The buzz in Frankfurt
Of two books and an electronic device - Photo: AP THEME INDIA: A man browsing through a book, behind a glass panel poster that spells India, at the Frankfurt Book Fair. FRANKFURT: At a tiny round coffee table amid muted chatter, a publishing agent sells the translation and publishing rights to a novel by the late J.R.R. Tolkien being patched together from notes by his son. The Children of Hurin, which builds on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, will not be out until next year. But by the end of the first day of business at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Wednesday, HarperCollins Publishers had sold the non-U.S. rights to at least nine countries. In another room, a London literary agent listened to bids for a 900-page French-language Second World War epic that stormed up to the top of the French best-seller chart. The Tolkien book and Jonathan Littell's Les Bienveillantes, literally translated as The Benevolent Ones, are two of the emerging hits at the 58th annual book event, a frantic five-day trader's fair likely to generate an estimated $780 million worth of business. A third item appearing this year and creating buzz is the eBook Reader, a device introduced a few weeks ago by Sony. Smaller than a supermarket paperback, it can hold dozens of downloaded books or, for editors, replace thick manuscript folios. Frankfurt, not far from where Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century, is the world's oldest and largest fair, with 7,272 exhibitors from 113 countries this year. It is expected to attract more than 280,000 visitors - though there is not a book to be bought by the public until Sunday when some publishers sell off their demonstration books. It is all about selling rights, and traders say deals are concluded for a few hundred dollars in advances against royalties, or can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a hot item. Last year's big winner at the fair, former General Electric chairman Jack Welch's Winning, drew more than $1 million in bids for the foreign rights, HarperCollins group president Brian Murray said. Buyers and sellers are cagey about discussing financial terms of most deals. An agent for Andrew Nurnberg Associates said Littell's book was attracting "phenomenal" bids, but refused to confirm rumours that a publisher paid $571,000 for the German rights. The handling of the book, a fictional memoir of an unrepentant Nazi SS officer, is part of the buzz at the fair. The rights to most French books are handled by their publishing houses, but Littell gave the job to Nurnberg's British-based literary agency. Nurnberg is holding off on selling the British and U.S. rights until next week after the Fair closes, hoping that anticipation will pump up the bidding. Shadab Husain Mo: 9335206224 To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
