Frankfurt attendees find fair fruitful but lack of UK presence lamented

Attendees at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair have said a smaller cohort this year has made for fruitful, "more discursive" meetings, although one publisher lamented the lack of a UK presence.

There were 52 companies from the UK physically exhibiting at the fair this year, according to organisers, including firms there with their German or continental colleagues, following a string of pullouts owing to the pandemic.  

Nosy Crow m.d. Kate Wilson said she was "really pleased to have attended in person, and to show support for the international publishing community", adding the lack of a larger UK presence was "a shame".

Her five-strong team travelled with 100 kilos of illustrated books, packed in suitcases, to the hall. By the third day of the fair, Nosy Crow had sold and acquired rights to various books in 50 languages, and had held 60 meetings, of which 20 were with new contacts made through spontaneous in-person connections and talks. 

Wilson said the meetings were "more discursive" this year and having one to one conversations about the market in different countries was very useful. 

"We are very committed to world rights exportation — we take every opportunity to buy and sell world rights in all languages, and it's important to us that we can be trusted to show up," she said.

"Being here is about meeting people, but also about being outward looking. We are part of a global publishing community, and the fewer opportunities we have to meet, the less collaborative we are. It's a shame there isn't more of a collective UK presence here. There are big issues we need to discuss — modern slavery, sustainability — we need to address these as an international community."

She said: "I want authors, illustrators and agents to trust that every opportunity, we show up. That's a really key part of why we've chosen to be here, we owe it to them. A lot of our business comes from outside the UK, roughly three quarters," she added.

Commenting on the advantages of exhibiting in person, senior rights manager Michaela Pea said being able to see the physicality of children's books is key. "You can't get a sense of the finishes and size over Zoom, which is so important,  and it's a great opportunity to shed some light on the backlist and really give people a sense of what we do."

Yan Xiong, copyrights manager at Beijing Ruxue Media, said she had mixed feelings about the success of the fair for Chinese presses. "It's better than nothing, but it's been very quiet. Our company will be here again next year, and it's good to be able to talk to people in person, and share samples of our books," she said.

Semarah Al-Hillal, president of sales and marketing at House of Anansi Press, said attending had been a "necessary and rewarding experience" despite the reduced numbers. "It was important, as a Canadian publisher, to be here for Canada’s Guest of Honour turn. And it seems to me this more intimate environment has allowed for interesting and surprising discussions. As the first step back to what are hopefully more fully attended in-person fairs in the new year it has been a breath of fresh air. It’s been inspiring and encouraging to be at Frankfurt, and I look forward to returning next year."

Kathrin Grün, head of communications at Frankfurter Buchmesse said: “Two thousand companies from 80 countries came to Frankfurt as exhibitors this year, and we were thrilled to welcome them back after such a tough last 18 months or so. The mood was good, it’s optimistic, and everyone is really pleased to be back in the Messe, seeing publishing colleagues face-to-face, and having in-person business meetings for the first time in a long while. It was good to be back and even better to see visitors coming through the doors again.”