'Huge demand' for UK at Shanghai Children's Book Fair

UK publishers were met with “insatiable” demand for their books at the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF) last week (20th–22nd) November), with picture books, sticker books and series titles proving particularly popular, although less interest was registered in Young Adult titles.

Clare Somerville, deputy m.d. at Hachette Children’s Books UK, said: “There is a real sense of energy and urgency here. The demand is insatiable. Next year we will need a bigger booth.”

She said Chinese publishers were very interested in picture books, “particularly [ones] that deal with issues with a light touch”. In light of the new policy that allows couples to have more than one child, that came into effect in the country last year, Somerville said publishers “are looking for books about siblings and dealing with a baby in the family”.

Pinelopi Pourpoutido, sales manager at Michael O’Mara Books, said Chinese publishers were interested in sticker books, colouring books and series for readers aged three to seven. “They always want series. Everyone is fighting for space in bookstores, so single titles get lost. They want at least three titles.”

By day two of the fair Pourpoutido had signed agreements with Hebei Publishing and Baby Cube, and had received “a number of offers” from other interested publishers.

One of the UK publishers attending the fair for the first time, was Little Tiger Press. Its rights manager Katie Hawksworth said there was “strong demand” for its titles, adding that she had found three publishers that were interested in the publisher’s sticker book offerings, with “several confirmations anticipated”.

Igloo Books was also in attendance for the first time, even though it doesn’t currently sell rights. “We’ve never sold rights before. Our policy has always been co-editions, but it’s an opportunity to get our name into this market,” said export account manager Ajay Dhawan. “Interest in education is very strong—also sticker books and sound books [are popular].” Anhui Publishing Group had expressed interest in several Igloo titles, he added.

Ruth Logan, rights director at Hot Key Books, agreed that demand for educational books was high, and said books with young male protagonists were popular.

“At the European fairs I ended up being a tiny bit sheepish when presenting books that had boys as the main protagonists—here it is the opposite. We happen to have a boy-heavy list at the moment and it was wonderful not to see people’s faces fall when they saw a boy on the jacket,” she said.

There were not a lot of YA books on display at the fair but publishers said that the market could develop in the future.

Victoria Sutherland, director of Children’s Books USA, said YA books “haven’t been as popular here as in Bologna”, but added that it may well change in the future. Logan added: “You do sense that things are changing and what is exciting is that there seems to be a certain hunger for older/teen literary novels. Fingers crossed that this will continue to flourish and grow.”

This is the second year the CCBF has run, and the number of professional visitors totalled more than 7,000, up from 4,900 last year. Seven UK publishers had their own stand and a further 14 had a presence in the UK pavilion.