Concerns raised over Frankfurt Book Fair rights centre relocation

A plan announced by the Frankfurt Book Fair to relocate its rights and licenses business in 2019 while the Messe undergoes a lengthy structural revamp is understood to be causing deep concern among agents and publishers, with one protesting that the plan "just isn't feasible".

As part of the revamp, FBF plans to move the literary agents and scouts centre in 2019 from the top floor of Hall 6 to the “Festhalle”, near the City entrance to the fair, while Hall 6.3 becomes a technical control centre inaccessible to customers. The following year, the international exhibitors from Hall 5 will move to Hall 4, as Hall 5 will be taken down and rebuilt until 2023.

Hall 1 will be added in 2020 with “a striking new glass front facing the city”, the fair organisers said. The new hall will become part of “an attractive area” that includes special interest formats geared towards the general public on the weekend. This will also encompass the Agora, the Forum, and Hall 3.

However scout Louise Allen-Jones, a member of the Literary Agents and Scouts Centre (LitAg) advisory committee, has urged the Fair to reconsider the plan, raising her concerns in a letter to organisers.

Allen-Jones said in the letter that the main purpose of her clients at Frankfurt is to meet US and UK publishers and agents, all of whom are in Hall 6.  "And of course the agents for both those territories, and from elsewhere, are based in Hall 6 too, which made it relatively straightforward for us or for them to make schedules for their meetings," she said.

"So when you say editors from halls 3 and 5 visit the agents’ centre, they’re also visiting Hall 6 to see their UK and US counterparts.

"If you move the agents to the furthest-away point in the fairground, how do the foreign visiting editors manage their meetings?  To spell it out, an average meeting lasts for half an hour.  The walk between the Festhalle to Hall 6 takes almost 10 minutes.  If people have to do that twice because their next meeting is in one or other of the halls, that will take 20 minutes out of a 30 minute meeting.  It just isn’t feasible."

Kathrin Grun, head of PR and communications for FBF, responded: "We are aware of the concerns of the agents, and we're working very hard to ensure that we will get the best possible solution for them to conduct their business in Frankfurt under the circumstances. However, please keep in mind that over years, the UK/US exhibitors were located in Hall 8, while the Agents Centre was located in Hall 6 - and business was thriving. The distance between Festhalle and Hall 6 is comparable to the distance between Hall 8 and Hall 6. We will of course provide an express shuttle between Hall 6 and Festhalle to make sure that meetings can be scheduled smoothly. "