By Ingrid Süßmann

Fact 1: Book bloggers matter. They shape opinions and reach a huge number of readers. Fact 2: Many publishers are still looking for ways to build and maintain relationships with this ever-growing group of influencers. Marketing events tailored to younger, digitally savvy readers, such as the Virtual Romance Festival Herzenstage, are still scarce in Germany. Now, five publishing houses, all based in the German media city of Cologne, are uniting to change this.

On June 4th 2016, publishers Bastei Lübbe, DuMont Buchverlag, DuMont Kalenderverlag, Egmont Lyx/Ink and Kiepenheuer & Witsch are inviting book and literary bloggers, tweeters and YouTubers to a blogging convention where it’s all about books, books, books: the LitBlog Convention (#lbc16). After an initial greeting to kick off the convention, the program will include workshops, Q&A sessions and interviews.

The line-up of speakers includes an illustrious mix of authors, publishers, editors, translators and publishing professionals. Frank Schätzing, bestselling author of The Swarm, and KiWi-publisher Helge Malchow will host a panel on how to publish a bestseller. Translator Ursula Gräfe and editor Annette Weber will talk about translating literature. Author and BookTuber Mona Kasten (75,000 followers on YouTube) will present her new project.

As the German publishing scene starts to embrace this group of digital media influencers, we’ll keep you updated on new emerging ideas and how formats like the LitBlogConvention evolve. Anyone interested in further information about the LCB can check out the informal kick off at the Leipzig Book Fair on March 18th in the Read & Greet Area, Hall 5, C500.