Blog Posts

Today is the last day of the fair, but as I might not have internet access later, this might also be my last blog from the fair too. 

There's not much to report on from my end about yesterday.  Traffic started dying down in the afternoon, and many exhibitors even left before the show closed yesterday.  Candedly, not too many people have high expectations for the day.  But, we shouldn't let that reflect negatively on the fair.  It's been fantastic and lots of business seems to have gotten done for everyone.

Aside from marketing the books in the collective, we've made a concentrated push on PubMatch, and I think it's really paying off, and I'd expect lots of great stuff there in the coming days, weeks and months.

I'll write up a final report about Bologna and have it posted on Combinedbook..com, so keep your eyes peeled.  But for now, I'm going to have a cappucino!

The second day of the fair was actually quite a bit busier than the first.  I'm still getting the impression that that's not the norm here, but if every show is facing less attendance this year, and we had that much traffic yesterday, then I'd say once this whole economic thing passes (or before it came), traffic here will (and probably did) border on the amazing.  I'd rate yesterday a fair 7 out of 10.

Outside our exhibit and hall, I managed to get some time to check out the other international collectives.  But first, a note on that:

The American Collective Stand (which, along with Combined Book Exhibit, is the "us" that I refer to), is one of a few collectives of American publishers (ask me, and I'd say we're the best!).  In most other countries there's only one, or at least only one official collective stand, and that collective stand is generally part of the that countries publisher's association.  Together, these groups make one group that is both an advocate and collective organizer, and in many cases is somehow connected to the government.  In the US, we have groups like us (remember what "us" means again?), and then on the advocacy side, there's the AAP (which is the only one of its kind that I know of in the states).  So when I say other international collectives, that's not to say that I haven't seen publishers from other countries, but that I'm going to see what the countries themselves are sending rather than what each individual publisher is sending.

So now that you have your crash course in international collectives, I'll make another generality:  lots of people do a lot of similar stuff.  In my travels throughout this show, I've seen lots of updated and reimagined fairy tales, some relaunches of old franchises, lots of "comics for kids" and a fair amount of non-fiction and novelty stuff.  That's all a quite sweeping generalization.  Of course, everywhere has their specific content, which is what I love so much about the spreading of ideas that these fair (and PubMatch.org) provide venues for. 

I grabbed a whole bunch of publisher seasonal and rights catalogs, which I plan to go through and compare to get a better idea of the similarities and differences.  I've also taken a lot of pictures that I'll share once I can get them onto a computer.

Day three is about half an hour away, and I can't wait to see what it brings.

This fair is so cool!  All of the children's book publishers are here (albeit, with a smaller presence than...well ever), some adult publishers with new children's lines are here, and all together new publishers are here. The books are beautiful, and the art...

Art seems to be a huge running theme throughout the show, which is something that I would love to see spread to more shows.  There's an exhibit of illustrations from books from around the world (all collected in one volume, which I now own), and illustrators walk the floor with their portfolios as if this was Comic Con.

The show is very laid back, and though the halls are full, they seem to be moving slow (if that makes any sense).  Not sure if that's an economy based issue, or a Bologna characteristic.  I'll be curious to see how this year's final figures match up against those of last year.  The important thing however is that the meetings are still aplenty, and the booths get very fulled.  The Combined Book Exhibit is being very well received, not only by people who love the books, but by publishers and authors who love the idea.

Another idea we're presenting that's being incredibly well received is PubMatch.org.  I'm hoping you got a change to check it out, but if not, definitely do, because it's going to be a huge tool in the future for the industry.  I can just feel it.  And this show has been an inspiration of sorts for the growth of that site, and I'm excited to see those changes take fruition, and what other new ideas will spawn from here, and from London in just a few weeks (!!!!). 

Day two is starting soon, and I'm going to make it my business to get into some of the other halls, and see some of the international collectives.  One of the greatest aspects of these shows is seeing the cultural exchange.  In the rights seminar I mentioned yesterday, we spent a short time looking at illustrations from different books from accross the world, and taking into acocunt how the cultural divide might create the need for an illustration "translation."  Anyway, the point is that I'm excited to see the types of children's material other countries are offering that might never reach the American shelves, and maybe see how the same book has or will change from here to the edition that I can by in New York.