In the Literary Agents and Scouts Center at Frankfurter Buchmesse. Image: FBM
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
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Trade Visitor and Public Ticketing Has Opened
In the run-up to the 75th anniversary Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 18 to 22), organizers have reported that the “LitAg,” as it’s known—the Literary Agents and Scouts Center—has sold out its 584 work tables.
This is a record number, they say, exceeding the pre-pandemic era’s 528 tables in 2018 and 522 in 2019. The center is set this year in Hall 6.2.
The center’s 2023 sales have been made to 326 agencies from 31 countries. Markets with the most representatives are the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Spain, and Sweden. For the first time, participants from the United Arab Emirates will also be present with a table and, following a pandemic-era hiatus, agencies from China will be represented in the center.
Juergen Boos
Juergen Boos, president and CEO of Frankfurter Buchmesse, is quoted expressing his satisfaction that “a ‘Sold Out’ sign is hanging on the Literary Agents and Scouts Centre.
“The great demand among international agencies,” he says, “underscores Frankfurter Buchmesse’s claim to being the most important marketplace for rights and licenses of all kinds.
“That the demand even exceeds the high level of the pre-pandemic years is proof of how crucial in-person meetings are in the publishing business—and how acutely everyone missed those interactions during the COVIE-19 years. Trust—which is indispensable in our industry—is built most sustainably through face-to-face meetings.”
In addition to the Literary Agents and Scouts Center, the trade show this year includes an adjacent Publishers Rights Center in 6.2, and the tables there are being sold to publishing professionals who are not from agencies represented in the LitAg. We’re told that most of those tables have been sold, as well, and you can find information, including introductory pricing, here.
Both the Literary Agents and Scouts Center and the Publishers Rights Center are scheduled to open on October 17, a day before the official start of the trade fair and will be open through the 22nd.
Frankfurt Ticketing Now Available
Ticketing, both for trade visitors and for members of the public (who are admitted from Frankfurt Friday at 2 p.m. through Saturday and Sunday) are now available for Frankfurter Buchmesse.
More from Publishing Perspectives on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, more on world publishing’s international rights business is here, more on the world’s international trade shows and book fairs is here.