Oct 7, 2006, 17:18 GMT
Frankfurt - Hall 8 in the vast Frankfurt exhibition site is where British, American and Australian publishers set out their stalls for the world's biggest trade fair for books.
The world's biggest publishers such as Random House, Harper Collins, Penguin and Macmillan dominate the hall with large, flashy stands featuring pictures of bestselling authors and the covers of upcoming books.
In the extensive seating areas, sharp-suited agents and executives cut deals on translation and other rights and bargain over the next hot property.
It is very different for the small publishers in Hall 8 - they sit in little booths, the smallest only a couple of metres wide, with their books displayed on three walls, waiting for someone to show an interest. Many have travelled long distance to display their wares.
To the casual observer it might seem that the small publishers are just there to make up the numbers, that the real business is going on elsewhere - namely at the stands of the big publishers from London and New York.
However, this is not the case. Although not as visibly as with the big firms, the Frankfurt Book Fair is a place where small publishers can cut deals and make good contacts.
John Spillane, director of the Mercier Press, an Irish publisher which prints 30 to 40 books a year, mainly on Irish themes, dubs the fair 'very important' for his firm. He comes to the event every year with a full timetable of appointments with agents and foreign publishers. The meetings don't all lead to a deal to publish a Mercier book abroad, 'but enough does stick to make it worthwhile.'
Even specialized publishers can meet with success at Frankfurt. Melanie Wilhelm of the Wisconsin-based American Society of Quality, which publishes around 35 books a year on business topics, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that she has found the fair 'excellent' in the three years she has been attending. In fact the publisher's booth is twice the size of the one from last year, a sure sign it is ascending the pecking order.
Wilhelm said that in the five days of the fair, the firm has sold international and translation rights for its books to countries such as Russia and China, and cut a distribution deal for Mayalsia. The key to doing well at the book fair, she says, is preparation - in other words a packed diary of appointments for the five-day event.
Jane Coverton, director of Working Title Press, a small independent Australian publisher which prints picture books and illustrated fiction for children, found it worthwhile to fly all the way from Australia with a selection of her books - she managed to sell publications rights for one book to an American publisher and experienced interest in several more.
Coverton says she made the trip to Frankfurt for the first time this year so as to 'concentrate on Europe.' Previous trips to the children's book fair at Bologna had not been as productive and she says she will return to the German event in future.
The small publishers all agreed that face-to-face contact with agents and publishers is the real strength of the Frankfurt event and that it is better than similar gatherings such as the one in London.
To quote Juergen Boos, director of the fair, Frankfurt is all about 'making personal contact' so that publishers can network and 'learn from each other.'
Thomas Minkus, book fair press officer, says the event offers publishers of all sizes access to rights directors, crucial for selling translation and other rights. It is this close contact with other members of the publishing industry which leads to the large amount of business conducted at Frankfurt every year - an estimated 600 million euros worth in 2005.
The small publishers were also in agreement on another point - the two last days of the fair when the doors are thrown open to the general public are a hindrance rather than a help to business, most of which is conducted during the first three days of the fair, when only trade visitors are admitted.
Having to pack fewer books in their luggage for the long flight home is apparently only a minor consolation.
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