U.S. publishers report strong interest in inspirational fiction, youth fantasy at international gathering

U.S. Christian publishers reported brisk business during the world’s biggest annual book exhibition.

Held Oct. 10-14 in Frankfurt, Germany, the Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF) marked its 64th anniversary, attracting more than 150,000 professional visitors and around 7,400 exhibitors from 100-plus countries, according to organizers. The event had a major focus on children’s publishing as well as digital publishing.

Significant news from Frankfurt included Book Industry Study Group and representatives from 16 countries announcing the formation of Thema, a new global standard to categorize and classify book content by subject. 

The new standard is flexible, allowing “each market to retain its unique cultural voice while still presenting a unified hierarchy that rationalizes book categorization,” organizers said. “The goal of Thema is to reduce confusion about subject codes for both upstream and downstream trading partners in order to facilitate the sale of more books.”

Meanwhile, BookShout!, a social e-reading platform developed during the past two years for the Christian market, announced what it called “revolutionary technology” that will allow users to legally import and aggregate all of their previous and future digital book purchases from any source, including Kindle and Nook, at no cost. 

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) has represented Christian publishers at the event for more than 25 years through the Christian Collective exhibit. 

“Frankfurt continues to be one of the most important shows for rights marketing,” said Cindy Riggins of Riggins International Rights Services. “Relationships are very important in rights sales, so these in-person meetings are critical to a successful rights program.”  

Riggins met with 65 international publishers and saw increased interest in fiction and youth fantasy fiction among European rights buyers. 

“Our re-launch of best-selling [authors] Brock and Bodie Thoene’s works for the international market was well-received,” she said. “Film tie-ins October Baby and Unconditional were popular from B&H Publishing Group. Abingdon Press and New Hope Publishers’ contemporary fiction titles that also address social issues were frequently requested, too.  

“After years of promoting youth fantasy fiction from category leader AMG Publishers/Living Ink, it appears now is the time that international publishers are finally looking seriously at this growing area,” added Riggins, who along with fellow rights agent Fred Rudy represented nearly 20 publishers of the Christian Collective. “In the nonfiction category, the most requested titles outside of Christian Living were on marriage, family and personal growth from a biblical perspective.” 

Representatives from 10 other Christian publishers, including Zondervan, David C Cook, Tyndale House Publishers, Baker Publishing Group, Harvest House Publishers and Crossway met with international rights buyers.  

“The show was a wonderful success for us, and it may have been our busiest ever,” said Jim Elwell, director of international publishing at Tyndale House. “We had many quality meetings and lots of opportunities coming out of our time. Having ECPA handle this service for us enables us to focus on the business we are handling rather than the logistics.” 

ECPA manages the business arrangements on behalf of the publishers. 

“By establishing the Christian Collective at both the Frankfurt and London Book Fairs each year, ECPA provides a collaborative presence for Christian content, while providing member publishers a professional, convenient booth and meeting space,” said ECPA President and CEO Mark Kuyper.