Friday, October 28, 2016

Frankfurt Buchmesse: a very short guide

Huge hall after huge hall, packed with thousands upon thousands of people, shoulder to shoulder, a mess of bodies pushing and squeezing, trying to find something for sale, something for some sort of satisfying satiation. Some people in costume, playing out pittances of their favorite characters. Some people in suits. Others in sweats. Some seemingly on their way to fancy soirees, others like they’re off to work out. Such a conglomeration one might normally find in a mall in the US on Black Friday, but I found this in Frankfurt at the annual buchmesse--the largest book festival in the world--a gigantic hub for publishers, distributers, agents, and with a small touch of afterthought, writers. There were about three halls for German books, two for English language literature, two more for international works, one for children, one for education, one for religion. Pretty much any category you can imagine had its own massive trade hall. It’s hands down the largest affair of bound paper you can ever consider existing.

In one of the German halls
It's also quite appropriate that the world’s largest book fair would be held in a city known for being the birthplace of Goethe, the father of German literature, who spent his early years there until carting off to Weimar when he was brought into the nobility by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, thus forever becoming “von” Goethe for-von-eva.

We went there for two days. Friday and Saturday. We didn’t quite know what to expect, so we went thinking it would be purely an exploratory mission, a kind of literary reconnaissance on the field of publishing. And to that extent, it was a success. We understand now a bit more the workings of the publishing industry, and some things to keep in mind so that next year can be more successful. So here is some information we gathered.

Trade Days

The Buchmesse, unlike Gaul, is divided into two parts, trade days and visitor days. The trade day entries are more expensive. This year it was 45 euros to get in. They’re meant for those in the trade: publishers, distributors, writers, agents, and so on. Each booth throughout the numerous halls contains three or four chairs and tables—the bigger publishing companies might have twenty or thirty. Interviews are going on at those tables. Publishers, agents, or whomever, are holding meetings there, discussing contracts of any sort. To get those meetings, a person should make appointments some three to six months ahead of time

There's a large courtyard in the middle of the conference center, filled with beergardens, reading tents, etc.
This is especially important for any budding writer: one must have their interviews with agents and publishers scheduled far in advance. Of course, we didn’t know the first thing about finding an agent even. I even had it in the back of my head that pitching would be possible, but the festival is so massive that this would be pure chaos. If you want to make unsolicited pitches, it’s better to attend the small festivals. My wife boldly asked a host from a publishing house, “We’re new at this, how do we get an interview with an agent?”

The above information was revealed.

“And how do we find those agents to get appointments with them?”

The answer? The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook was apparently the best source. This is especially true in the European front. The Writers’ Market for the American side of the big old pond.

It’s not really possible to set up an interview while you’re there. Everyone is already too busy with their own affairs and goings-on that maybe the greatest literary genius of their time could be walking around a bit lost and nobody would even know it.  

Many of the booths are designed to look like bookstores
Visitor Days

The visitor days are held on the weekend. I’m not precisely sure what they’re for except cheaper entry. It seemed it was mostly for those who couldn’t afford the 45-euro ticket and still wanted to wander around those halls of thinly sliced wood. It’s entirely too packed and crammed to get anything done, and at least on Saturday, nothing was for sale. If you want to buy the latest books about to go on the market, perhaps the newest in the upcoming 40 something of Grey series, then go on Sunday, by all means necessary. Saturday only exists for presentation, and for dozens of girls to run around in Harley Quinn costumes.

We spent some time at the Georgia booth, naturally. Most of the books on display were in Georgian language. Some were translated into English. I found one I was considering buying, but then discovered, “Sorry, the English language books aren’t for sale. Just the Georgian ones.” I hope they weren’t expecting large sales.

The Frankfurt Buchmesse happens every year in October. Next year it will be held on the 11 to the 15. Ticket prices can range from 15 euro to thousands, and tend to go on sale in the summer. Check out their sight and sign up for updates about tickets.


No comments :

Post a Comment