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WED 10.2012


10 THE BOOKSELLER DAILY ‘MOBILE MARKET IS THE FUTURE’


thebookseller.com AT THE FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR MOBILE FUTURE INSIDE Philip Jones


Mobile is a growth opportunity for publishers, though they risk customers becoming locked into an ecosystem and book choices falling into a “discoverability gap”. T ese were the dominant themes from two digital conferences that preceded the physical business at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Tools of Change keynote speaker


Andrew Bud, global chairman of MEF, an association that helps companies monetise products on mobile platforms, said that mobiles were becoming the “fi rst screen” for most people, but that only 17% of mobile phone owners used these devices to read books. “Books are in the twilight zone. T ere is something real there, but it’s not as big as it should be.” Bud said that this represented a “large and important growth opportunity” for the industry”.


POST-50 SHADES FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR: ‘A NEW ERA DAWNS’


Publishers are looking to move beyond the “smoke screen” of erotica as the Frankfurt Book Fair begins, with one leading UK editor saying a new era of acquistions has dawned. Looking to this year’s FBF, Faber


editorial director Lee Brackstone said conversations will be more wide- ranging and collaborative. “T e idea of sitting here in the two weeks before Frankfurt and waiting for big agents to send in their manuscripts is gone really. T e era to seize the


day and to not be passive has come. I think the way we’re acquiring is changing. We’re not necessarily starting with books now, we are copyrighting ideas and turning them into books down the line. I wouldn’t rule anything out,” he said. However, Brackstone was also


among the editors that stressed print rights must not be ignored in favour of digital deals and excitement over self-publishing properties. Simon & Schuster publishing


Edinburgh University Press go live with Klopotek’s Software as a Service solution


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“Investment in robust and reliable systems is para- mount for publishers of all sizes. In Klopotek we have a business who can deliver and we expect our partner- ship with them to take care of present and future chal- lenges, especially in the burgeoning digital arena.”


Timothy Wright, Chief Executive, Edinburgh University Press, UK Visit us at stand E1303 in hall 4.0


director Suzanne Baboneau agreed. “Digital is here but the world is not all digital… they can co-exist. We are excited about the self-publishing opportunities but also excited about the more traditional submissions that are coming forward, too,” she said. Meanwhile, publishers agreed Fifty


Shades and erotica would remain a talking point, but the “smoke screen” created is being lifted, leaving editors looking to more traditional genres, such as thrillers, for their acquisitions.


Kobo acquires Aquafadas Device maker ramps up enhanced


e-books and self-publishing arm Page 3


The Sharjah International Book Fair


Professional Programme 5 - 6 November 2012


Exhibition Date Speakers at Bud


Mo n d a y ’ s Publishers’ L au n ch conference, how e v e r , warned that tablet owners were becoming locked into particular ecosystems by the devices they chose. Citing Apple and Amazon as examples, Enders analyst Benedict Evans said that tablets which failed to gain traction, unlike the iPad or Kindle Fire, did not do so because they failed to create a complete “ecosystem” of content services. “T e Kindle Fire is primarily a purchasing product for whatever Amazon sells,” he said. T e problem for publishers, Evans warned, was that this did not necessarily have to be books, with Amazon’s media sales declining relative to the company’s growth in other areas, such as shoes.


Discoverability was the other


dominant theme at the two conferences. At Publishers’ Launch Peter Hildick- Smith, founder of analysts the Codex Group, said that the ability to fi nd books in physical spaces was not entirely replaced by the tools to fi nd them online, even though social media sites were beginning to be more useful. T is “discoverability gap” impacted the types of books bought by digital readers.


STOP PRESS TXTR LAUNCHES €10 DEVICE


German e-reading company txtr launched an e-reader at FBF described as “the smallest, lightest, and simplest yet”. T e battery-powered txtr beagle will be sold through partnerships with mobile phone operators, packaged with Android smartphone contracts for as little as €9.90.


C K Stead “It’s still diffi cult to be a serious critic


in New Zealand” Page 11


Allen Lau “Wattpad is the internet native


version of the book” Page 16


ON STAND H909


VISIT US HALL 8


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