It
was a pretty good haul
this year, with requests for nearly thirty manuscripts from
Germany, France, Italy and Turkey. Not to count chickens, but a
two-and-a-half-dozen egg haul is pretty good considering the 'soft' book
market, and small inquiries in the last two years. Isa Kamari, Farish A
Noor, Rozlan
Mohd Noor, and Shih-Li Kow were amongst the authors who attracted
the most interest (and Shih-Li's new book has not even been
published yet)! But, while Singapore's NAC provides translation
grants, Malaysia does not (and certainly not for books in English),
so Malaysian books might be slightly handicapped. In general, at the Bookfair, despite all the grumbling, the industry didn't seem all that soft; well, not in Halls 3 to 6 at any rate, but at Hall 8.0 the exhibits looked a little sad and crowds noticeably smaller this year. But then, Hall 8.0 has always looked a little sad when compared with the others, design-wise. This year, about 20% of the hall was devoted to digital content, and the rest was described by one Italian publisher as rubbish. For those who are wondering, Hall 8.0 is the largest, and where all the Anglo-American publishers are; that is, it is the hall for mainstream books in English. (Picture shows a 'wall of books' erected at a German stand.)
The publisher I had an appointment with in Hall 8.0 confirmed that there were fewer trade visitors at their hall this year. She said that things were slower. It was quite an interesting appointment, this one. I got an email from her asking for an appointment at Frankfurt. I had never met her before. She had a Russian sounding name and I do find European book designs and subject matter quite fascinating. In a subsequent email, she suggested Hall 8.0 for the meeting. I should have known better. Enough people have warned me over the years about Hall 8.0, that they were only interested in selling not buying, that they were not interested in trade.
When I walked into their stand for the meeting, I realised that they were really children's-book publishers, and we are not. I told her (I am not mentioning any names, here) that I did not publish children's books (why did she email me then?), but I knew a friend who did. I asked if I could take away some catalogues, which she readily agreed, and gave me two printed ones and a CD containing their full list. I asked her what type of books she would be interested in; "Folk tales, or stories of indigenous people?" She replied, quite directly, "Oh, we only sell, not buy," whereupon we shook hands and I left. There was really no point in prolonging the conversation.
When I asked her for the catalogues earlier, I had been serious about passing them onto a friend. But after hearing her reply, I decided to simply toss it. I mean, "Why should I?" With that kind of attitude, why should I bother to help her? Maybe, that's why the traffic in Hall 8.0 was so slow!
At an earlier meeting with another publisher, this time from Turkey, the visitor went through our list and requested PDF versions of several titles to be sent to her by email. Then, I asked for her list, which she showed me. Out of many, I saw three titles, detective stories, which I felt might be of interest to Malaysian readers. I asked her for a copy of her catalogue, to pass on to Arief of PTS, and he was delighted. This is what trade is about. This is what networking is about. Unfortunately, publishers from Britain and the US are not quite clear on that concept.
Notwithstanding all that, Frankfurt is a fantastic place to be. You will have no idea how big the book industry is until you have seen it.
Oh, by the way, a Malaysian publishing industry leader told me that the London Book Fair is no different from Hall 8.0. So, I guess I shall give it a miss.
