Brazil

While some publishers are most concerned with perfecting the ebook, or experimenting with new book formats, Marcus Leaver, CEO of The Quarto Group, is more interested in meeting readers where they are. "Putting books in the customers' hands is the most important thing," says Leaver, and Quarto, a global illustrated book publisher, is working to do that by partnering with distributors in its most underserved markets. It may not be as flashy as enhanced ebooks, but it's proven to be a profitable model, says Leaver.

Over the past few years, professionals at international book fairs have enthused about the booming Brazilian publishing market. Brazil has been the guest of honor at Frankfurt, Bologna, Gothenburg, and Paris, among other book fairs. Stories of incredible six-figure deals negotiated in double-quick time and of sales figures in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of copies were being bandied about in cafés and offices, from New York to Oslo and beyond. Ominously, however, it seems that at the London Book Fair this year, it was Spanish-speaking Latin America