books       aged to present their lists to their Korean partners.
in 2015.
                                    The majority of the Korean book professionals, such as edi-
                                    tors, rights managers and agents, are very passionate and
                                    knowledgeable about their work and publishing in general.
                                    Networking with them is a chance for foreign visitors to find
  Special thanks to:                new inspiration for their own businesses.
  Sung-kwon Liu and Ji-yeon
  Lee from the Korean Pub-          The Korean Publishers Association’s vision is that SIBF will
  lishers Association for their     become not only the biggest book festival for publishers and
  contribution                      readers, but also the biggest hub for the rights trade in Asia.
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

Fast facts:
                      Greece
                      Fewer than 50% of Greeks are
                      regular book readers, while 42.3%
                                                            Rowling, Dan Brown and EL
                                                            James.
GDP USD 286bn         of people aged 15 or over read at     But due to the economic crisis, the
(2015)                least one book per year (source:      book market is under pressure in
                      National Book Centre, Reading
GDP per capita                                              Greece, with book sales steadily
                      Behavior Survey, 2010). Of these,
USD 26,400                                                  falling while the price of consumer
                      34.2% read between one and nine
(2015)                                                      goods rises. Once profitable pub-
                      books per year and 8.1% read          lishers and booksellers are now
10,773,253 popu-      more than 10 books per year,          running at a loss, driving smaller,
lation (July 2016):   while an additional 16.9% read        companies out of business and
                      books only for professional and /
   0-14 years old                                          making competition among the few
                      or educational reasons.
    13.93                                                   remaining key players even fiercer.
                      The Ministry of Culture’s short-      As a consequence, in 2014 the
   15-24 years old   term goal is to raise these rates     fixed book price was partially
    9.68%             and leverage economic progress        abandoned and the market dereg-
   25-54 years old   through knowledge building. Sev- ulated. Sometimes books from
    42.71%            eral reading promotion initiatives    stock (backlists) are sold at deriso-
                      have appeared with government         ry prices of as little as €1, so mar-
78% urban popu-       support.                              ket players need to be cautious at
lation
                      Official recognition of these efforts every step.
Literacy rate         came when UNESCO named Ath- The book market is restructuring.
97.7%                 ens the World Book Capital for        Production is currently concentrat-
Education ex-         2018, which promises to be a          ed but has a long tail. One in six
penditure 4.1% of     standout success.                     publishers, or 159 in total, produce
GDP                   In recent years, there was a sharp 70% of all titles:
                      decline (–37%) in the number of            Three major publishers pub-
12.7m mobile
                      new titles published in Greece:             lish more than 200 titles per
phones
                      10,680 titles in 2008 to approxi-           year (13.1%),
7.2m internet us-     mately 6,700 titles in 2015.               10 publishers publish be-
                      An average print run is 2,000 cop-          tween 80 and 199 titles per
                      ies for novels and between 500              year (15.3%),
                      and 800 copies for essays and po-          146 publishers publish be-
                      etry.                                       tween 10 and 79 titles per
                      A book is considered as bestseller          year (41.3%),
                      if it sells between 7,000 and              760 publishers publish be-
                      40,000 copies, with occasional hits         tween one and nine titles per
                      selling 100,000 or even 500,000             year (30.3 %).
                      copies, such as works by J.K.
                                                            The market leaders have diversi-
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

fied their publishing profiles,    for 32.1% of total book produc- bookshops chains have been
namely: Patakis, Psichogios,       tion and are dominated by Eng- worst hit by the economic cri-
Metaichmio, Minoas, Kedros,        lish language (50%).            sis. The main distribution chan-
Dioptra, Livanis and Kastani-      Greek e-books were launched nels appear to be the mixed
otis. The medium-sized experi-     in 2010 and currently account cultural product big stores, dis-
enced publishers remain resili-                                    count stores with a large turno-
                                   for an estimated 7,000 titles,
ent and there are some new         which represents less than 1% ver and some local chains,
specialized start-ups emerging,                                    such as Public, Ianos, or
                                   of the market. The main plat-
for instance in distinct quality                                   Evripidis. That said, a number
                                   forms for their sales are: cos-
fiction / poetry publishing.                                       of some small independent
                                   motebooks.gr, myebooks.gr
Children’s books account for       and openbook.gr, offering free quality bookshops have ap-
some 20% of the market, with       downloads with Creative Com- peared, including Epi Lexei,
acclaimed contemporary local       mons licensing. Amazon is ab- Pleiades, Lexikopoleion and
                                                                   Booktique.
authors and outstanding illus-     sent from the Greek market.
trators. Translations account      Traditional high-street

 This article is based on information provided by Socrates Kabouropoulos,
 member of the Greek Ministry of Culture’s Book Policy Working Group.
 More information is included in Socrates’s article The Age of Discontent:
 Greek Publishing Through Six Years of Austerity published in Publishing Re-
 search Quarterly (and shared through Springer Nature Sharedit, as a full-text
 view-only pdf file: rdcu.be/onza)

Thessaloniki International Book Fair
Located at the heart of the        Its focus is on dialogue, co-       tries, this is the most important
Mediterranean, Thessaloniki        creation, interaction and the       annual Greek event involving
International Book Fair (TBF) is   development of a dynamic            books, bringing together book
              a hub for book       book community that will            professionals and institutions
                  professionals    spread the vision for a cultural    on a cultural platform promot-
                    from           uplift. Every year TBF hosts        ing the exchange of ideas and
                     Greece, the   more than 300 events, includ-       innovative knowhow.
                     Balkans,      ing The European Young Writ-
                    Southeast-     ers’ Festival, The International    Is Thessaloniki International
                    ern Mediter-   Literature and Translation Fes-     Book Fair for professionals
                 ranean and        tival, literary meetings, presen-   or the public?
Western Europe. We spoke to        tations, round tables, meetings
Nopi Chatzigeorgiou, Coordi-       and seminars for professionals,     Both. The first two mornings,
nator of the Thessaloniki Book     speeches, workshops, projec-        on Thursday and Friday, are
Fair at the Hellenic Foundation    tions, artistic and theatrical      focused on professional meet-
for Culture, one of the fair’s     events, activities for children     ings, seminars and workshops,
promoters, to learn more about     and parallel cultural events in     and are also dedicated to
the 2017 programme.                the city.                           school visits with special pro-
                             TBF attracts over 70,000 visi-            grammes for students and edu-
What is the essence of Thes- tors and more than 500 book               cators. All professionals are
saloniki International Book  exhibitors from Greece, and               admitted to the professional
Fair?                        more than 90 from other coun-             programme of conferences and
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

meetings for free. There is a   This year’s main spotlight is on       cultural programme also in-
B2B room for professionals and  southern European cultures,            cludes the fourth Young Writ-
a special area for foreign exhib-
                                and there will be a special fo-        ers’ Festival, the second Trans-
itors in the middle of Hall 13 in
                                cus on the Greek author Nikos          lation Festival, special chil-
HELEXPO.                        Kazantzakis (1883-1957). We            dren’s and teenagers’ corners
However, it is also the biggest will facilitate exchanges on the       and more than 300 events
                                impact of migration and refu-          open to readers and biblio-
cultural event for the public,
and its aims are also promotion gees through presentations of          philes, featuring book presenta-
of reading among children and recent literary works. There will        tions by authors from Greece
                                also be events devoted to the          and abroad, panels, roundtable
young people and building a
                                consequences of the 1917               discussions and conferences,
knowledge society.
                                Russian revolution and to the          presentations of new technolo-
What should we look out for celebration of 2017 as a year of           gies, and parallel cultural
in 2017?                        cultural exchanges between             events held in and around the
                                Greece and China. The fair’s           city.

In June 2016 the European           15th century publisher and hu-     every exhibition unique.
Commission-funded ALDUS,            manist Aldus Pius Manutius, is
the European Book Fairs’ Net-       conceived as a network for col-    In early 2017, the ALDUS Book
work, was launched under the        laboration and exchange            Fairs’ Network online communi-
Creative Europe programme to        among anyone involved in the       ty was launched to promote the
promote transnational mobility      organization of book fairs and     creation of an international net-
of European literary works and      other events for publishing pro-   work of publishing profession-
book professionals.                 fessionals.                        als working in the fields of inter-
                                                                       nationalization, digital innova-
Experimenting with new inter-       At its core are two leading inter- tion, literature promotion and
active and engaging event for- national B2B book fairs, namely translation. It allows publishers,
mats, such as for networking        Frankfurt Book Fair and Bolo- translators, literary agents and
and training, ALDUS seeks to        gna Children’s Book Fair, and a other book professionals to pro-
build capacity in internationali- range of consumer fairs in Bu- file themselves and network
zation, translation, digital shift  charest, Lisbon, Riga, Rome        with international peers through
and audience development,           and Vilnius. The network is al- social networks.
and help book professionals to ready evolving to become fully
develop their careers interna-      pan-European and has started Registered users of the ALDUS
tionally.                           collaborating with other fairs,    website have access to premi-
                                    starting from Antwerp, London, um content on the ALDUS
The project also aims to en-        Milan, Sofia, Thessaloniki and Knowledge Hub and can sub-
hance the capacity of book fairs Vienna.                               scribe to the ALDUS newsletter
to organize and promote similar                                        to stay apprised of events and
activities, to develop their inter- An overview of the rich variety news.
national dimension and to en-       of this European scenario can
gage audiences in innovative        be found in the ALDUS bro-         To create an account, click the
ways.                               chure, ‘European Book Fairs.       Log-in/Registration tab at the
                                    Facts and Figures’ which high- top right corner of the Aldus
ALDUS, which is named after         lights the aspects that make       website.
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

Fast facts:
                       Egypt
                        According to an old Arab              survey of Ahmed Ksibi, the most
                                                              read topics are: religion (85% of
GDP USD1.048tn          aphorism: ‘Egypt writes,
                                                              respondents), The Quran (66%),
(2015)                  Lebanon publishes, Iraq               daily news (57%), history (14%),
GDP per capita          reads’.                               contemporary novels (13%), week-
USD11,800 (2015)                                              ly political analysis (12%), contem-
                        Due to the absence of detailed, re-
Population                                                    porary poetry and cookery books
88,487,396 (July        liable data and the presence of a
                                                              (both 7%). Although Egypt’s popu-
2015)                   common language, Arab countries
                                                              lation is comparable to that of Ger-
                        have often been considered a sin-
•    0-14 years old                                           many, Egypt has just one tenth the
31.89%                  gle publishing market. Salah Che-
                                                              number that Germany has public
                        baro, CEO of online Arab
•    15-24 years                                              libraries.
                        bookstore Neelwafurat, estimates
old 17.64%
                        that in 2012 the number of new ti- Egyptian publishing faces many
•    25-54 years        tles produced in Lebanon, Syria,      challenges, including near inexist-
old 38.45%              Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia,       ent distribution channels, relatively
Education expendi-      which together account for 80% of low literacy and reading rates, low
ture 3.8% of GDP        the total publishing output of Arabic purchasing power, piracy and cen-
School life expec-      countries, was 17,000. In Egypt, an sorship. However, Egypt was the
                                                              first country in the region to tackle
tancy 13 years          average print run of a new title is
                                                              digital publishing, with the launch
Literacy 73.8%          1,000 copies, while an estimated
                                                              of Kotobarabia.com, a platform for
                        30% to 40% of published books
43.1% is urban po-                                            digitization and sale of Arabic e-
                        are never sold. Some 17% of all
pulation                                                      books. It also offers services for
                        published books are religious in
                                                              public libraries and institutions,
94m mobile phones       content.
                                                              available on an annual license ba-
31.8m internet users    Only 73.8% of adult Egyptians are sis. Digital is a new opportunity to
                        literate and, of these, 87.7% are     break down restrictions, such as
                        regular readers. According to the     affordability, borders, censorship
                                                              and so on, and enable a wider dis-

To learn more, read the articles:
Alaa Al Aswany: Freedom to publish at all-time worst in Egypt 2016
Why don't more Arabs read? on Quora July 2012
The Arab Book Market presentation at Frankfurt Book Fair 2014
Plus de kutub please article in the Economist in June 2016
The Arab book market: censorship, piracy, ebooks and book fairs always on the go on Meier-
ment.de 2016
IPA Global Book Fair Report 2017

Cairo International Book Fair
Cairo International Book Fair is    lished ‘Cairo Calling’, a pro-      Do you try to attract foreign
reputed to be the largest in the    gramme for professionals that       exhibitors and profession-
Arab World and on the whole         happens during the first three      als? If so, what are your
African continent.                  to four days. But even these        strategies for doing so?
IPA inter-                          days are open to the public.        This is what we have been try-
viewed
                                    Is it a place to buy books to       ing to achieve recently through
Sherif Bakr,
                                    order them or to make rights        our ‘Cairo Calling’ programme,
Secretary
                                    deals?                              which was my initiative and re-
General and                                                             sponsibility. Basically, since we
Board Member                   of   Buying physical books is the
                                                                        do not have any financial sup-
the Egyptian Publishers Asso-       main purpose of the fair, so
                                                                        port to build a professional pro-
ciation and member of the Cai-      mountains of books and people
                                                                        gramme, but we have exten-
ro International Book Fair Or-      buying them it is what you can
                                                                        sive knowledge of the Arab
ganizing Council, to learn          find all around the fair. As for
                                                                        book market, we decided to
something of the recent chang-      rights, there is no special place
                                                                        help publishers, agents and
es at this event.                   designated to this purpose, but
                                                                        cultural institutes who wish to
                                    we try to promote this activity
Is the Cairo International                                              explore Arab publishing, by giv-
                                    through the ‘Cairo Calling’
Book Fair designed for the                                              ing them the opportunity to par-
                                    days. Currently, the deals are
public, professionals, or                                               ticipate for free. They only have
                                    done directly at the publishers’
both?                                                                   to pay their travel expenses, so
                                    stands.
                                                                        those who are interested in at-
The book fair is mainly for the
                                    What kind of facilities do you      tending pay for their accommo-
public. It is the place of
                                    have for professionals?             dation and flight and we ar-
bookselling to public visitors
                               As it is a well-established book         range a tour especially for
and also the site of sales of or-
                               fair, all these matters are al-          them. We introduce them to the
ders for universities, research
                               ready settled; everybody has             Arab publishers who suit their
centres and public libraries
                               their habits and knows who               needs in an appropriate and
from all over the Arab World,
                               they will send their books to            somewhat informal way that
as well as for wholesalers and
                               and so on. Some hotels have              the Arabs and Egyptians like.
bookstores from different parts
of the Arab World. Thousands   special deals for members of             What are your ambitions for
of physical copies are stocked,the Egyptian Publishers Asso-            future developments?
sold and bought here.          ciation and its guests. There
                                                                        We hope to have a better fair-
                               are standard booths, and some
Are there separate days or                                              ground and be able to organize
                               publishers make their own dec-
areas for professionals to at- orations or build a booth in the         a professional programme that
tend the fair?                                                          suits the Arab World.
                               open area of the fair for more
There are no professional      visibility and promotion.
days, but recently we estab-

Contact the Cairo International Book Fair at: fairs@gebo.gov.eg
Contact Sherif Bakr at: sherifbakr@yahoo.com
Report prepared by Joanna Bazán Babczonek
secretariat@internationalpublishers.org
International Publishers Association
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