Trade Houses Find Better Reception
by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 9/10/2007
Although price and piracy still remain issues in China, the Beijing International Book Fair drew a record number of U.S. publishers to its 14th annual event. While America's educational publishers have had booths at Beijing for several years, the top U.S. trade houses were all in attendance this year as well. “Americans were represented more than ever before,” said HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman, who was at the fair for the second consecutive year. HC struck partnership agreements for two projects—a travel guide, Travel Around China, and a children's series, Naughty Ma Xiaotao.
Penguin was trumpeting the sale of simplified Chinese-language rights to Victoria Beckham's style guide, That Extra Half Inch, which was sold to Trends Book Company by Sarah Hunt Cooke, international rights director for Penguin UK, via Andrew Nurnberg Associates. All of Penguin's subsidiaries shared one booth, with the U.S. represented by business development head John Schline and Devin Kirk from international sales.
Executive v-p Bonnie Ammer was the ranking Random House official in Beijing. Random had no deals to report, although Ammer met with a variety of publishers and writers. Simon & Schuster international group head Cyrus Kheradi was at the fair, joined by Paul O'Halloran from the sub rights department. (More Beijing coverage is available at publishersweekly.com/beijing).
