By Edward Nawotka

Today’s feature article describes a recent conference organized in Seoul by the Korean Publishers Association to discuss publishing issues in the region withe representatives from some 15 countries. The effort was instigated in order to help Asian publishers form a more coherent publishing community. In the piece Malaysian literary agent Linda Tan asks, “Are we seeing an awakening of publishers in Asia?” She acknowledges that there is tremendous cross-border trade in books amongst Asian countries, but little sense of a coherent regional publishing community.

With Frankfurt coming up shortly, we want to know if you feel part of a coherent global publishing community. Surely economic globalization ties nearly all nations together economically. (The Kindle and iPad wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for lower cost manufacturing available in China, for example.)

Culturally, it’s another matter altogether. Anyone who has been to the Frankfurt Book Fair as an English language participant knows how easy it is to sit in Hall 8 and never explore the rest of the Fair. Why is that? Is each group of publishers too isolated by geography, language and culture to feel part of a larger whole? Or does the abstract mission of publishing supersede these differences?

Let us know what you think in the comments.