Innovation and competition: a first-timer’s experience of Frankfurt
Ventura Press publishing manager Jasmine Standfield attended her first Frankfurt Book Fair last month. She shares her experience and insights.
Attending the Frankfurt Book Fair for the first time was a lot like attending my first day at school. I felt dwarfed by the size of it, knew very few people and was more than a little intimidated. But I walked in with a brave smile on my face,
I was amazed and encouraged by the size and strength of our industry. Judging by the 250,000-plus attendees from 132 countries who were at the fair to talk about books, authors, design, distribution, production and digital innovations, I think I have entered publishing at the perfect time.
My first impression of the halls were blazing lights, walls of books and a constant stream of people. I quickly joined the crowds and switched into sales mode for my first meeting with a Russian language co-agent. Teaming up with our international rights agent allowed me to cover twice the space, but after 24 meetings in three days I felt like I barely touched the surface.
Ventura Press had a spot on the Australian Publishers Association stand and my neighbouring stand members—Mark Zocchi from Brolga, Tanya Graham from Blue Angel, Lisa Hanrahan from Rockpool and Louise Adler from Melbourne University Publishing—reminded me of the older students on that first day at school who walked around like it was no big deal, with a casual ‘just had a meeting with Harper US, what of it’ vibe. I’m sure my enthusiasm and awe made it obvious that I was a newbie.
Apart from selling rights, Frankfurt is also the place to make new contacts, raise your company’s profile, increase your product awareness and observe macro trends in the industry. My meeting with Atria publisher Judith Curr, who gave me a sneak peek of their new video chapter samples (complete with a hunky male model), made me realise how much the publishing industry is changing. It is becoming increasingly obvious that ‘traditional’ publishing is not enough; consumers want an experience, a video, a talking head, events, incentives and interaction.
I also think it is the perfect time for our industry to become far more transparent so that our craft can be better valued. The size of the Ingram stand, which seriously challenged the goliath Penguin Random House stand, reinforced the strength of the competition. With the exponential growth in self-publishing, the feedback I am increasingly getting is that the general public doesn’t completely comprehend what publishers do. I remember when I first looked for a job in publishing I thought the same thing. I knew I wanted to work with books, but until my first internship at Allen & Unwin I had no idea of the variety of jobs in the industry, or the time and effort that goes into creating a book and making it ready for the market. Now I can spot a self-published book a mile away. But can the average consumer?
The shout-line for the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair was ‘Your path to success’, and my first book fair has affirmed that I am part of an industry filled with passionate publishing entrepreneurs who don’t intend on being left behind.
Category: Features
