Trending Topics at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012

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The Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest book and media fair in the world – with around 7,300 exhibitors from over 100 countries. It also organizes the participation of German publishers at around 20 international book fairs. It maintains the most visited website worldwide for the publishing industry at and its directory of decision-makers in the book and media industries features around 30,000 contacts. The Frankfurt Book Fair is a subsidiary of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association.

The leading international trade fair for books, media and digital content reveals an industry that is redefining itself in the midst of the most comprehensive paradigm shift since the introduction of the printing press. “New players are joining our industry every day and completely new relationships, product ideas and business models are emerging. We might very well refer to this development as the publishing industry’s ‘Big Bang’ moment”, said Juergen Boos, Director of the Frankfurt Book Fair, at the Opening Press Conference on 9 October 2012. “This year we’ve analysed where the change is most apparent. We’ve attempted to identify patterns and, in so doing, developed a ‘Roadmap to Publishing Trends’ that shows where new business models are starting to appear, what new cultural patterns are emerging, and what skills will be important in the future”, added Juergen Boos. This “roadmap” is available online starting today at /blog – and is meant to encourage discussion. “The changes are most apparent in the field of children’s and YA media”, said Boos. That’s why there was a special focus on this topic at this year’s Book Fair, with around 1,500 exhibitors and 340 events.

The latest trends were examined from all angles in the Frankfurt Academy’s conference and professional programme. Here’s an overview of these trending topics:

Trending topic 1: Innovation & Technology – New formats for digital content

International thought leaders, trend scouts and enterprising startup founders gathered for the fourth year in a row in the run-up to the frankfurt book fair at Tools of Change for Publishing – TOC Frankfurt (Tuesday, 9 October 2012, Frankfurt Marriott Hotel). “From Transition to Transformation - The New Publishing Ecosystem” is the motto of this conference focused on innovation. Around 90 speakers discussed piracy, apps and models for monetising content at TOC. Trendsetters from the startup scene also had a chance to speak in the programme’s “Innovators Track”.

While sales of e-readers in Western Europe increased by 93 percent in 2012 according to GfK, sales of tablets have experienced even more dynamic growth and are up by 142 percent. Amazon’s European launch of the Kindle Fire in October 2012 should spur this trend. This development will increase the demand for multimedia and interactive publishing content. With EPUB3 and HTML5, two standards have been introduced that enable publishers and authors to cost-effectively enrich their e-books with images, videos and music. Around 30 trade events at the Frankfurt Book Fair are dedicated to these two technologies, including the three-hour workshop “HTML5 & EPUB 3 for advanced learners: The next level for e-books”, part of the Frankfurt Academy’s professional programme (11 October, 2.30 – 5.30 p.m., Hall 4.0, Room Entente).

Trending topic 2: Licensing business is increasing in digital & crossmedia

From printed books to interactive apps – the Frankfurt Book Fair is the most relevant trading centre for the international licensing business. The Literary Agents & Scouts Centre LitAg (Hall 6.0) has grown by 4.4 percent in 2012 – 311 agents have reserved 445 tables. One of the focuses of this year’s International Rights Directors Meeting (9 October, 2.00 – 5.00 p.m.) was the huge rights market that is China – with all its opportunities and risks. Many smaller rights markets also were highlighted – with respect to digital rights as well.

From Star Wars to “The Little Prince”: Licensing characters and designs can be a lucrative source of revenue for publishers if it’s done the right way. On the Friday of the Book Fair, the Licensing Day offered all those with an interest in this topic a comprehensive programme of events. It kicked off with the panel “Crossmedia Brand Building: Star Wars” at the StoryDrive Conference. Carol Roeder, Director of Global Publishing for Lucasfilm, discussed the most successful entertainment franchise of all time. In the three-hour intensive programme “Publishing meets merchandising” (12 October, 2.30 – 5.30 p.m., Hall 4.0, Room Entente), experts from both worlds explained the essentials of the merchandising business, how to successfully build books into brand worlds and how to turn brands into books.

Trending topic 3: New Business Models

Why is 360° storytelling so successful? How can you finance sensational crossmedia projects? And how do decision makers from the fields of games, film and media envision the future of their industries? Frankfurt StoryDrive is just the place to be for anyone who wants to stay ahead of the curve in the changing media landscape. The international media and entertainment worlds gathered for the third time in Frankfurt – celebrity guests included Hollywood director Stephen Daldry (“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”) and special effects designer Sir Richard Taylor (“Avatar”, “The Adventures of Tintin”, “The Hobbit”).

Cloud based business models, social DRM, paid content models, digital licensing – these and many other topics were discussed at the Sparks Stages in halls 4.2 und 8.0. Over 60 panel discussions took part during the Fair, speakers included Will Atkinson, director, Sales & Marketing, Faber and Faber, Jamie Byng, Publisher of Canongate, Otis Chandler, CEO Goodreads and many more.

Trending topic 4: Markets & Trends

Those who want to successfully position their company in the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China found comprehensive information about these countries in Frankfurt. Attendees of the Business Lunch India (12 October, 12.45 – 2.00 p.m., Hall 4.C, Room Entente) had the opportunity to meet Indian publishers and expand their networks. The matchmaking session “Meet Indian STM Publishers” is organised specifically for STM publishers (12 October, 2.00 – 4.00 p.m., Hall 4.C, Room Concorde, registration required: ). One year before Brazil’s appearance as Guest of Honour of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2013, the Camara Brasileira do Livro presented key figures from the Brazilian book market (11 October, 2.00 – 3.00 p.m., Hall 5.1 E953). Additional events are listed in the Frankfurt Book Fair’s Calendar of Events.

At the CEO Panel (Wednesday, 10 October 2012, 2.30 to 4.00 p.m., Hall 4.2, Room Dimension), decision makers pointed out some of the radical changes facing global markets. Speakers included Santiago de la Mora, Director, Print Content Partnerships, EMEA, Google; Jamie Iannone, President, Barnes & Noble Digital Products; Elodie Perthuisot, Director of Books, Fnac; Michael Serbinis, CEO, Kobo; and V. Valliappan, Category Head-Books, Indiaplaza. This event was presented by Livres Hebdo, along with The Bookseller, buchreport, PublishNews Brazil and Publishers Weekly, on the basis of the Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry 2012 and in cooperation with the Frankfurt Book Fair.