Hi everyone,
I hope you are all well! I have had a big week, starting my new job at Simon & Schuster UK, and attending the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany (on day 2 of the job). It was very tiring, but exhilarating too, and I thought it would be useful to write a post about what actually happens at the book fair, as I know it seems hard to imagine if you’ve never been.
Firstly, this is basically a trade fair - it isn’t something authors need to attend. Some authors do come to give talks (there are two big trade fairs for adult publishing a year, the London Book Fair and Frankfurt, and then Children’s Publishing also has Bologna) but primarily this is a place for publishers and agents to meet, network, form relationships and sell rights.
It is held at a huge exhibition venue (I always get very lost) with eight large halls, full of ‘exhibitors’ - these are usually publishers from all around the world, and now there are also stands for companies such as Spotify, Amazon etc. Film and TV agents and scouts attend too! There is also what is known as the LitAg which is a hall with hundreds of small tables at which sit all the hard working literary agent teams who are selling rights in their authors’ books. If I am honest, the venue is a bit challenging as there is a huge amount of people, not much natural light, and most people have back to back meetings - but there are of course lovely things about the fair, too. Most people do tend to come back feeling pretty exhausted (I bought a turmeric and ginger ‘recovery’ drink yesterday that claimed to have seven shots in, I think you were supposed to space it out over a week but I just drank it all, haha. It did help, though!)
The large publishers have big stands, surrounded by ‘walls’ that display the books they are excited about - some on digital screens and some printed onto board, and the Fair team spend days setting this all up and taking it down at the end of the week. So all credit to them, it must be an enormous job. Inside the stands of the big publishers are more tables, and this is where I would usually sit to conduct my meetings. People come to the ‘receptions’ of each stand and ask for the person they are meeting, and then we usually have staff on reception who come to find us and bring our meetings to us. It works the other way around, too - I am often running around to meet other publishers at their stands, or heading to the LitAg to meet agents. Sometimes, there is nowhere to go and you have meetings in cafes or on the floor (whoever said publishing wasn’t glamorous…!). There are cafes and restaurants inside the venue, and then some in the outdoor square in the middle of the halls. I tried to head outside where possible just to get some fresh air!
I really like seeing other publishers’ stands. If I get time (!) I like to have a quick look at the international stands - it is amazing to see publishers from around the world showcasing their books. This year I walked through the aisle that housed a lot of Indian publishers and it smelled amazing - they had incense on the stands and I could see them preparing some delicious-looking food for their meetings, too! UK publishers tend to have a little hidden section in the middle of their stands which has food and drink in (soft drinks, alcohol, sandwiches, crisps, chocolate etc) and I drank far too much coke for a normal week! But one does need the energy…!
Each publisher has what we call a ‘rights guide’ which is exactly what it sounds like: a booklet showcasing all the books which we hold more than UK and Commonwealth rights to. Our rights team pitch the books to international editors, and I do the same as an editor - often editors know the books in slightly more detail so it can help to have that real passion pitch and connection, though the rights team do an amazing job and they are the ones who would actually follow up with the deals. If an editor tells me they love the sound of something, I might send them the script when I am back in London, or alert our rights team to their interest and let them follow up. I also am ‘buying’ at the fair - I have only ever done a deal in person once at the London Book Fair (it was fun, an American buy-in title that I did on behalf of a colleague who had already been negotiating. I got sign off from my boss at the time via email and then went over to find the American rights person and closed the deal in person. But this is rare!) - but generally I will look at other rights guides and ask to see anything I think sounds interesting. It is brilliant finding international editors that you have a lot in common with, and making those connections, so that in future if I acquire something I can show it to that editor and use the more personal touch.
It is also lovely to connect with editors where you already share an author - a few Frankfurt Book Fairs ago I met with all of Lucy Score’s international editors and we had a drink at the stand, which was great! Speaking of drinks at the stand… lots of publishers crack open the wine at about 5pm on the stands and there is definitely a shift around that time when people begin to move into evening mode a little! Every evening, there are multiple things going on - dinners, drinks, awards ceremonies, and parties, and people often go to multiple events in one night. I think I went to four parties, three dinners, two lunches and several ad hoc drinks events… hence why I am tired! But it’s all good networking (and it is fun too) and it’s so great being surrounded by book people for a whole week. There is nothing like the excitement of raving about an author together or hearing about an upcoming new project.
Our trade magazine, the Bookseller, publishes a daily edition during the fair and you will often see deals announced at it. The vast majority of these are not done at the fair itself, but in the run-up to it. Sometimes books are bought the week before and announced at the fair to make more of a buzz; sometimes books are bought weeks or months in advance and the announcement is saved for the fair. Everyone plans their Frankfurt announcement schedule carefully in advance (at least everywhere I have worked does). Some years, there are ‘books of the fair’ e.g. one book everyone is talking about and trying to buy, and our rights team will update us by telling us how much interest there is. I think the rights team themselves sometimes do make deals during fair week, but a lot of it is follow up on emails and calls post-fair. Most meetings are only 30 minutes long, if that (though you do of course get more time to talk in the evenings at dinners or over lunch).
Small presses exhibit too, as do customers (for example distribution companies like Gardners or Readerlink) and the halls are divided roughly into sections, so children’s publishers are largely grouped together and for example Asian publishers are often all in the same hall. There is also a schedule of talks each day - my new boss Perminder Mann did the Executive talk on the Wednesday, which was very cool to see, and there are often fascinating panel discussions too, on everything from AI to book pricing, to new trends in non-fiction, to audio-first publishing. There are maps and signs everywhere directing you to the different halls and events, and people on hand to ask, too (though to be honest I would like more of this as I find it so confusing!)
After the fair, our rights teams usually send very helpful round-up emails telling us what genres and topics got the most interest, updating on any territories sold, and passing on any general news to the wider companies. I will do this too for my own team, and I will also plan to follow up with the people I met to touch base on the books we discussed and to make the most of those connections. It really is a team effort.
For me the highlights of this year were being invited to a long-standing ‘ladies lunch’ by senior US S&S women - it was great to meet lots of inspirational female leaders; seeing Perminder talk about her plans for S&S; meeting all my new colleagues who were so kind and welcoming, and meeting our Australian, American and Indian teams who had flown over for the occasion. You usually also get to catch up with old friends and colleagues, get all the gossip, and generally bump into lots of lovely people, too.
I know some of this sounds a bit too much fun (!) but it really is a great place for doing business and forming relationships. Publishing is a people business and it is a global business, so getting together like this can be a great reminder of why we do what we do. One of my other favourite moments was talking about a book I’ve now got on my list at S&S with one of the author’s international editors - there was a lovely moment when we realised we would be sharing the author, and we talked about sharing some marketing plans in the future months too. I also ended up meeting the team that had published two of my books in Croatian, which was a nice surprise! (My books are sold by my agency, Darley Anderson, who have their own table in the LitAg).
I am sure there is much more to say about book fairs, but I hope this at least gives you an insight into what really goes on! I am not a rights person so they will know even more than me (you can read my previous interview with Melis, who works in rights at Hodder, here) but at least this might give you a taste of the madness. And for authors, please do not worry about attending - as I say you do not need to, and please also do not feel worried or like a failure when you read all of those six figure Frankfurt whirlwind book deal announcements. Those announcements are constructed to sound as big and buzzy as possible, and some of the books do not necessarily go on to perform well! Of course, we always want them to, but that is the reality of it (you can read this piece if helpful on that topic! - it looks at past deals done and how the books performed retrospectively) and lots of smaller more modest deals are done all the time, too. Getting your book translated IS wonderful and exciting, but it happens at a different rate for everybody.
I hope you all have great weeks, and thank you for reading. Do share any questions or comments below!
Phoebe x
This was so helpful to understand! My agent is pitching my book here and this is my first time so this was super useful. Thank you!
As useful as ever, thank you. Good to know a lot is about building or cementing relationships that hopefully go on to bear fruit. Logically I know it's nonsense, but can't help envisaging Vegas-like tables, with international players slapping down their winning cards and yelling, 'Deal!' 😂