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FEATURE BREXIT: THE BOOK FAIR EFFECT


21.10.16 www.thebookseller.com


Fair deal: could Brexit imperil


A ‘hard’ Brexit will result in tough choices for many UK publishers, but what will be the knock-on effect on English-language book fairs? Liz Thomson finds out


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ublishing is among the most international of industries; editors and authors were roving


ambassadors long before Schengen. Thus many feel a sense of shame as they touch down for the first Frankfurt Book Fair since the UK voted to leave the European Union. Brexit will be a major topic of discussion. The origins of the modern Frankfurt


Book Fair lie in the post-Second World War settlement, a fact emphasised by the presentation of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Frankfurt is the world’s biggest book fair, the city as synonymous with international publishing as it is with global finance. Both are industries in which London also has a significant stake. We know the Square Mile is imperiled by Brexit, but what of publishing and its trade fair? In January, the value of the UK’s


creative economy was estimated to be around £85bn, with books a significant driver. That sum is dwarfed by financial services, but remains hardly insignificant. Brexit will see that value diminished. Continental Europe (and Ireland) will become an open market, a battleground where the cheapest edition wins out. US publishers will seek to control world English-language rights, their turnover increasing at the expense of their UK counterparts. Translated fiction, led by UK independents, will suffer because much of the money that makes translation viable comes from Brussels. The social and economic


consequences of the so-called “hard Brexit” for which the UK appears to be headed will make the country a less congenial place to do business and


more insular as a nation. If the pound continues to dive, that might impact on Frankfurt and BookExpo America, but the more likely impact will be on the London Book Fair (LBF), for which rights have become the engine of success. Brexit is likely to weaken UK publishers’ hold over EU rights, lessen the value of the UK book market and shift the centre of gravity towards the continent—in other words, towards Frankfurt. FBF director Jürgen Boos is


tactful when asked about this, but acknowledges the question has been posed by continental counterparts. He observes that LBF is neither specialist nor all-embracing, which makes it vulnerable, and points out that publishers have limited budgets and must decide on which fairs to attend. Children’s publishers might choose Bologna over both London and Frankfurt, and even be tempted to try Shanghai. “That would hit both of us,” Boos concedes. However, service providers have always gone to Frankfurt in greater numbers than to London, making the German fair a one-stop shop.


The halls of Olympia main image, the London Book Fair’s home since the 2015 instalment and inset its English PEN Literary Salon, part of a seminar programme some say is “top heavy”


STERLING’S EFFORT What the major groups do will be pivotal and at present their stands—at Frankfurt and London—are increasing in size (and prominence). Carolyn Reidy, president of Simon & Schuster Inc, believes LBF will endure whatever Brexit means: “Everybody wants two English- language fairs. The timing is good, plus you can see everyone in one place.” And the UK just got a whole lot cheaper for Americans . . . Aitken Alexander agent Clare Alexander also can’t


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