The Beijing International Book Fair has been a productive trip. I did not have any expectations before arriving other than what come with working a book fair - long hours, lots of 'book' friendlies to catch up with, the foibles of my linguistic limitations and great dinners balanced by the dreck ingested from any convention hall food.
The fair matches the dichotomy of the city with Mercedes and BMWs competing for space on the roads with scores of pedestrians and motor bikes that have less horse power than a lawn mower and are used to haul everthing from full sized couches to entire families.
The fair has been bustling with dense aisles. It is interesting that business has a rhythm like LBF or Frankfurt with 30 minute meetings but the are lots of walk up activity with attendees drawn in by the booths or books. I do wonder who the attendees are as a whole - this portion of the fair is trade only, but it does not seem like there are booksellers.
All in all it has been impressive - and not just because I was able to get a Brooklyn lager, although that was a treat. I look forward to coming back with a year's experience and the start of some good relationships to build on.
Sincerely,
------------------------
Steven Rosato
Event Director-BookExpo America
srosato@reedexpo.com
Sent from my BlackBerry
The official source for BookExpo announcements and news delivered by BEA Show Director Steve Rosato.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Dispatch from Beijing International Book Fair
I attended the Beijing International Publishing Forum today. One theme rang through several of the presentations - globilization. That was the clear tone from Yan Junqi, Vice Chairwoman, Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and Chairwoman (that is only half her title) and Liu Bijie, Minister of GAPP. Both shared high points in the progress of Chinese publishing along with global realities that make it clear that there is huge opportunity for willing partners.
They detailed how China is ready to embrace international publishers and support them with changes in Chinese policy that would facilitate access to the Chinese market.
Mr. Bijie went through an 8 point plan on how the future of China's publishing industry will support international access: 1. Enhance Policy Support for int'l publishing cooperation. 2. Promote China's int'l publishing cooperation. 3. Build platforms for int'l cooperation. 4. Let enterprises play their role and support copyright cooperation. 5. Assist and support project cooperation. 6. Boost capital cooperation. 7. Open distribution channels and 8. Build a talent training program.
That was the tone of what is being served leading up to the fair opening tomorrow. Smarter people than me will take what is being offered and assess what that means for publishers around the globe.
Sincerely,
------------------------
Steven Rosato
Event Director-BookExpo America
srosato@reedexpo.com
Sent from my BlackBerry
They detailed how China is ready to embrace international publishers and support them with changes in Chinese policy that would facilitate access to the Chinese market.
Mr. Bijie went through an 8 point plan on how the future of China's publishing industry will support international access: 1. Enhance Policy Support for int'l publishing cooperation. 2. Promote China's int'l publishing cooperation. 3. Build platforms for int'l cooperation. 4. Let enterprises play their role and support copyright cooperation. 5. Assist and support project cooperation. 6. Boost capital cooperation. 7. Open distribution channels and 8. Build a talent training program.
That was the tone of what is being served leading up to the fair opening tomorrow. Smarter people than me will take what is being offered and assess what that means for publishers around the globe.
Sincerely,
------------------------
Steven Rosato
Event Director-BookExpo America
srosato@reedexpo.com
Sent from my BlackBerry
Friday, August 27, 2010
Book Fairs abounding
I am pecking out this blog post waiting to board my flight to the Beijing International Book Fair - which I will follow with a direct flight to Moscow for the Moscow Book Fair. I have never been to either city nor their respective fairs. I have not had the time to get excited with this summer being so busy. Aside from missing home (with the best weather all year), my boys starting school and my wife - I am eager to see both fairs and cities.
There will be a lot of BEA news coming in the early fall as we redesign BEA's web navigation, BEA will be hosting a series of webinars with the BISG, the author submission process will move on-line, we will be reformatting the BEA show directory for 2011 and re-doing the event program. One of our primary goals for 2011 will be to make information for exhibitors and attendees easy to 'pull' and stop 'pushing' as I know BEA is guilty of over communicating due to the volume of content and info there is related to share about BEA every year.
I hope your summer ends well as mine will be spent flying around the world, missing home but excited for what there is to be learned from both events I will be attending.
Sincerely,
------------------------
Steven Rosato
Event Director-BookExpo America
srosato@reedexpo.com
Sent from my BlackBerry
There will be a lot of BEA news coming in the early fall as we redesign BEA's web navigation, BEA will be hosting a series of webinars with the BISG, the author submission process will move on-line, we will be reformatting the BEA show directory for 2011 and re-doing the event program. One of our primary goals for 2011 will be to make information for exhibitors and attendees easy to 'pull' and stop 'pushing' as I know BEA is guilty of over communicating due to the volume of content and info there is related to share about BEA every year.
I hope your summer ends well as mine will be spent flying around the world, missing home but excited for what there is to be learned from both events I will be attending.
Sincerely,
------------------------
Steven Rosato
Event Director-BookExpo America
srosato@reedexpo.com
Sent from my BlackBerry