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Sceptics may say that the benefit of participating in international book fairs is hard to quantify, but according to the New Zealand publishing sector, it can be very valuable.
“Being Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair [in 2012] was a big success for us”, Paul Bateman, m.d. at David Bateman (DB), told The Bookseller. The Auckland-based company produces a wide range of non-fiction for New Zealand and international markets, focusing on crafts, gardening, natural history, the outdoors, the Pacific, art and history. “There is no doubt at all that the interest we received from German-language publishers was substantially increased in 2012, and this has directly resulted in extra sales to new customers,” said Bateman.
He is not alone: according to the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ), book rights sales were 10 times higher than normal after the nation took centre stage at FBF. In the run-up to the 2012 fair, German translation rights for 83 New Zealand books were sold, among them classics by Keri Hulme and Katherine Mansfield, as well as works by contemporary novelists such as Lloyd Jones. By the end of 2013, there had been a further 33 German rights sales.
This compares to around 10 books sold to Germany per year in the two decades before 2012. The fair was also directly responsible for 85 sales into other territories.
Kevin Chapman, PANZ president in 2012, reported that most publishers travelling to Germany profited, while rights sold across the board—from fiction, Maori culture, children’s and tourist guide titles to large, coffee-table products. DB has attended Frankfurt for more than 25 years, but the exposure helped it to close more deals and forge established links with publishers such as BLV, Bruckmann, Eugen Ulmer and Gerstenberg Verlag.
To create the business-friendly platform, 82 authors were flown in—including Eleanor Catton, children’s star Joy Cowley and Maori writer Witi Ihimaera—and 100 New Zealand artists and performers entertained audiences at the 2012 fair and at other events (pictured).
Two years on, Chapman told the The Bookseller the results “exceeded our wildest dreams”. After 2012, “the interest in New Zealand dropped a bit, but it is still way higher than it used to be.”
In 2013, 20 New Zealand publishers attended the German fair; it is estimated that around 200 rights deals have been struck with the German market alone by September 2014. Sam Elworthy, current PANZ president, commented: “Publishers saw the opportunity and put in the ground work . . . 2013 was about building on last year’s new relationships and continuing to strengthen our presence in the international market.”
The New Zealand government spent around NZD6m (£2.87m) on the Guest of Honour scheme, paid by the country’s ministry for culture and heritage; arts development agency Creative New Zealand; the country’s lotteries; and sponsorship from the publishing industry. “For us, Frankfurt was not exclusively about publishing, but also trade and tourism,” explained Chapman.
As such, chefs presented food, wineries promoted their products and PANZ organised a “The Hobbit” costume competition, referencing New Zealand’s movie industry. The country’s minister for arts, culture and heritage, Christopher Finlayson, commented: “Being Guest of Honour connected the world’s best publishers, as well as gaming and film producers, with our cultural creators. The response we’ve had since the fair has been significant.”
It has been so significant, in fact, that New Zealand now seems to be a model for other nations. “Quite a few countries, and large ones, too”, have contacted Chapman for advice, among them Indonesia, FBF’s Guest of Honour in 2015. Inquirers should first “define what you want to achieve with this role and whether you can master that with the money you are able to raise . . . As a presenting nation you need to decide early on if you want to focus on literature alone or if you want to present a platform for a whole culture to stand on”.
PANZ has struck a deal with the Taiwan International Book Exhibition for New Zealand to be its Guest of Honour in 2015. At FBF 2014, nearly 20 NZ publishers will be represented—either on the PANZ stand or exhibiting on their own—a far higher number than before its Guest of Honour role.