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THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019 VISIT PW AND BOOKBRUNCH AT HALL 6.0 D40
MY PENSION?
HOW YOU CAN STOP
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Manage open
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Norwegian guest of honour programme, which was kicked 10.00 ASK THE EXPERT: THE NEW LEGAL LANDSCAPE,
off with a speech by Norway’s Minister of Culture, Trine RIGHTS AND LICENCES, METADATA, ETC
Skei Grande. Business Club meeting area (via Hall 4.0)
The minister said that Norway was “a long, tall country 11.00 GUEST OF HONOUR CANADA 2020 PRESS
of fjords and and ice but also a nation of art and culture”. CONFERENCE
She demanded more support for diversity, saying: “Cultural Pavilion
experience is not limited by borders, culture is by nature 11.30 ONE OF US – EXTREMISM AND POLARIZATION.
international, and cultural collateral enhances our cooperation, ÅSNE SEIERSTAD IN CONVERSATION
it makes us better as individuals and as a society.” Pavilion, main stage
The two authors recollected how they came to be writers 13.00 KINDLE STORYTELLER AWARDS
and the inspiration for some of their key works, Wassmo Agora
with her Tora and Dina trilogies, and Steen with poetry 14.00 ASTRID LINDGREN AWARDS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED
cycle The Fire. Frankfurt Kids – Stage Foyer (5.1/6.1)
On Tuesday Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon, Crown 14.00 FRANKFURT AUDIO SUMMIT
Princess Mette-Marit and Prime Minister Erna Solberg Room Dimension (Hall 4.2)
visited the Norwegian Guest of Honour exhibition at the 17.30 RECEPTION FOR INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS
Pavilion. Pavilion
INSIDE:
LENNY PICKER RUTH HOWELLS
NICHOLAS AXE READING TAX
LEMANN Q&A 7 24
JO HENRY CHAD POST
EUROPEAN EBOOK 4 QUESTIONS FOR
MARKET 10 FSG 26
LONG LITT WOON NICHOLAS JONES
Q&A FLASH BANG
12 WALLOP 28
ANDREW JULIE VUONG
ALBANESE DIVERSITY
To contact Frankfurt Show Daily at the LEGAL LATEST 14 30
Fair, please visit us at the Publishers
Weekly stand in Hall 6.0, D40. MICHAEL BRIDGET SHINE
BHASKAR TRAINING
Publisher: Joseph Murray NEW FRONTIERS 16 MATTERS 34
BookBrunch MD: Jo Henry
Editors: Andrew Albanese, Nicholas Clee, Neill Denny PHILIP STONE STORYTEL
Reporter: Ed Nawotka DISCOVERABILITY TELLANDER Q&A
18 36
Project Coordinator: Deena Ali
Layout and Production: Heather McIntyre CHRIS KENNEALLY MARK MCCALLUM
Editorial Coordinator (UK): Marian Sheil Tankard BOOKS ACCESSIBLE
For a FREE six month trial to Publishers Weekly go to RETHOUGHT 20 CONTENT 38
publishersweekly.com/fbf19
DANIEL KRAMB STEPHEN
Subscribe to BookBrunch via www.bookbrunch.co.uk CUNDILL PRIZE MESQUITA
or email editor@bookbrunch.co.uk 22 TRAVEL GUIDES 42
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FRANKFURT SHOW DAILY THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
Copyright directive –
more work ahead
Whether it’s trade deals, or Brexit, uncertainty is a prominent
theme at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair – and a panel of
experts, moderated by Copyright Clearance Center’s Chris
Kenneally, told attendees that the uncertainty extended to
the European copyright arena, writes Andrew Albanese.
In March, the European Parliament approved the
Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, with
the stated intention of promoting “a well-functioning
marketplace for the exploitation of works”. But more work (L to r): Editors Liza Darnton, Gabriella Page-Fort, and
lies ahead, as EU member states must now update their Elizabeth DeNoma of Amazon Crossing at an event marking
national copyright laws by 2021. nearly 10 years of Amazon Crossing, which has published
Swiss attorney Carlo Scollo Lavizzari, from the firm Lenz more than 400 books from 42 countries in 26 languages.
Caemmerer, said: “It is the second stage, if you will. While
the law has been passed, there have been many attempts to The uncertainty, the panellists agreed, could mean a
stop this from the side of big tech, and the acceptance of larger role for licensing. “You know a lot of this discussion
the law is not there yet. There continues to be dialogue is seen as a sort of clash between culture and creativity, and
between the platforms, the large tech companies, and the big tech,” observed former Elsevier general counsel Mark
creative sector, to get to the nitty-gritty: how is this going Seeley, now a public policy consultant. “And I do think
to work?” there’s a big question here about the degree to which
Adding complexity to the matter, Lavizzari explained, licensing activity and real world discussions will take place.
not all EU member states were required to adopt the Certainly, the directive suggests that they should.”
directive’s provisions at once. France, for example, has Of course, Brexit hangs over the process as well. Should the
already adopted into law the “fair play” provision that UK break from the EU, whether the UK would adopt all or part
would provide publishers compensation from content of the copyright directive is an open, and complex question.
aggregators – and that, he said, had already led to “an
exchange of fire” between newspapers and search engines.
While the law moved Europe closer to its goal of a digital
single market, the reality was that the single market could
Face at Frankfurt
remain somewhat fragmented from country to country.
Karen Boersma, publisher, Owlkids Books
Turkey condemned
Turkey’s invasion of Northern Syria was condemned by
exiled Turkish writer Asli Erdogan, who was speaking at an
event celebrating freedom of expression held at Norway’s
guest of honour pavilion.
“There is an incredible national hysteria in Turkey that
can compare with Nazi Germany,” she said. “They think
they are being attacked and national hysteria combined
with militarism is a dangerous combination. I am scared of
what will happen in Syria - they [Turkey] are planning
something horrible there.”
The event was opened by the mayor of Stavanger
Christine Sagen Helgo; the Norwegian city was one of the
founding members of the Icorn international cities of
Karen Boersma
refuge programme in 2006, and hosts its secretariat. Some
70 cities are part of the network, which has provided 230 “The global economy is a bit slow and we feel people may
artist and writers with sanctuary so far. Erdogan has been be cautious in their rights purchasing. But as a Canadian,
offered a refuge through the scheme. She was joined on we are especially excited about gearing up for next year,
stage by exiled Iranian cartoonist Ali Dorani. when we are guest of honour.”
4
FRANKFURT SHOW DAILY THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
6
THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
Nicholas
QA Lemann: Time
Editorial and production
to organise
services for every stage
As publishers gather
at the 2019 Frankfurt
of the content life cycle
Book Fair, perhaps the
most challenging
market factor facing
American publishers is art & design
uncertainty. Amid
editorial
increasing political translations
and economic anxiety,
rising nationalism,
widening inequality, accessibility
management
and a troubling loss
in faith in key
photo: Eileen Barroso
production
institutions that have
sustained us for so
long, understanding
the challenges America,
digital print
and the world, faces is
Nicholas Lemann
the key to navigating
them. Lenny Picker recently caught up with New Yorker
staff writer Nicholas Lemann, whose brilliant new book,
Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of
the American Dream, examines a century of American
political and economic history, retracing steps that led to
today’s inequities and uncertainty, while sounding an
optimistic note that things can change for the better.
8
Hall 4.2 Stand K35 THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
< >
summer, increasing to more than 13% of sales in August each year.
There are variances too in the pricing “sweet” spot between
these countries. The main European price points for ebooks cluster
around €8-9.99. The Italian market shows a heavy concentration
of ebooks being bought in the €9-9.99 price bracket, accounting
for more than a quarter of all ebook revenues in Italy. There is
a secondary concentration in Italy in the €2-2.99 price bracket,
with ebooks being sold for this amount accounting for nearly
100%
80%
Educational
60% Non-fiction
Science fiction
40% Romance
Fantasy
20% Thrillers
Children’s &YA
Fiction
0%
2016 2017 2018 Q1, 2019
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 M11 M12
Germany The Netherlands Canada
transformation
each market reveals that the majority of sales are achieved in
months one to three, though interestingly the Dutch market
peaks somewhat later than, say, the Canadian or the German
market. In the Netherlands, the largest proportion of sales for
the bestselling ebooks included in this analysis were achieved
in month three, rather than the first two months.
The data comes from the sponsors of the report, Bookwire,
DeMarque, Libranda and the International Publishing
Distribution Association. Additional data was provided by CB,
Ingram Content Group (including foreign-language imports
data) and Readbox. ■
QA
bought the book not
12
FRANKFURT SHOW DAILY THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
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Wh ich kin d there are still bigger fish to fry. So how about we try and
answer this: what is going to power the next phase of
of sh ar k publishing growth? What, in short, are the big new
frontiers we can and should be exploring?
go es thr ough Audio is the most obvious candidate. The excitement around
50 ,00 0 tee th ? audio lies in two things. Firstly it’s qualitatively different
experience fits in with busy lifestyles, and capitalises on a wider
trend for audio content that builds on separate renaissances
in radio and podcasting. Throw in a decade long smartphone
boom, higher selling prices and, for those with deep enough
SOLD IN 5 TERRITORIES PRE-FAIR! pockets, the opportunity of adding some stardust into the mix
via big-name reading talent, and it’s all incredibly promising.
Secondly, all this manifests in quickly growing sales. However,
I wouldn’t nail audio as the next publishing frontier, for several
W h y d o s eA reasons: it has been building and working for decades and is a
ot te r s c a r r y much more mature and challenging market than many people
expect. Yes audio is doing well, yes it’s great for books to open
th ei r o W n up this new space, but no, it’s not a revolutionary change.
What else might work? A huge imperative is to find new
s p ec ia l ro ck ? and non-traditional ways of selling books. In the UK, as
Waterstones has stabilised and strong indies secured their
future, I think we can be confident that long-term book
Find out the answer to these buyers have a safe retail foundation. Bookshops found
their place on today’s high street, even if it’s always
surprising questions (and more!) shrouded in a light cloud of uncertainty. But to have a
The proportion of books bought online continued to grow Low price/on special offer 16.7%
in the UK in 2018 according to Nielsen Book Research
data, writes Philip Stone. After tip-toeing past the 50% Like the series 16.3%
mark in 2017, Nielsen Books & Consumers data reveals
Front cover caught attention/appealed 12.1%
that 52.4% of a grand total of 355m books bought in the
UK last year were online purchases. Almost 12m more Recommendation/review 11.3%
books were bought online last year than in the previous
Like main character(s) 10.7%
year. That is a rate of almost 32,000 extra online book
purchases every day. Read extract/looked inside 10.5%
In terms of format, 35% of all physical book purchases
were made online and 88% of all audio books. In terms of Requested/suitable gift/recipient likes 9.9%
CE L E BR AT I NG DI S T I NGU I S H E D F IC T ION BY I N DI A N W R I T E R S
thejcbprize.org #thejcbprize
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THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019 FRANKFURT SHOW DAILY
digital purchases. But the importance of rich metadata print books ebooks
shouldn’t stop at ensuring a book’s brief synopsis is available
on Amazon.co.uk. Nor should it stop at ensuring a book is
coded with the right BIC or Thema classification to 38.2
35.3
maximise sales coming from browsers searching by genre or 33.0
31.2 33.9
keyword. Nielsen Books & Consumers data also reveals that
last year in the UK, 40m book purchases were influenced by
a recommendation or review, and 37m influenced by a read 15.0 18.1 16.6 18.2 20.7
UNDERSTANDING
THE UK AUDIOBOOK
CONSUMER
NIELSEN BOOK’S AUDIOBOOK REPORT REVEALS THE
LATEST TRENDS:
● 76% of audio consumers listened digitally in 2018, while the
share listening to audio CDs dropped to 39%
● 16% of heavy audio buyers (11+ books per year) account for
58% of purchases
For more information and to purchase the study please contact: FIND OUT MORE
infobookresearch@nielsen.com
FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR
HALL 6 STAND B133
19
4158_LBF_Dailies_Adverts_x3_185x130mm.indd 1 03/10/2019 11:34
THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
Visit us in Hall 4.2/J72
Publications
writes Christopher Kenneally. In The Book (MIT Press),
Amaranth Borsuk, assistant professor in the School of
Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of
Washington Bothell, has delivered a thoughtful
“As China’s interrogation of the book both as object and idea. As a
economy poet, scholar and book artist, Borsuk illuminates for
increasingly readers the book as object, the book as content, the book
as idea and the book as an interface.
shapes the global
“When we hear the word ‘book’, the object we all picture
economy, this book
[is what] we imagine to be universal – a stack of pages that
is the place to go has been bound along one edge and enclosed between
to understand the covers,” Borsuk said in a recent interview for Copyright
role of its rapidly Clearance Center’s podcast series, “Beyond the Book”.
evolving bond “But if you look at the history of how information has been
market…” distributed in different portable forms, there have been
myriad other shapes the book has taken over time.”
—Lawrence. H.
For example, she points out, the codex – those sheets of
Summers,
Professor, Harvard paper bound to one side between covers – is the dominant
University physical book format today, as it has been for centuries.
This version of the book emerged at least 2,000 years ago,
and for generations overlapped with scrolls, which had
earlier replaced clay and stone tablets.
“Full of both
theoretical and
New forms of books
As books evolved throughout the ages, the arrival of new
practical insights, forms of books (and writing) has frequently triggered
… it is sure doomsaying for learning and civilisation. In fifth-century BC
to become the Athens, Borsuk noted, the philosopher Socrates feared the
reference book written word would eradicate his beloved art of rhetoric,
for students and which relied on dialogue and debates before an audience.
implementers of Socrates never wrote a word, though his speeches and
modern central dialogues were recorded by his student Plato.
“The back and forth was what he believed made ideas
banking.”
strong, and he polished them to a sheen,” Borsuk said.
—Mohamed El-Erian, “Socrates felt that if a text were to circulate without its
Chief Economic author, it wouldn’t have that great back and forth. But it
Advisor, Allianz turns out the opposite is true. When you let texts circulate,
ideas flourish because people in vastly distant places from
one another can begin to have a dialogue.”
Once considered as treasures and available mostly to
an erudite elite, books as objects lost value in the 19th
century. Costs associated with printing and paper dropped
precipitously; advertisements appeared on book endpapers
and covers. And publishers found ways to drop prices.
bookstore.IMF.org “The body of the codex stops being important to people,
and it’s just the content that becomes important,” Borsuk
said. “That content, the copyrightable aspect of the book,
I N T E R N AT I O N A L M O N E TA R Y F U N D becomes the more valued and cherished part of the book.
In fact, the process of writing and the process of making a
book became separated from one another.”
20
THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
Non-linear reading
In the 20th century,
however, artists sought
to recover the book’s
value, first as object and
then as idea. “From
the time of William
Blake, who pioneered
printing images and
text simultaneously, to
the mid-20th-century,
artistic experiments
like creating a book
that you can walk
through, or a book
that’s cut into pieces
Amaranth Borsuk and you can turn each
page one fragment of a page at a
time,” Borsuk observed, “have
allowed us to think about what a
book’s various functions are. We
think about non-linear narrative,
the ability to go anywhere within
a text, as something that electronic
media especially offers us, but
that capacity for non-linear
reading is inherent in the codex
form, too,” she added. PageMajik™ simplifies the publishing
An aphoristic quotation by
process by bringing Authors, Editorial,
French poet Edmond Jabès, who celebrated the mystical,
provided Borsuk with inspiration for her own literary Development, Production, Marketing,
experiments: “What is beyond the book is still the book.”
“I do agree that what is beyond the book is still the book, and your Target Audience together on
meaning that the book is something that exists in perpetuity a collaborative platform.
and that our relationship to it will continue to change and
shape shift as the book itself changes and shape shifts,” she
explained. “I’ve created a number of collaborative projects
Customizable workflows
that are experimental books using technologies like augmented Automation of routine tasks
reality, where the reader has a book of poems they can’t
actually read until they open it up in front of a webcam,
20+ tools that cover the complete
and then the poems appear in 3D space, or books that are product life cycle
created for iPad that are remixable and that are changing and
mutating on their own as soon as the reader opens the text.”
There is perhaps no better place than the Frankfurt Book
Fair to consider the nature of the book. And though there is
business to be done here, take a moment, too, to explore
the halls, and consider all that a book is, and all that a
book can be, especially in today’s digital age.
And consider too, an important component of the book
throughout history – the reader. In fact, “any book
fundamentally takes shape in the hands and in the mind of
a reader”, Borsuk points out, adding that books are not
created solely by authors and publishers. “In fact, books
are this interesting performative experience that only
happens when the reader steps into the picture.” ■
Christopher Kenneally hosts “Beyond the Book”, a podcast series from
Copyright Clearance Center.
FRANKFURT SHOW DAILY THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
22
2020
Javits Center New York City
May 27 - Conference
May 28+29 - Conference & Trade Show
Only at BookExpo.
See Us in Hall 6.0/Booth D48
featuring
Bio
24
THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019 FRANKFURT SHOW DAILY
should not be taxed. The UK Government has rightly never studying somewhere
applied VAT to print books in order to protect access to temporarily. Specifically,
knowledge and the free exchange of ideas. The imposition this matters to military
of 20% VAT on digital publications shows a disregard for personnel who take
this long-held principle. ebooks on tours of duty
Another core reason is accessibility. This tax hits the to make the most of
estimated 2 million people in the UK living with sight loss. their luggage allowance.
Digital formats are essential for the blind and partially To add to these
sighted who rely on audiobooks to be able to read or need reasons, all individually
to use ereaders to alter text size. Digital formats are also pretty compelling, the
essential for the elderly and people with other disabilities disparity could also be
who are unable to read or handle print books easily. stifling digital
Then there is literacy. Research from the National innovation and is an unnecessary bureaucracy that
Literacy Trust (NLT) has shown that 45% of children currently burdens publishers and digital content businesses.
prefer to read on a digital device and further NLT research There is still an opportunity to make the case for this.
has also demonstrated the benefits for young people of For those in the UK publishing trade, write to your member
reading across all formats, with the most engaged readers of parliament, sign the petition and support the campaign
more likely to read both on paper and on screen. Boys with on social media. If we make our case loudly enough, there
the lowest levels of reading engagement are one of the is still a good chance we will be heard.
groups most likely to benefit from digital reading, and Readers are enjoying different ways of consuming stories
pupils eligible for free school meals are also more likely to that suit their lifestyles and new technologies. Publishers
read digitally, so could be disproportionately impacted by have long recognised this and have adjusted accordingly.
this tax. Now the tax system urgently needs to catch up. ■
What about convenience? Digital books give people the
For more information: https://www.axethereadingtax.org.
opportunity to read no matter where they are. Broadly, this
Ruth Howells is deputy director of external affairs at the Publishers
matters to those who need to travel a lot and those living or Association.
QA
history of publishing
Wattpad Books’
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done for the cause by many excellent smaller presses, be translated into
leaving readers and publishers alike increasingly interested English, and is just
in writing from other countries and cultures. astounding. Darkly
funny and twisted,
Any particular regions that are particularly interesting? it’s a satire of
JR: FSG has a longstanding commitment to Latin modern Cuba that
American fiction and we’re always looking to expand our features hauntings,
reach there. cannibalism,
evangelical Christians,
You’ve had a good amount of success with your criminals and poets.
translations, which isn’t necessarily typical. Do you have And it’s narrated oral
any takeaways on what works for today’s readers? history-style by a host
JD: I presume you’re speaking of Bolaño, but the readers of some two dozen
who made him a hit aren’t the readers of today – even distinct voices. For
when they’re the same people. Like Alice, we’ve changed all that, it’s compact
several times since then. What readers are looking for now and cohesive, and
will only become most apparent when, or if, we leave this concludes on a note of
moment behind. Jeremy Davies resonance and beauty.
Till then, like most folk in literary publishing, we search,
and work, and try to find books that will stand the test of JD: Farther down the line, in 2021, is Jin Yucheng’s
time, if not detonate immediately. Blossoms, though that title might shift a bit. It’s a
monumental novel of meals and clothes, and the other little
Are there any forthcoming titles in translation that you’d details of daily life both before and following the Cultural
like to highlight? Revolution in China. The director Wong Kar-wai, who is
JR: Marcial Gala’s The Black Cathedral comes out in adapting it for the screen, has called the author the “Proust
January. It’s the first novel by this eminent Cuban writer to of Shanghai”. ■
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FRANKFURT SHOW DAILY THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
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FRANKFURT SHOW DAILY THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
Diversity: what’s
changed?
Two years on from her look at action on
inclusivity in UK publishing, Julie
Vuong delivers a progress report
Here we are: two years on from what felt like a significant
shift in the book trade from talk to action, how has the
industry responded?
Starting with the large corporations. Hachette moved
Aimée Felone; Round Table Books
further towards its goal of being “the publisher and
employer of choice for all people, irrespective of imprint, with a roster of the best young writers of today, a
background” by hiring its first diversity and inclusion range of initiatives, from pop-up shops to international
manager last year, Saskia Bewley. She joined Nick Davies writing prizes, and to ultimately help place reading back at
and Sharmaine Lovegrove, co-chairs of Changing the Story, the heart of British culture.”
the publishing group’s overall diversity scheme. “Hachette HarperCollins, meanwhile, is about to launch Elevate, its
UK’s approach to diversity and inclusion began formally in own BAME network, and continues its traineeship scheme,
May 2016,” she wrote in Publishers Weekly/BookBrunch which is now into its fourth year and was launched with
London Book Fair Show Daily in March. “In little under the support of the Business in the Community race
three years, diversity and inclusion engagement at Hachette campaign and the Publishers Association. Director of
UK has seen incredible growth, and what began as a core people, John Athanasiou, says: “This programme has been
group of 13 colleagues now stands at more than 150. very successful to date in bringing new talent to
“This has been achieved in no small way by our HarperCollins and is a key component of our ongoing
community of Employee Networks – employee-led groups Diversity and Inclusion strategy. Applications for our
sponsored by the company. We currently have eight active recent grad scheme were double what was achieved last
networks and a combined membership of more than 800 time around.”
colleagues. Our largest and most established networks are
our Gender Balance Network, and Thrive (our BAME Individual action
network), which both have more than 200 members. For all the positive action, the stats still make grim reading:
Our most recently formed networks, Ageless and All research by BookTrust this year revealed that only 1.96% of
Together, focus on issues of intergenerational diversity authors and illustrators between 2007 and 2017 were British
and of regionality and socio-economic status respectively,” people of colour, compared to 13% of the population, and
she continued. that people of colour are much more likely to self-publish
Over at Penguin Random House (PRH), a progress than white authors. The answer? For many publishing
report was released in July on its Inclusion Pledge, which entrepreneurs it’s been to take the initiative themselves.
aims to reflect UK society in both staff and authors it Helen Lewis, for example, set up imprint Hashtag BLAK
acquires by 2025. New hires in 2018 by ethnicity were up: alongside Abiola Bello with a promise to publish black
6.9% identified as black and 7.2% Asian; while it reported British writers. “We are not from publishing backgrounds,
a doubling of those with a disability from 8.2% to 16%. we don’t have angel investors, we’re not from rich families,
Furthermore, PRH offered up a new imprint in we are entrepreneurs with a vision for how we want to do
partnership with grime artist Stormzy called #Merky things and we’re grafters,” she says. “We realised that we
Books. “Publishing today does not accurately reflect needed to set up an imprint that followed the traditional
society as a whole,” insist the #Merky Books team, which press model as we didn’t want money to be the obstacle to
released the popular Taking Up Space by Chelsea Kwakye publication. We also realised that we needed to get a grant
and Ore Ogunbiy. “We wanted the imprint to serve three or investment to make that happen, hence we are currently
important functions: to provide opportunities for under- in the process of applying for Arts Council funding, having
represented writers who otherwise might struggle to get a had a very encouraging meeting at their London HQ
foothold in the industry; to encourage and engage with a recently,” she adds.
new generation of readers; and to demystify publishing and Knights Of, publisher of inclusive children’s stories, went
the publishing process,” they say. “We have started small, one step further and opened a pop up shop in Brixton
but we have ambitious goals. We want the imprint to called #ReadTheOnePercent. The name was a response to a
function as literary hub as much as a traditional publishing Continues on page 32 g
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in 2017. Two years on, our online training portal hosts staff, and improves the industry’s image. Even if it does not
more than 100 pieces of content, from multi-module pay immediate dividends in financial terms, it represents an
courses in key publishing disciplines to bite-sized chunks of investment in the long-term ambitions of a business, and
advice, FAQs, directories and glossaries. demonstrates commitment to the care and development of
The big strength of the Skills Hub is its accessibility. Use the people in it.
is free and unlimited to every member of staff at every IPG No one is too experienced or gifted that they can’t learn
member, which means people can log on at a time to suit something new, and money spent on training and
them, and whenever they need a shot of knowledge about a professional development is invariably money well spent.
certain subject. It has proved hugely popular among That is truer than ever at a time of great change – when
members who do not have the time or capabilities to digital technology is transforming publishing workflows
provide structured in-house training, or the resources to and the supply chain, and placing new demands on the
pay for external tutors. people involved in them.
A lot of the Skills Hub content has been provided by This, then, is an ideal moment to reimagine the notion of
independent publishers themselves, which illustrates the training in publishing, to think about ways to deliver it better,
remarkable generosity of the IPG’s community. Some of it and to identify more consistent structures and accreditation
is adapted from sessions at our conferences, which is an for it. Learning platforms like the Skills Hub make online
excellent way to preserve speakers’ expertise, and extend it professional development interactive and effective, and will
to publishers who aren’t able to attend events. have a crucial role to play in this – but of course there
We are keen to extend this spirit of collegiality even remains a very important role for face-to-face courses too.
further. Our friends at the Australian Publishers The balance of digital and physical training continues to
Association already license the Skills Hub so their members shift, and the future configuration of all this provision remains
can enjoy the same access, and we are exploring more to be seen. But for now, the IPG and independent publishers
opportunities to open up content to others. are excited to be part of the training conversation. ■
Ultimately, everyone involved in providing training has
Bridget Shine is chief executive of the IPG. Visit ipg.uk.com for more
the same simple goal of making publishers better at what
about the work of the IPG. To learn more about the IPG Skills Hub, visit
they do. It makes it easier to recruit, retain and motivate ipgskillshub.com.
www.hcibooks.com
www.hcibooks.com
35
FRANKFURT SHOW DAILY THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
QA
strategy when it comes
36
THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019 FRANKFURT SHOW DAILY
is the case now in a number of our markets. Basically, in the Well, people are quite stressed out and are not being able
end, you must be able to have a healthy profitable business, to penetrate all of the hard issues and things that are
and being the market leader helps. We are right now seeing happening in the world. I think what books really do is to
losses, but we now have 20 different languages in our slow down the pace a bit. The book has always played a
catalogue and we see that we can cross over to many very important role in the world, and it is a little disturbing
groups. In Germany, for example, we have good traction to see kids watching so many videoclips and adults
for our Turkish content. And, in the US, you have Latin- jumping between stories on social media daily. What the
Spanish speakers, communities who speak Chinese, Polish, audiobook fundamentally does is to slow you down, and
Italian, Portuguese. There is of course an opportunity to make you focus, and relax. Both print books and
cater for those consumers. audiobooks have this effect, but the audiobook also has
this companionship effect that you get from listening to the
Has being Swedish made a difference for Storytel? narrator, which is important.
I think that being Swedish is a very important factor.
Sweden has had the luxury of not being involved in a What about you? Do you ever slow down?
number of wars that have torn apart many other countries, I do, I read a lot, actually. I have already read I think about
and this has helped people not to have super 30 books this year.
confrontational approaches. I think that type of mindset
ends up being reflected in the long-term, friendly culture Did you read, or listen to those 30 books?
we have developed at Storytel. We don’t go for the final About 70% of them I read on the Storytel Reader, but I
extra little crown in the negotiation. Storytel is never going also listened to some audiobooks. I enjoy that a lot. It gives
to be the kind of service that explodes overnight. It is a me time to reflect on Storytel’s development, and on how
slow-pace, step-by-step building up of the market, and both we can put the different pieces in place to be strong five
the Swedish and the Storytel cultures reflect this mentality. years from now. ■
Carlo Carrenho is the founder of PublishNews in Brazil and Spain, and
You once said that “stories help to make the world better”… works in business development at Word Audio Publishing International
Tell me how. in Sweden.
export platform
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37
THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2019
Accessible content
A picture may be worth 1,000
words,but there’s only room for 50,
writes Mark McCallum
The requirement to make content accessible has grown from a
low murmur to a loud roar over the past three years. The
Marrakesh Treaty, now ratified by 31 countries, came into
force on 30 September 2016, and the EU required all member
states to implement legislation supporting the Treaty by 11
October 2018. This regulation adds to the existing US Section
508 and No Child Left Behind Act. To this legislative drive
can be added the commercial imperative of US higher ed
course adoption requirements, of the near ubiquity of assistive
technology and a greater cultural awareness of the cost of
exclusion (summed up by Tim Cook’s statement: “Accessibility
rights are human rights”), and where recently making content
accessible was tactical – an addressing of immediate needs
NEXT YEAR WE’RE visually impaired (Pew Research Center); in the UK the number
is more than 2 million (NHS). Also, in the US, 1 in 10 people
38
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Library access
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The World of
which the Royal
National Institute for
the Blind has threatened
Publishing
legal action, citing the
Equality Act of 2010.
In many of these cases
Within Reach
– where educational
institutes were the focus
– resolutions were
implemented without
judicial proceedings. As
FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR in the US, these particular
Mark McCallum legal cases provide a
ATTENDEES good indicator of the kind of content and circumstances where
RECEIVE COMPLIMENTARY publishers can anticipate the demand for remediated content.
Publishers will want to take a proactive approach, wherever
PRINT + DIGITAL possible, rather than having to produce a rushed remediated
title to meet an immediate and urgent market demand.
SUBSCRIPTION The development of a frontlist strategy is challenging, but
the possibility of smooth efficiency, delivering new titles in
Your complimentary 6-month all and any format required compels focus. The scale of a
publisher’s inventory, however, makes backlist remediation
subscription includes: seem Sisyphean unless tackled on demand. However, this
approach ignores the risk of a major channel or retailer
26 print copies and digital demanding all ePubs be available in accessible formats. That
editions of PW—desktop and challenge, if currently unlikely, forces publishers to understand
app-friendly the scale and complexity of remediating their backlists, and
the tools and workflows they need to deploy to assist them.
Whether publishers are trying to establish efficient, accessible
Special supplements and issues
frontlist workflows or scaled, commercially-viable backlist
remediation processes they are confronted by the same
Global rights and licensing deals challenges: a commercial imperative for automation and the
demand for skilled alt text writers. Is it semantically generated at
4,500 prepublication book all, or syntactically produced through automation (an effective
reviews, 175 in every issue path to producing alt text for maths equations)? And where
do you introduce it into the workflow? Whatever the origin,
Industry developments, news and alt text needs to be consistent and should be validated against
the publisher’s established standard (consult WCAG 2.1).
trends
The day may not be far off when all content produced is
accessible. As always, assisted technologies and innovative
Premium subscriber-only content production technologies are bringing improved solutions into
access at PublishersWeekly.com play all the time. Possibly the biggest challenge is for concise
and clever alt text. Some might say a meaningful description
PLUS: bonus access to the of an image of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, in less than
one thousand words, is just as much a work of art.
147-year-old PW Archive —all ■
PublishersWeekly.com/FBF19
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done Active product road map where new features abe being added all the time
TPYB 2019
2005-2019 sales £m
8
the UK market
7.34
6.98
7 6.87
5.84
6
5.12
Stephen Mesquita asks if it’s back to 5
£m sales
4.46
2005-2019 sales £m
55 53.17 reflect the trend over the past three years away from
51.66 international holidays and towards the UK. The weak
50.42
50 pound has made travelling outside the UK more expensive
47.57
– and the economic uncertainty caused by Brexit may well
45
43.09
have led to fewer Brits holidaying abroad.
£m sales
42
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