HarperCollins won't attend physical LBF as trade questions June event

HarperCollins will not attend a physical London Book Fair if it goes ahead, the publisher has announced, amid widespread scepticism in the trade over this year’s event.

Having given themselves a March deadline to make a decision on LBF’s format this year, organisers announced yesterday (31st March) they were postponing that decision until mid-April. New fair director Andy Ventris cited the uncertainty around international travel and said a range of scenarios were being planned for.

The fair was originally moved to 29th June to give the industry the best chance of having a physical event. However, every publisher and agent contacted by The Bookseller yesterday questioned the need for a physical fair in June.

HarperCollins, meanwhile, is the first major publisher to announce it will not go to Olympia. A spokesperson told The Bookseller: “We can confirm that HarperCollins Publishers will not be attending or exhibiting at London Book Fair should a physical fair take place in June 2021. We will continue to support London Book Fair on the virtual aspect of this year’s fair, and look forward to attending in future years when international travel is more viable.”

Another senior industry figure said they had decided their company would not attend long before yesterday’s delay. They said: “We felt that the late June timing of LBF didn’t work for us anyway in terms of co-edition sales, and their behaviour around cancellation last year and communication from them since then has been so poor. Any delay is academic, as we weren’t planning on being there.”

Others who won’t attend include indie Orenda Books and David Higham Associates, where agent Lizzy Kremer said colleagues were not being asked to attend in-person meetings this summer. Andrew Nurnberg, who was more enthusiastic than others about staging LBF last year, also said none of his team thought a physical event was advisable this year.

At Michael O’Mara, m.d. Lesley O’Mara questioned the timing of a June fair and pointed to Reed’s refund policy following last year’s late cancellation, with some exhibitors offered just 60% of their fees back or a transfer of 100% of their fees to a booking for the same package at this year’s event.

O’Mara said: “This seems like a cynical way of keeping our substantial deposit. When we agreed they could carry it over to this year, it was on the understanding that this was for a spring fair.

“This approach shows the LBF are very out of touch with the book trade. We can’t put off sales for several months. We need to be selling export customers our autumn list now. Indeed, our foreign teams are in the middle of virtual meetings in lieu of a spring book fair right now.”

With coronavirus picking up again in parts of Europe and ongoing travel disruption, many have questioned whether anyone will make the journey to England and, therefore, how much business can be done.

Pan Mac publisher Jeremy Trevathan observed: “I think the big issue will be whether our colleagues in Europe will be able to travel to the UK without quarantining etc. The fair is as important for translation rights as Frankfurt now, but if people can’t come easily I’m not sure how effective it will be this year. I think we’re all pining for these events, where we can meet up to start again, so it will be a shame.

“Meanwhile all of us, publishers and agents, have progressed with online book fair-style activities which are going on right now, so from a rights perspective I’m not sure, again, whether people will want to congregate having already seen the lists and hopefully acquired the books they’re after.”

Julie Mabey at Oneworld agreed, saying: “We’d certainly love to see a physical fair in Olympia this year, but even if it does go ahead, it remains unclear if many international publishers and agents will attend, despite the success of the UK’s vaccine rollout, and if they plan to stay away, the key question is whether enough UK-based exhibitors will choose to invest in a stand to make it viable.

Agent Madeleine Milburn said she had mixed feelings about a physical fair. She explained: “Though I am desperate for a book fair and think they are brilliant for business and building relationships, I think it’s highly unlikely that international publishers will attend given the varying rollout speed of vaccination schemes across Europe. US editors have told me they will definitely not be travelling for work that soon. We went ahead and had virtual meetings during the original dates, so it feels very soon to have another fair, especially with Frankfurt in the autumn.”

Milburn’s agency is one of many organisations which have been holding their own spring rights fairs in recent days and weeks to fill the hole in their calendars left by rescheduled fairs in London and Bologna. Amy Mitchell, a foreign rights agent at United Agents, said international editors in those meetings were more focused on whether Frankfurt would take place than London.

She said: “A physical fair in June doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s radar just now, especially with countries such as Italy and France facing new lockdown laws and lower vaccination rollouts than in the UK. Although we are all desperate to meet in real life, the general mood is that we want to be able to do it ‘properly’ and if we have to continue to do virtual meetings until that is possible, then we will wait.”

Karen Sullivan of Orenda agreed, saying the feedback she was getting from international agents, sales teams and publishers was that none intended to go amid a feeling it was “too early” in the vaccine rollout. Orenda would not be attending LBF in any form, she said.

Sullivan added: “Interestingly, too, the Europeans clearly have no intention of attending or even taking part in a virtual event. I have had 30 Zoom meetings in the last couple of weeks with our international counterparts and teams, and this has very much taken the place of LBF in most people’s eyes. Holidays and national days are sacred in Europe, and the new dates coincide with both.”

Some people questioned why the format decision was being pushed back into April. Literary scout Louise Allen-Jones commented: “I’m wondering what the justification is for delaying a decision, when overseas publishers will be unlikely to want, or even be able to travel, in June. Given that the book fair has been, in recent times, primarily a forum for the international rights business, I can’t see that there is any point in deferring the inevitable.”

She added: “I think many of us hope that we can revert to a normal fair in a year’s time, which would give the LBF organisers and Reed time to plan something really streamlined for 2022.”

Sam Copeland of RCW said the postponement of a decision was “understandable” but he doubted a physical event would go ahead. He said: “I just don’t see it happening, I’m afraid. And I don’t see any appetite for it to happen. We could be at a point where all the over-40s are vaccinated and twentysomethings won’t be—so I think that in itself makes it unfeasible. I don’t think the delay affects us at all. I think it will affect the foreign publishers making plans far more. The same discussions are going on about Frankfurt, and that is months further down the line."

Ventris told The Bookseller: “The London Book Fair is all about bringing the global books community together. We’ve heard from our extensive international customer base how much they are looking forward to being able to meet face to face again when it is safe and possible. To this end, we are in constant discussion with our stakeholders to understand how we can best deliver this value and support the industry in these challenging times, and will announce a final decision in mid-April.”