The Frankfurter Buchmesse flags are out this week at Messe Frankfurt in the trade show’s 76th edition. Image: FBM, Holger Menzel
By Richard Charkin | @RCharkin
‘A Good Question’
Whenever I pack to set off for Frankfurt Book Fair, my wife says, “Why?”
It’s a good question.
Richard Charkin
My first fair was in 1972. I can’t remember why I went, what I hoped to achieve, or how I persuaded my bosses to pick up the tab. But from then on, I was hooked. Despite the traditionally ghastly Hessischer architecture as seen from my hotel window.
It’s hard to explain to my wife or indeed to my kids and grandkids why this addiction. Perhaps it’s simply the human desire to gather with like-minded colleagues and friends in a safe space to discuss things we all find interesting but are of little consequence elsewhere.
Perhaps my schedule might throw some light on this conundrum.
Monday: Arrive late afternoon, dinner with two Germans, one American, three Croatian publishers. Will I see My Back Pages in Croation? I doubt it, but hope is a joyous emotion.
As seen from Richard Charkin’s hotel window, an example of the Frankfurt architecture he dislikes. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Richard Charkin
Tuesday: Up at the crack of dawn to walk to the Frankfurter Hof for the international advisory board of the fair along with three Germans, two Britons, one American, one Swede, one Spaniard, one Italian, one bookseller and one literary agent.
The meeting is confidential but I learned—I should have known—that apparently the key to commercial success in fiction publishing is to stain the edges of the paper. Well I never.
I was also surprised to hear from one member that the digital revolution has not impacted significantly on publishing. Tell that to the STM conference which was my next port of call. I have a suspicion that the ardent supporters of open access are beginning to tie themselves in knots but more of that next month.
Dinner with one of my authors, Jordi Nadal, owner and publisher of Plataforma Editorial; more importantly one of my very great friends.
Wednesday: Crazy day. It opens up by moderating a session on innovation and how private equity investors view publishing start-ups. The start-up in question is shimmr.ai, automated and economical advertising for books, particularly backlist titles. I’m a lousy moderator because I’m tempted to express my opinions—neutrality isn’t one of my strengths.
I listened to a discussion about the future of Simon & Schuster with Jonathan Karp and KKR’s Richard Sarnoff. Great to hear that S&S is in such good hands but I’m still puzzled as to why they have invested in Dutch-language publishing. It would seem there are other priorities but they must know something I don’t.
Later in the day, five parallel drinks parties and then to the traditional book fair dinner at Villa Merton hosted by Juergen and Stefanie Boos and including any number of distinguished guests who all stood up to toast and salute Juergen’s 20-year leadership of the Fair. Long may he continue in that role as I know of no other person with his resilience and charm.
Thursday: I overslept and failed to turn up to the famous annual breakfast hosted by Stefan von Holtzbrinck, but I managed to find some words from that event.
“Without the encouragement and support of friends, or even just an open dialogue, efforts for hope become all the more difficult, because then your hope is left without resonance. It becomes flat, it loses volume.”
This is so true everywhere in the world.
Our 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair Magazine, currently being read at Frankfurter Buchmesse by trade visitors, now is available in a digital edition here.
Download your copy here.
You’ll read our input from PEN International president emerita Jennifer Clement on censorship ahead of the IPA’s International Publishers Congress; an exit interview with the outgoing IPA president Karine Pansa of Brazil; an interview with Scholastic chief Peter Warwick; perspectives on audio in Italy from Mondadori’s Miriam Spinnato; and more.
Join us monthly for Richard Charkin’s latest column. More coverage of his work from Publishing Perspectives is here. Richard Charkin’s opinions are his own, of course, and not necessarily reflective of those of Publishing Perspectives.
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