80 speakers, 40 events and more at FBF Business Club 2016

With 80 speakers at around 40 events over five days, the Business Club of the 2016 Frankfurt Book Fair is set to be the central meeting place once again for pioneers and key players in the international content and media business. “By combining meetings, events and networking activities, the Club offers our trade visitors extensive business and contact opportunities,” said Juergen Boos, director of the Frankfurt Book Fair “So our guests benefit from a unique, all-round package of added-value.”

19 Oct 2016 | By Dibyajyoti Sarma

CEO Talks

The CEO Talks are a long-standing tradition at the Frankfurter Buchmesse, and since 2014 have been a fixed item in the programme of the Business Club. In the context of the “2016 Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry”, journalists from the trade journals like The Bookseller, Bookdao, buchreport Livres Hebdo, PublishNews Brazil, and Publishers Weekly will conduct 60-minute interviews with CEOs of some of the world’s largest publishing and media houses. Answering their questions this year will be Jacob Dalborg, CEO of Bonnier Books, as well as Massimo Turchetta, CEO Rizzoli Libri Trade, and Claude de Saint Vincent, CEO Média-Participations.

Accompanied by extensive marketing campaigns, reporting about the major literary prizes can dominate the arts pages of the newspapers for weeks on end. Receiving awards such as the Man Booker Prize or the German Book Prize raises the reputation of authors and publishers alike. The panel discussion ‘The Winner Takes it All – How literature prizes influence the market’ will provide an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at these two important book prizes.

Social reading is the name of the trend which platforms such as Lovelybooks, Wattpad, Goodreads and Flipintu by using to bring together millions of readers and authors. How do you inspire young target groups for fictional content and real books, while still taking into consideration their media consumption patterns? How do readers become active fans and followers? The Dutch social media and self-publishing pioneers, Peter Paul van Bekkum and Toine Donk, will discuss these questions under the heading ‘Social Reading – Together is better.’

French is the native tongue of more than 200 million people. France – the country that has produced the largest number of Nobel laureates in literature (15) – will be the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse in 2017. To give international publishers, literary editors and scouts a chance to discover the trends in the French market, the Business Breakfast on the Thursday of the Fair will focus on France and its literature.

The Business Breakfast on the Wednesday of the Fair is dedicated to Eastern Europe. In recent years, Eastern Europe has undergone a huge transition, be it politically, culturally or in the economic sphere. We will hear from representatives of some of the region’s most important publishing houses, based in Georgia, Slovenia and Ukraine, about effect these upheavals have had on literature.

Business Club Ambassadors

They come from all parts of the world and they work in different segments of international publishing. Total 12 enthusiasts from the book and media world will act Business Club Ambassadors this year. They will keep their business partners informed, in good time and in a personal manner, about the Business Club programme. In return, they each receive a trade visitor ticket. This year, India’s Prashant Pathak will be one of the Business Club Ambassadors. He can be found at @pnarayanpathak.