Frankfurt Book Fair 2020 cancels on-site exhibition

From hybrid special edition to online special edition

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Frankfurt Book Fair 2016
Frankfurt Book Fair 2016

The Frankfurt Book Fair has canceled even the limited live attendance at the fairgrounds and made it a totally virtual event. It will be an online fair with some events in the city of Frankfurt but without the traditional exhibition which has been deemed unfeasible due to the travel restrictions stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The FBF from 14 to 18 October 2020 will have an extensive digital program for publishing professionals, exciting online events at BOOKFEST digital for an international readership, as well as live events in Frankfurt on the ARD Book Fair Stage in the Festhalle and some 80 events as part of BOOKFEST city. The book fair’s traditional on-site exhibition is being canceled this year due to the corona pandemic since current travel restrictions would prevent numerous country stands from being realized as planned. In addition, the quarantine requirements that will be enforced on 1 October 2020 make it nearly impossible for European exhibitors and trade visitors to participate.

Frankfurter Buchmesse is not only the world’s largest book fair, it is also a constantly evolving enterprise. Lively, agile and adaptable. Given the current situation, this means a fair without an on-site exhibition in 2020 because of the more stringent corona restrictions being imposed once again. However, events in Frankfurt am Main and other cities will allow people to experience the thrill books can provide – live in Frankfurt, as well as through livestreams and recordings accessible at the viewer’s convenience,” says Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, chairwoman of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels). “We would like to thank the German federal and state governments, especially Federal Culture Commissioner Monika Grütters, Hessian Minister President Volker Bouffier and Hessian Minister of Economics Tarek Al-Wazir, for their continued support.”

“Frankfurter Buchmesse thrives on international exchange. We would like to thank all exhibitors for their confidence and willingness to help realize a physical version of Frankfurter Buchmesse 2020,” says Juergen Boos, Director of Frankfurter Buchmesse. “Now the focus will be on our digital offerings. We have expanded our numerous existing services in recent months into a detailed offer of digital services and online events. That means international publishing professionals will be able to use known and new digital venues to drive their business forward, even in times of corona. And the reading public will have the opportunity to express its enthusiasm for books in two ways: online and at events in Frankfurt.”

Frankfurt Rights

Frankfurt Rights is Frankfurter Buchmesse’s new platform for the international rights and license trade – for acquiring (audio-)book licenses, selling translation rights, and discovering suitable material for film productions. It brings together all the players in the rights and licenses trade. New business contacts can be made, publisher’s profiles and catalogs can be browsed and personal favorite lists of titles can be created. Furthermore, sample chapters or other preview materials can be shared and messages from colleagues and business partners can be sent and received. Frankfurt Rights will be available online at www.buchmesse.de from 1 October 2020.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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