Author Archives: Elisabeth Watson

Hong Kong: Launchpad for the Future of Asian Publishing

Mainland China’s book business may be receiving most of the international limelight lately, but Hong Kong’s industry is also worthy of notice, even if its growth hasn’t been as dramatic. Though the British hand-over of Hong Kong took place in 1997, Hong Kong will maintain its established legal and governmental system until 2047. So, while…Continue Reading

The Seoul International Book Fair’s Quest for a Global Audience

Like many small book fairs around the world (see our recent articles on the Buenos Aires and Jerusalem Book Fairs for a few examples), the Seoul International Book Fair (SIBF), a once domestic and consumer-directed event, is looking to professionalize and internationalize its image. In the past 5 years, major funding and programming from the…Continue Reading

From the Ground Up: Inventing Mexican Publishing in 2013

While many BEA 2013 Conference sessions dealt with the familiar subject of how an established industry adapts to change, the recurrent issues in BEA 2013’s Global Market Forum on Mexico were a bit different. Unlike some industries that are “reinventing” themselves, Mexican publishing is a small trade community attempting to build a large and globally competitive…Continue Reading

All Dressed Up with No Place to Go: The Renaissance of Argentinian Publishers VS. Global Isolationism

From April 25 to May 19, the Buenos Aires Book Fair will be welcoming readers and Spanish-language publishing professionals around the world, seeking, says the Fair’s Executive Director, Gabriela Adamo, “to reassure Argentina’s place as a leading country in the Spanish book industry.” Like every other part of the Spanish-language book industry, Argentina is feeling…Continue Reading

Little Engines That Could: Children’s Publishers in Europe’s Smaller Markets

In anticipation of the Bologna International Book Fair, there’s no shortage of buzz about the fast-emerging kids’ markets in Asia, Latin America, and the Arab world, along with curiosity about how the traditional powerhouses of France, Spain, and Germany are faring. Falling somewhere in between, the smaller European territories are feeling the benefit of Asian…Continue Reading

The Jerusalem Book Fair’s Midlife Crisis: Taking Stock at 50

In the fiftieth year since its founding, the 26th biannual Jerusalem International Book Fair (JIBF) hosted 5 days of exhibits, panels, and literary events from February 10-February 15, 2013. More than 400 publishers from 30 countries exhibited, and the visitor head-count for the week exceeded 45,000. Amid jubilee celebration, though, a growing contingent of long-time participants…Continue Reading

New Tools, Old Trade: Digital Publishing at the 2013 College Art Association Trade Show

The College Art Association’s 101st Annual Conference (held this year in New York, from February 13-16 at the New York Hilton) is primarily a spot for grad students seeking for jobs in the academic art world; professional symposia; and panels on such popular topics as “Eschatology in Art Historiography.” Tucked amongst all this heavy-hitting scholarship,…Continue Reading

The Cairo Book Fair 2013: Traditional Business in a Revolutionary World

The 44th Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF), scheduled to run January 23-February 5, 2013, is the second held since the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, but the first since the election of President Mohamed Morsi and his cabinet. More specifically, the Fair’s coincidence with the January 25th anniversary of the Revolution inevitably ties it to questions about…Continue Reading

Sales Across Borders: International Ebook Sales at DBW 2013

The Digital Book World 2013 panels, “Sales Across Borders: Export” and “Sales Across Borders: Import” (back to back on Wednesday afternoon) were both concerned with the question of what new digital systems best allow books to travel across international boundaries—though their approaches were hardly two sides of one coin. On the Export panel, there was…Continue Reading

Small Language Publishing in 2012

As we took stock of 2012’s publishing milestones and discussed what 2013 held in store, we thought it would be an ideal time to get a global view of what the year was like for publishing in “smaller” languages—for our purposes here, those languages spoken by fewer than 100 million native speakers worldwide. Publishing Trends…Continue Reading