Today's Meal - PublishersLunch

Sun Shines On Frankfurt

One advantage of holding the Frankfurt Book Fair a little earlier than usual is the uncharacteristically lovely weather, with a forecast for sunny, pleasant days all week (a welcome contrast for visiting New Yorkers at the least).

If not for the headline-making European security warnings (and countless advisories from spouses at home), you would have no idea of any reason for concern. Security was mellow enough at the airport that the customs agent didn't even ask why I was here and simply stamped my passport.

A modest squad of police protected the front of the fair yesterday while Chancellor Angela Merkel was here for the opening (isn't it nice that a book fair merits the presence of the head of state) and a large brigade of polizei parked their motorcycles outside a hotel and chain-smoked for the sake of protecting guest honor of Argentina's president.

Security was lax enough within Hall 8 that a thief slipped the chain from Fotolibra's mini-fridge and took all their beer and wine. (The suspect is not fond of salami or Diet Coke, and the gracious Frankfurt Book Fair officials replaced the company's beverage stash. The thief may have confused Fotolibra's new offer--which is to license photos for publication for free, with micro-royalties due later based on sales. For any other on-the-spot Frankfurt problems, needs or even basic question, the "Mayor" of the Frankfurt Book Fair Thomas Minkus has offered his mobile number: +49 160 9916 7020)

For fair news you could look to the growing stack of printed fair dailies--at least three in English and two in German--though the relationship between news and printed news dailies may be inverse rather than direct. The closet thing to a real headline is, Google Editions Did Not Launch Today. We've already covered the pre-fair deals (and deal analysis), and reports continue to roll in at their usual pace though the biggest announcement in the past day was the US-focused Patrick Kennedy memoir. The "biggest" news on Wednesday was from Australian publisher Millennium House, which displayed the "world's largest book," a booth-sized six-foot by nine-foot atlas they say is the "most intricate of our time" (and most expensive, at $100,000, in a press run of 31 copies). Publisher Gordon Cheers told AFP that "just to turn a page takes all his strength and the book took people three hours to get into position" in the booth.

The fair-before-the-fair in the bar of the Frankfurter Hof hotel was considered busier than usual on Tuesday by certain veterans, with agents and sellers camped out in every bit of available space, including the hallways (and our deal reports include a major deal for German rights to Karin Slaughter's latest struck at one of those hotel tables.)

A Frankfurt hallmark is that some things never change (from booth locations to standing spots on the party schedule, etc.), but change is certainly in the air this year and on the floor. Booths of the biggest publishers sport elevated video screens (Penguin wins, with nine-panel jumbotrons for both Penguin and Pearson, with HarperCollins' six-panel display in second) and iPads have clearly won over the publishing crowd, seen driving meeting displays and note-taking all over. The fair introduced formal on-the-floor discussion stages and an ereading device display and cluster in Hall 8. And since many of the events and conferences are digitally focused, so is much of the coverage, even though the ebook market has yet to become real in most of the world.

One well-attended on-the-floor discussion panel featured Google's Tom Turvey querying four executives on the digital transition. "There's been a sea change in the past few months," HarperCollins ceo Brian Murray said, now that for new bestsellers, "in some cases, on some books, the ebooks are outselling the hardcovers." On digital royalty rates, Murray said "25 percent is fair and appropriate right now" and he doesn't "see anything on the horizon that makes me think that's going to change."

Bloomsbury executive Evan Schnittman added, "the real royalty rates are much higher" once you factor in unearned advances. "What needs to be addressed is the entire cash-flow process, which is very different in digital than it is in print." He added, "I don't think anyone wants to have that conversation." Perseus executive Rick Joyce quipped that "fighting over points is the hallmark of a non-growth business" and suggested that focusing on growth was the best solution.

Turvey tried to explore the territorial rights issues raised by ebooks, but there were few takers. Schnittman said that "language rights globally will be the dominant model" over time. Were where the agents during these remarks? Two halls away in the bigger-than-ever rights center making deals.

Marcus Aligns with Open Road; Twilight Illustrated Guide for April, 2011; and More

Former president of Scholastic's children's book publishing and consultant Barbara Marcus has been working with Open Road as an adviser for children's publishing and is in Frankfurt with the Open Road team. She "will help spearhead" their entrance into the children's market as well as advise on international business development and general strategic issues. Her first acquisition is ebook editions of The Boxcar Children, the classic series that comprises 123 titles. The first 19 will be available for this Christmas; the balance of the line will come to market during 2011.

Marcus says in the announcement, "I believe that Open Road will establish an important presence in children's digital books and I am excited to be part of that effort. E-reading devices will become part of children's backpacks and classrooms and as a result ebooks sales of children's books will flourish."

Little, Brown Children's announced the release date for Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, landing April 12, 2011. The full-color encyclopedic reference to the Twilight Saga will be priced at $24.99.

Random House UK imprint Arrow Books is partnering with Hammer Films for a new imprint that will release six titles a year starting in Spring 2011. Titles will include novelizations of new front list film releases, novelizations of backlist classics, and original novellas written by established authors. Jeannette Winterson is writing the first of these novellas for a scheduled Summer 2011 release.

The UK's Profile Books is launching a new literary fiction imprint, The Clerkenwell Press, which will be headed up by editor Geoff Mulligan and publish 4 to 6 titles a year starting in fall 2011.

Walker Books will expand into India with a new imprint, saying it believes that the subcontinent is "an increasingly vital market" for English language children's fiction.