Canada in Frankfurt

It was with a great deal of anticipation that Livres Canada Books (LCB) embarked on an Ottawa to Frankfurt journey, last stop: the book fair.  As you may know, LCB coordinates the Canadian collective stand at international book fairs worldwide, Frankfurt being the largest and most impressive.  The anticipation we felt for this year’s fair stemmed from two main initiatives:  a completely re-designed Canada stand and the 2010 International Digital Rights Symposium.

Over the last several months, Livres Canada Books worked with designer Martyn Schmoll of the design office to re-brand and re-invent the Canada stand in a manner that would represent and promote the Canadian book industry to the international community.  Our goals were to create a space that was modern, yet accessible; to reduce visual clutter; to promote Canadian-ness and, most importantly, to showcase Canadian publishers and their titles.   

So, what comes to mind when you think of Canada: maple leaves? the colour red? themes of isolation, self-deprecation and multiculturalism?  Yes, yes and yes.  Livres Canada Books covered it all.  The new Canada stand, replete with a red colour scheme, maple panels in the information area and digital screens displaying rotating book covers, is glorious.  We are exceedingly proud of how we transported Canada and Canadian publishing to Frankfurt, and trust that all exhibitors on the stand were equally pleased.  If you didn’t make it to Frankfurt, check out our photos to see the Canada stand transformation for yourself.

Apart from the Canada Stand makeover, we were very proud to be the organizers of the 2010 International Digital Rights Symposium in Frankfurt.  Livres Canada Books brought together panelists from several countries to discuss the topic of “Borderless eBooks.”  We enjoyed presentations from the USA, Germany, Spain, Ireland and Canada, as well as a panel discussion between all speakers.  Canadian and international publishers in the audience had an opportunity to learn about new and different business models including the no-return, no-discount model espoused by OR books (USA); how the German eBook platform – libreka! - has taken an innovative approach to digital rights management and faced piracy issues head-on; how Grup62, a Catalan publisher in Spain, is promoting and selling eBooks through Libranda; the importance of finding your niche in small markets such as Ireland and Canada; and a practical (and generous) look at selling eBooks and digital rights in foreign markets from ECW press.  The symposium closed with a discussion of multi-market eBook sales from Michael Tamblyn, who brought together local, national and international perspectives.  The presentations were recorded, and will be available through Livres Canada Books at a later date.  Stay tuned for more information.

Tricia McCraney | 10/26/2010 |

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