Isatis sells rights to two titles, in talks for three more

Montreal’s Éditions de l’Isatis has sold world English rights to Une petite bouteille jaune (A little yellow bottle) to Second Story Press. Mon papa ne pue pas (My dad doesn’t smell) has been translated into Spanish as Mi papá no apesta by Mexico’s Petra Ediciones as part of the Mexican Ministry of Education’s BAULA literacy project. The translation will have a print run of over 80,000 copies. And as a result of the Canadian Book Seminar in Seoul, which Livres Canada Books helps coordinate, Isatis is in talks with a Korean publisher for three more titles.

Nicolas Levesque | 12/06/2011 | Export, Rights, Success Story

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Eighth annual Canadian Book Seminar draws interest from Korean publishers

The eighth annual Canadian Book Seminar was held at the Embassy of Canada in Seoul on September 8, 2011. This year 16 Canadian publishers participated with approximately 280 titles on display, featuring books for pre-schoolers, young readers, ESL materials, and some adult titles. The Seminar started with a presentation which dealt with 2010 award-winning titles, bestselling books, and best writers, including a summary of each title introduced. The seminar received very positive responses from the Korean visitors. They were satisfied with the information provided which introduced them to Canadian books and writers not known in the local market. A reception immediately followed the presentation. Throughout the event, visitors were able to browse through the various Canadian titles on display.

Invitations were extended to Korean publishers, buyers and copyright agencies. Twenty-five Korean contacts attended, representing 13 different publishing companies, including two copyright agencies and one buyer. The total number of Canadian participants and Korean visitors declined compared to last year’s event, likely due to the recent economic recession.

During the event, 14 Canadian publishers received special attention from seven Korean publishing companies. The Embassy facilitated contact between the Korean companies and the Canadian publishers for further direct discussion on potential collaboration.

Through discussions with Korean contacts during the seminar, I obtained a sense of local market trends for both children’s and adult’s books:

Children’s Books

In general, the trends for children’s books in the local market remain unchanged from last year, meaning that children’s books should keep focusing on:

1. Preschool children - Picture books with various coloured illustrations (pastel and oil painting colours with detailed expression)
2. Children (grades 1-6) - Non-fiction titles that reinforce basic concepts that these students would learn in the classroom. The preference is for interesting stories with some cartoons or illustrations rather than textbook style exposition. Recently, series in science, mathematics, history, the human body, jobs, etc., are becoming more popular because the series are very comprehensive and generate interest in the sequels. Single books receive less attention from consumers unless there are promotional notations like “award-winning title,” “bestseller,” etc.
3. Young readers (grades 7-9) - Touching and instructive stories about family, school, self-discovery and overcoming hardships and challenges. Teenage romance is not attractive at all to the readers.
4. ESL Material - New learning methods or different approaches of teaching guidance.

Adult Books

The adult book market is not easy to access because consumers have a wide range of tastes and the general trends are quick to change. This is in stark contrast to the children’s book market where consumer’s preferences are very clear. There are no major changes in the trends for adult books this year:

1. Books on the global economy, management or those that are integrated into other industries such as art management, preferably written by scholars or professors.
2. Books on self-development / self-help based on experiences of professionals such as philosophers, artists, psychologists, or professors. Consumers prefer the easy books in forms of essay written by professionals to those with difficult contents.
3. Books on everyday life including environment, interior design, and health issues (healing properties of various foods/ treatments) are increasingly in demand.
4. Psychological thriller - The current demand is small but they are starting to get readers’ attention since European psychological thrillers have been introduced to the market.

The Embassy would like to thank all Canadian participants, as well as the Livres Canada Books for their support of the seminar.

Hyeshin Kang
Trade Commissioner
Commercial-Economic Section
Embassy of Canada (Seoul)
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Nicolas Levesque | 11/15/2011 | Events, Export, Rights

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400 Coups wins Québec/Wallonie-Bruxelles prize

Les 400 coups is proud to announce that Le chasseur de loups-marins, by Claire Vigneau and Bruce Roberts, was awarded the Québec/Wallonie-Bruxelles 2011 children’s literature prize in the category “novels and educational books for children ages 9 to 12” category.

The book was selected for its story which shows that beyond the sensationalism that has developed around the seal hunt, this activity is part of the culture of the inhabitants of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The originality of the narrative – both in form and content – leads to a reflection on the loss of identity.

The Québec/Wallonie-Bruxelles prize is awarded every two years. The award ceremony will be held Monday, November 21 during the Salon du livre de Montréal and during the Brussels Book Fair in March 2012. Claire Vigneau and Bruce Roberts will share a prize of $3,500.

Nicolas Levesque | 10/24/2011 | Success Story

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Frankfurt Book Fair 2011 wrap-up

The Frankfurt Book Fair reports a slight increase in the number of visitors in 2011, with about one per cent more people coming to Frankfurt than in 2010. In all, the fair attracted 280,194 visitors, and around 7,384 exhibitors from 106 countries were present. The international rights and licenses trade also increased this year, with more visitors claiming that the rights trade was the central purpose of their visit. The Literary Scouts & Agents Centre recorded an increase of 11% in visitor numbers. As ever, attention was mainly focused on titles from the English-speaking countries.

The Canada Stand was slightly smaller this year as several publishers have decided to attend every two years. In all, 44 publishers reserved display and meeting space on the stand and another four chose the pied-à-terre option. Despite the fair’s official numbers, publishers felt attendance was down slightly from previous years. Nonetheless, all reported positive and productive meetings with their foreign counterparts.

Nicolas Levesque | 10/20/2011 | Book Fairs, Export, Rights

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Brazil launches translation support program

Brazil’s National Library Foundation, an office of the Ministry of Culture, has announced a program to support the translation and publication of Brazilian authors abroad. The program, which runs until 2020, will distribute a total of US$7.6 million in financial support ($2 million for 2011-13). Incentives may take the form of grants for the translation of Brazilian literary works from all genres, as well as the reissue of books previously published abroad. Grants will be worth between $1,000 and $8,000 per work. The program is open to publishers who have acquired the rights to works by Brazilian authors.

More information about the program can be found on the National Library’s website.

Brazil will be the Guest of Honour of the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair. You may also want to read the report of the 2010 Livres Canada Books scouting mission to São Paulo.

Nicolas Levesque | 10/06/2011 | Rights

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Hurtubise wins best children’s book prize

Éditions Hurtubise has been awarded Enfants Québec magazine’s best children’s book prize for Victor et la dent perdue, by Alain M. Bergeron, illustrated by Fil and Julie. The $8,000 prize is awarded to French-language Canadian children’s books for ages 3 to 6 published in 2010. The four other finalists are Dominique Demers’s Aujourd’hui, peut-être, Marie-Louise Gay’s Roselyne Rutabaga remue ciel et terre, both published by Dominique et compagnie, Gilles Tibo’s La petite princesse et les livres, and Ginette Anfousse’s Une musique pour Charlotte, both published by Éditions Imagine.

Nicolas Levesque | 10/04/2011 | Success Story

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