Show Notes: Frankfurt Book Fair 2013: Trains and Trade

Special interest area this year: Hall F1 (near the City Entrance) will be home to the huge, 2,500-square-meter Brazil exhibition. The new rise of Latin American markets is one of the hottest topics of this year’s Fair, and Brazil is sending in some 90 of its key authors as part of its special “Guest of Honour” designation.

My best advice? Start with one of the two agenda-setting conferences being staged on October 8. In these, you’ll hear world publishing leaders describe and debate up-to-the-minute issues.

In fact, I’d love for you to join me at the CONTEC Conference that Tuesday at the Frankfurt Marriott, produced by the Fair’s own Frankfurt Academy. I’ll be moderating a high-level roundtable addressing one of the critical issues of the year: what the rise of the self-publishing entrepreneurial author means to traditional publishing (use code CONTEC13KPTW20 at check out in the online registration for a 20% discount). Discussing the implications with me will be international best-selling author Hugh Howey (of the WOOL trilogy) and his agent, Kristin Nelson; Penguin global digital director Molly Barton; Amazon director of publisher and author relations Jon Fine; Curtis Brown literary joint CEO Jonny Geller; German self-publishing researcher Matthias Matting; LeanPub’s Peter Armstrong; and PubSlush's Amanda Barbara.

Running parallel to CONTEC is Publishers Launch Frankfurt, organized by industry veterans Mike Shatzkin and Michael Cader. Among leading figures at Publishers Launch are Goodreads’ Otis Chandler, Osprey Group’s Rebecca Smart and Amazon’s Russ Grandinetti.

And while the topic of book discovery in the digital marketplace and the pace of change in publishing will be two major themes at the conferences, watch also this year for emphasis on reader-community-building, new expansions in translation, and a big Frankfurt question: Isn’t Germany itself the next major market force in digital publishing and ebooks?