Beijing’s new children's fair a big opportunity, UK publishers say

The Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) announcement yesterday (26th March), that it is to launch a dedicated children’s stream to run alongside its main event, has underscored China’s burgeoning power in the international sector. And while Western publishers still see the 2018 Bologna Book Fair Guest of Honour country as a profitable region in which to do business, some are wary of recent indications that Chinese publishers will scale back the importing of titles to focus on home-grown content.

The inaugural Beijing International Children’s Book Fair will be held on 22nd–26th August 2018. Yuan Jiayang, BIBF sales and marketing director, and programme director of the Guest of Honour scheme, told The Bookseller Daily the new kids’ fair was "a progression", adding: "The children’s sector is very active in China and we wanted to make the fair better. We are not only dealing with books but also comics, manga, TV, film and licensing—it will be a cross-media fair."

Yuan dismissed concerns that the fair was set up to rival the Shanghai Children’s International Book Fair, launched in 2013 and run annually in November. He said: "There won’t be much competition with Shanghai. Our children’s hall [within the adult fair] was always strong. Also, we are in a different region and we are very much focused on rights and the professional market. But if there is any competition, surely that makes the market better?"

Nosy Crow rights manager Ola Gotkowska welcomed the news, and agreed with Yuan on the two fairs’ timings. She said: "I would imagine it will be similar to selling at both Bologna and Frankfurt... that whatever is not sold immediately after Beijing will be shown again in Shanghai. From our previous trips to [Chinese fairs], it seems that some publishers attend both fairs but it is not exactly the same group [at both], so we’d be maximising who sees our titles."

Members of the Chinese Guest of Honour delegation with Bologna dignitaries at the fair’s opening ceremony

In March 2017, it was widely reported that the Chinese government was clamping down on overseas-originated kids’ titles in an attempt to limit their ideological influence. Yet Rebecca McNally, Bloomsbury Children’s Books publishing director, said: "We have not yet seen any impact from the announcement that China wants to create more content. It is an important market and we still sell a lot of rights across the list there. For our rights team it is business as usual."

Andy Sharp, Hachette Children’s Group rights director, said China was "in our top five rights markets over the past five years. Sales tend towards picture books and non-fiction, but we are selling more fiction. The Shanghai fair has been talking about the importance of reading for pleasure, and we are seeing that coming through."

Yet Vicki Willden-Lebrecht, m.d. and founder of The Bright Group, says there are changes in China—and that they benefit her illustration clients. She said: "China wants to mirror the UK business model. It wants to make books for China and the coedition market, then sell them abroad. We will be loyal to our UK and US businesses, but there is a huge opportunity in China for our artists as it offers a new route to publication. The UK is saturated with established artists so there aren’t many opportunities for new illustrators. China offers more opportunities for those creatives.

"China is buying big, and buying a lot. We will take new artists or artists we want to revamp to China. As a business, you can’t ignore a market which is said to be going from 20% home-grown-produced content to 80%."