Updates from London and Brazil
Monday, May 21, 2012
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by Marilyn Gordon, Director of Rights and Contracts, Baker Publishing Group
London
Book Fair, April 2012
It was another exciting year at the London
Book Fair. More than 1,500 companies exhibited and 24,500 publishing professionals
attended LBF. Although our ECPA Christian Collective was smaller than
previous years, we were certainly very busy. Rights staff from
participating publishers had solid back-to-back meetings throughoutMonday
and Tuesday, but Wednesday was a slower day. In addition to meetings with
European publishers, we met with publishers from Brazil, China, Korea, India,
Russia, and Turkey. The ECPA Collective became the gathering spot for
many within our industry.
The digital presence at London Book
Fair expanded again this year with two theaters plus an area dedicated to app
development. Concurrent, back-to-back, digital presentations were held
throughout all three days.According to Bowker’s research, the US,
Australia, India, and the UK are leading the world in eBook adoption. The
market share of eBooks in the USA is about 20% while the UK is 5%
(Bowker). Barnes and Noble launched their UK Nook, which will be
carried by Waterstone Bookstores.
Brazil, May 2012 Christianity
is growing in Brazil as is the economic status of Christians. Brazil has sprung out of the global
recession, and this increae in economic status has affected Christians. For the first time, many Christians are
able to purchase books. This
combined economic boom and rise in Christianity will continue to benefit
Christian publishing houses over the next decade.
ASEC Book Fair: The Associação
de Editores Cristãos (ASEC), the Christian publishers association in Brazil,
hosted its first book fair in May. The book fair provided professional
meetings for publishers and retailers and an opportunity for international
publishers to meet with Brazilian publishers to license translation rights.
Later in May, another group of US publishers visited Brazil to promote
and license titles. These two licensing opportunities enabled US publishers to
meet with most of the major Brazilian publishers, and to make some new contacts
as well.
ECPA members are eligible to participate in the ECPA Christian Collectives at the London Book Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair each year. Contact Lisa Hale for more information.
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