Sam Elworthy writes: Would Frankfurt 2013 on the New Zealand stand feel like the morning after too many drinks in the Hessischer Hof hotel bar? As we publishers trooped into Hall 8, no longer the headliners as Guest of Honour, there must have been a few worries. But in fact, the mood on the New Zealand stand was buoyant, and for a few good reasons.
First, the fair dailies from Publishers Weekly and the Bookseller were full of the ruddy glow of an industry internationally that has survived the transition to digital in good shape – strong profits from ebook sales, digital sales in the US flattened out and a robust print market remaining, piracy in most countries not a huge problem because of ease of availability and pricing of ebooks. While we suffer a tough year in the New Zealand book trade, it was comforting to soak in the larger international trends that are sweeping this way.
Second, our educational publishers were in fine form – many of them brought to Frankfurt for the first time by Guest of Honour and back to do more business. A couple had come through the US and Canada on the way to the fair establishing closer relationships in person with international partners. So it was great to enjoy the company of the fine folk from Clean Slate, Essential Resources, Lanky Hippo and Global Education Systems seeking out new international opportunities.
Third, the international relationships that the Publishers Association developed in making Guest of Honour happen bore fruit in the new year. Kevin Chapman was the keynote speaker at the Anti-Piracy Breakfast with a tale of Kim Dotcom, TPP and other challenges. Anne de Lautour spoke on the New Zealand approach in a panel on book design awards. I attended the International Publishers Association’s Copyright Committee and an IPA evening session where Publishers Associations from around the world shared strategies and tactics. The way we do things in our New Zealand publishing community is really appreciated around the world and we bring a strong voice into international discussions.
Finally, we got to look forward to our next starring appearance as guest of honour at the Taipei International Book Exhibition 2015. Anne de Lautour, Kevin Chapman and I met up with the effervescent Taipei team and brainstormed with them on ideas for bringing the books and cultures of Taipei and New Zealand closer. We are learning quickly all that we share across the distance – both of us islands in the Pacific, both with strong indigenous cultures and a settler history too, both with some big neighbours on our door, both rather can do peoples. Asia is an area of enormous growth potential for New Zealand publishers and the Taipei programme will provide a path in.
It was a great fair. Frankfurt is where you get to meet a real person from Amazon, where you discover that Maori water rights is actually interesting to an international audience, where chance encounters in the halls lead to co-publishing deals. Now I am sunk under a huge pile of business cards and leads and follow-ups from which I hope to finally emerge around Christmas.
Stunning sales for The
Luminaries
Fergus Barrowman, VUP’s publisher, is still catching his breath following the Man Booker Prize win of Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries last week. “The response to the win has been off the scale,” he told PANZ News.
The numbers are staggering for New Zealand alone – a print run of 4,000 was delivered to the distributors Random House, co-incidentally on the day of the announcement, and was in stores by Friday last … and most copies were sold by Sunday! There are now a whopping 17,000 back orders for the title in New Zealand. “It has placed a huge strain on everyone,” says Fergus. “When all the orders are filled, we will have sold 31,000 hard copies of The Luminaries and a further 4,000 ebooks.”
Internationally, sales are also exceptional. Fergus was in Granta offices in London the day after the awards when they confirmed a print order of 100,000 copies – massively up from the 30,000 they had planned. At a personal level, Fergus woke up the next morning to find 113 congratulatory emails in his inbox.
Our Man Booker prizewinner is just now released in the US, and Fergus says that early reviews have been ‘so positive and welcoming.’ As a result, Eleanor won’t be back at home until after Christmas as she will be touring US and Canada for the rest of the year.
Fergus also explained how the Man Booker Award is always kept secret; it seems that the judges do not make the final decision until the afternoon of the Award, so no one in the hall knows the winner before the announcement. “It was so tense,” he says “The chief judge gave a great speech and I felt it was leaning towards The Luminaries…. After the announcement Ellie was in a state of shock, searching her handbag for the notes she’d made for a possible speech.” (Fashion note: The dress was off the rack Kate Sylvester, bought for its star print… the most expensive dress the writer had ever splurged on!)
Eleanor Catton will be at the New Zealand Festival Writers Week, in Wellington from 7 to 12 March next year, no doubt speaking to large audiences.
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