For publishing players looking to know more about entry points into some of Europe’s book markets, Aldus’ new brochure may be useful.
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Cooperative Apples and Oranges
While the Aldus network of European book fairs writes its name in all caps, ALDUS, that name, it turns out, is not an acronym. The network is named for the 15th-century Venetian publisher and humanist Aldus Pius Manutius (Aldo Manuzio).
And while Aldus’ newly released European Book Fairs: Facts and Figures (PDF) document is certainly useful, it’s limited to the scope of the network’s membership—and by an opportunity curiously missed to create a comparative sorting of its information.
Aldus identifies two primary types of book fairs within its scope: B2B (business to business) international book fairs—Frankfurt Book Fair and Bologna Children’s Book Fair—and national book fairs (comparatively public-facing events) in Rome, Vilnius, Riga, Lisbon, and Bucharest. In addition the network has relationships with London Book Fair (another in the international business-facing class) plus Antwerp, Sofia, Thessaloniki, and Vienna.
Some of these events aren’t easily compared to their counterparts. Nevertheless, there’s value here, well worth a few minutes of time for publishing players looking to know more about entry points into Europe’s book markets.
For industry players, one of the most useful aspects of the brochure in PDF form is the ability to simply search for the term “B2B area” and flash through each fair’s “yes” or “no” answer to whether it has a rights-trading center. Check the responses carefully, too. One fair, for example, reports “All common event spaces, at least four of them each year, are used, when necessary, for B2B gatherings but are not meant exclusively for that.” Translated: No, no rights center but we’re business-friendly.
Those fairs that report they do have dedicated B2B areas are:
- Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Frankfurt Book Fair
- Riga Book Fair
- Rome Book Fair
- Thessaloniki Book Fair
- Vilnius Book Fair
Comparing Attendance Numbers
Other factors, of course, are interesting, too. For example, visitor numbers run from the mighty 277,ooo of Frankfurt—of whom 142,300 are trade visitors—to Riga’s 16,800—800 said to be trade visitors.
It’s interesting to note that London Book Fair reports 25,000 trade visitors. Bologna reports 26,000.
Some of the public-facing fairs have impressive numbers indeed:
- Sunny Lisbon reports drawing more than 480,000 visitors to its 22,000 square-meter sprawl in May, making it the overall visitor-number heavyweight.
- Antwerp shows more than 150,000 attendees plus a 5,000-person cohort of “professionals during a B2B evening.”
- Bucharest’s Bookfest reports 100,000 visitors.
Comparing Exhibitor Numbers
Exhibitor numbers—and ratios of exhibitors to attendees—are fascinating here for their range, as well.
Antwerp’s 150,000 or more visitors are met by just 100 exhibitors, while Bologna’s 26,000 visitors are greeted by 1,200 exhibitors (1,080 of them international).
Bucharest’s Bookfest—like Sofia’s event at the city’s beautiful Palace of Culture—presents some 200 exhibitors, while Frankfurt fielded 7,103 this year at Buch Messe.
Those huge crowds in Lisbon are seeing something more than 125 exhibitors. London reports 1,500 exhibitors; Riga 80, with 10 internationally positioned companies in the mix.
Thessaloniki, while reporting 12,000 visitors, has 488 exhibitors, of which 75 are international. Vilnius’ 350 exhibitors comprise a high proportion of international firms: 200. By contrast, Vienna, with almost the same total number of exhibitors, 330, reports that just 40 of them are international.
The ‘Evolving Landscape’
Clearly, the book fair network encompassed by the Aldus service organization is, as the brochure’s discussion calls it, an “evolving landscape.” What appears to be underway is a gradual ramping up of business elements to what may have begun as festival-style public-facing events.
You see this, of course, in the answers of the surveyed fairs to a question of whether they have a “professional program of meetings and conferences”: only three fairs report no such events
And at the major sites including London and Frankfurt, whole days are devoted to such content—London staged five paid-for conferences last year in addition to its Insights program of targeted seminars that runs throughout the fair, while a professional attendee at Frankfurt typically works to juggle such events with time on the display floors throughout the entire week. The Business Club at Frankfurt, alone, carries a busy schedule of high-level programming throughout the three trade days of the fair, as well as on the day prior to the show’s official opening.
There’s more: Read the full story at Publishing Perspectives
By Porter Anderson
Follow @Porter_Anderson
Originally published at www.PublishingPerspectives.com
Are you joining us at DBW Indie Author? (Save with code PORTERDBW17)
To subscribe to The Hot Sheet—the essential industry newsletter for authors from Jane Friedman and Porter Anderson—click here and enjoy our 30-day free trial.
