Top Ten Buzzwords of Frankfurt 2012

By Ed Nawotka & Andrew Wilkins

German publisher Eichborn's logo is the buzzing fly (der Fliege)

1. Discovery:
There are sophisticated digital solutions to help readers find your books, but it was frequently noted, “bookstores are still the best showroom for publishers, and once they are gone, we won’t get them back.”

2. Digital First:
Increasingly, publishers are looking to experiment with new formats and take chances on authors by foregoing print altogether, but “quality has to remain high” lest it be construed as the same as “direct-to-DVD.”

3. Metadata:
One panel at Frankfurt was called “When will we stop talking about Metadata?” The answer is “never,” but the concept isn’t nearly as alien as it was last year. The fact is, “good metadata is driving sales.”

4. Erotica:
It’s not pornography, it’s erotica—a nice way of saying “romance with lots and lots of explicit sex.” Specialist publishers report interest from countries where they’ve never sold rights. Thank E. L. James.

5. Pricing:
Elasticity is the name of the game. Drop the price to get sales volume; raise it to get profit once the book’s flying: the fixed retail price may be history.

6. BIC:
Brazil, India, China . . . Sorry, Russia, it’s time to drop the “R” when it comes to publishing, as these other hot markets are holding everyone’s attention. And it has a nice echo of the name of the beloved brand of pens.

7. Analytics:
Data and stats are no longer enough. Publishers want to understand consumer behavior, and some of Amazon’s competitors are prepared to give them access to the all-important mine of info they’ve collected.

8. GAMA:
We had no idea what this acronym was when it cropped up in the title for a panel on the SPARKS Stage, but we learned that it means “Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon,” the four horseman of the digital apocalypse?

9. Story:
It doesn’t matter what you do; in publishing, it still comes back to one thing. You have to have something to say and say it well. Then it will sell.

10. Haka:
The new Frankfurt dance craze! On second thought, leave it to the Kiwis, you don’t have the face tattoos for it. Next year, the Brazilians promise you’ll learn to samba as seductively as the rhythm of the waves lapping Copacabana Beach.