The London Book Fair strengthens ties with the Arab World for Market Focus 2008

Publishers in Arab nations are already responding with enthusiasm to the news that the Arab World (defined as the 20 countries and 2 states which have Arabic as their registered official language) will form the Market Focus at The London Book Fair 2008.

New pavilions have been reserved by Abu Dhabi, Lebanon, Egypt, Qatar, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. Individual publishers from Egypt, Lebanon and the UAE have also been swift on the uptake to book their stands. This huge boost in Arab exhibitor space will be complemented by the annual visitors from the region from the export trade.

When international publishers meet the new Arab exhibitors at next year’s fair, they will be able to do business confident in the knowledge that trade between publishers in the West and the Arab World is increasing rapidly. According to the UK Publishing Industry Statistics Yearbook (© PA 2007), UK exports to the Middle East/North Africa were up in 2006 from 2005 by 13.3% and totalled £91 million: the largest increase from any region of the world. The Market Focus on the Arab World in 2008 will be a timely opportunity for the publishers around the globe to gain a foothold in this expanding market.

Emma House, Exhibition Manager International Development, The London Book Fair says:
“The enthusiastic response we’ve seen from the Arab world is very encouraging, and shows what a big impact Market Focus is having already. The buzz is growing, and we are developing a number of exciting ideas for our seminar programme focussing on the region. There is clearly great interest from Arab publishers in coming to The London Book Fair and grasping potential business opportunities. We look forward to welcoming them to the Fair.”

The London Book Fair is already involved in initiatives to open up the Arab World to the benefits of international trade with publishers. The team have been working closely with the British Council, which has been instrumental in building relationships with the region. In January, the British Council and The London Book Fair organised a delegation of British publishers to attend the Cairo Book Fair, to learn more about doing business in the Arab world, and to facilitate contacts between British and Arab publishers.

In September, the LBF team participated in a three day training course hosted by the British Council in Syria. They spent time teaching the twenty publishers from seven different nations about the business of buying and selling rights internationally, and discussing and debating with them issues of particular concern, such as piracy, lack of government support for copyright issues, and state censorship. They also gave tips on how to prepare effectively for The London Book Fair.

Sharjah Book Fair
The London Book Fair is also attending the Sharjah Book Fair in December, to present together with BookExpo America and BookExpo Canada the New Title Showcase, the first time an all English title language exhibit has been shown at Sharjah. The Sharjah Book Fair is located 20 minutes outside of Dubai, which is the fastest growing city in the world. Over 225,000 people visited the fair in 2007 with over 40,000 titles exhibited from companies around the world.
The New Title Showcase will feature English language works from publishers, making it the perfect place for booksellers, librarians, schools, universities, agents and all attendees to see new titles from English language publishers in one location.

For English language publishers, the New Title Showcase is the first opportunity to display titles at the Sharjah Book Fair, in a prime exhibiting location, reaching trade buyers from all over the Arab World.

The seminars will be:
- How the book distribution system works in the UK and the USA, focusing on the role of the wholesaler, and how publishers can access the UK and US market – presented by Gardners (Bob Stock) and Ingram (Terrence Heeney)
- A presentation on the Gardners website, including a workshop where publishers and retailers can find out how to make the most of their website.

The British Council will also head up a repeat of the training session held in Syria for publishers from the Arab World to prepare for the Market Focus at the London Book Fair.

The Sharjah Book Bair will run 5th -14th December, the workshops will be on the 6th and 7th December. The British Council training programme will run 6th, 7th and 8th December 2007.

Benefits of the Market Focus Programme
The Arab World can expect to see a number of benefits from having been chosen as the Market Focus. Not only will the region receive media and industry exposure, entailing numerous benefits to publishers and authors, it will also bask in a cultural spotlight, evidenced already by Beirut’s appointment as World Book Capital for 2009. A rich and varied seminar programme, run in partnership with the British Council, will reflect the diversity of Arabic literature and demystify the nature of trading with this vast geographical bloc, as well as giving insights into this burgeoning market. The Fair itself will act as a physical meeting place for people from the Arab World to interact with their UK and global coutnerparts. And following success of the popular Spanish tapas bar at last year’s fair, this year there will be a Market Focus deli selling food and drink from the Arab World.

Jorge Postigo, Director of Creative Industries at the Spanish embassy commercial office comments:
"Spain's role as Market Focus country 2007 has brought benefits in terms of boosting trade and creating an international buzz about Spanish books and authors. Thanks to the initiative, Spanish publishers have deepened many fruitful relationships with their foreign counterparts, on which to build and cement future interest in Spanish literature globally. I would highly recommend members of the book trade in the Arab World to jump at the opportunities afforded by the Market Focus programme, and I'm sure they will profit from it hugely, as we did."

Contact Details

For further information about the London Book Fair Market Focus 2008 please contact
Amelia Rowland at Midas Public Relations on + 44 (0)20 7590 0813 or
email Amelia.Rowland@midaspr.co.uk

Background:

THE LONDON BOOK FAIR
The London Book Fair is the global publishing community’s leading spring forum for booksellers, publishers and librarians worldwide. Ideally timed to provide a concentrated 3 day trading and educational platform it gives all visitors and exhibitors access to the world’s books, real business contacts and shared knowledge. It provides everything that is required to compete effectively in today’s fast-paced marketplace.

THE MARKET FOCUS
The Market Focus programme, now in its fifth year, was first created in 2004 for LBF to draw attention to certain countries and highlight the trade links with this territory, its publishing industry and the opportunities for conducting business with the rest of the world. In the first year of the initiative, the countries highlighted were Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, followed in 2005 by Australia and New Zealand, in 2006 by Mexico and in 2007, Spain.

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