NBT-India leaves an impressive impression at FBF ’13

Having participated for the first time as an independent participant, in association with Sahitya Akademi, NBT tried to bring to the publishing world its whole treasure of knowledge compiled over the years in the form of books. AABP editor SK Khurana (SKK), in brief conversation with NBT chairman A Sethumadhavan (AS), who was present in this book fair all five days, brings more on their participation.
Aesthetically designed and crafted by NBT India’s own team in New Delhi, visitors to Hall 8 were left totally impressed by the overall look and design of their stand. With a mix of display methodology of books in an attractively designed shelves all around, inviting reception counter, high quality pictures depicting India’s famed authors (both of NBT and Sahitya Akademi) and facilities of reading the book from their shelves in an comfortable manner were the key features of their stand, housed in an area of 150 sq m. Here’s a brief Q&A with A Sethumadhavan, chairman, NBT:

SKK: What can be called a key objective for participating in FBF?

AS: “Learning Process” in the world’s biggest book fair can be termed, where developing and developed countries taking part in their own ways. In a way this is the only place with global presence by publishing industry showcasing enormously. We have observed many items/activities which can be followed by us in New Delhi World Book Fair, providing better experience to visitors/participants. Events like Authors’ Corners or Rights Tables can be arranged in much livelier manner.

SKK: Apparently, is it not just a ‘trading’ sort of fair where ‘buying and selling’ activity takes place. What is your take on this?

AS: In a way – yes, but we can also gauge the changes taking place within publishing segments like going digital way and use of Apps, etc. The innovation in children books are also taking on to faster tracks.

SKK: Can you elaborate, as to what sort of books NBT has displayed in this international fair?

AS: We have displayed books in a collective manner with Sahitya Akademi, displaying around 150 titles. We on the part of NBT have brought in books from small time publishers covering all subjects apart from NBT’s own published books.

SKK: Any major achievement, NBT could make by participation in FBF?

AS: Yes, for the very first time, we succeeded in selling translation rights of few NBT titles. In fact talking further on translation and its promotion, governments of many countries encourage this initiative and expenses are reimbursed by them and Abu Dhabi is the greatest example. Vouchers of substantial denominations are distributed regularly by Brazil Government for purchase of books. And for us China, Korea and countries within Africa continent remain untapped.

SKK: What other activities NBT or Sahitya Akademi performed in this FBF?

AS: NBT, in association with GBO New Delhi, organised an afternoon dedicated to Indian and Brazilian children’s content on October 10, 2013 at KIDS BUBBLE (AGORA). With this initiative, we have been able to develop good contacts which can be explored in a meaningful manner in future. And Sahitya Akademi also brought few renowned authors from India and arranged book reading sessions under the motto ‘My world – my right’ in NBT Pavillion.

SKK: Your concluding remarks about NBT participation in FBF ’13?

AS: I am very happy to inform that we received immense appreciation from many dignitaries/visitors that NBT pavilion stands apart at least in hall 8 of FBF if not at whole expo. And I must convey my compliments to our in-house team who designed such a nice pavilion. I also thank FBF authority for their excellent co-operation and providing us a premier location in hall 8. I am sure that with this year’s experience, we will be able to do much more activities in the next edition of the fair. At the end I would say that credit for such well participation goes to NBT’s director, deputy director and all team members, without their tireless efforts, this might not have been possible.

New learning solutions from Repro India

RAPPLES (Repro Applied Learning Solutions) is the new initiative from Repro India launched at the show, which provides complete end to end digital content delivery and education platform for different educational segments. The format includes offering Tablets pre-loaded with textbooks for students.

CAPEXIL at FBF

The CAPEXIL pavilion at the London Book Fair 2013 was highly appreciated by the Indian exhibitors and thus motivated lot of participants from India to be part of that in Frankfurt Book Fair. But the things went haywire as the arrangement at the FBF dampened the spirits of many Indian exhibitors. The fabrication of the pavilion, delay in possession of the stands, last-minute shuffling of the position of the stands, etc were a few problems that they faced. On interacting with Ramesh K Mittal, chairman (books, publications and printing panel), it was conveyed that this happened at the hands of contractors responsible for fabrication, who messed out all that. Though, he did all his best to handle the situation by way of even taking the help of official contractors of Frankfurt Book Fair authorities. Hope that such kind of lapses would not occur in any of the next international exhibitions and Capexil would regain its confidence amongst Indian exhibitors.

GLOBALOCAL Roundtable –
Success stories from Asia & India

India, located at the edge of Asia, is not only the third biggest English language market but also the best place for east-west-cooperation. To extend this idea, GBO invited professionals from India and their Asian counterparts at the Frankfurt Book Fair for an indepth discussion on successful business models, cooperation possibilities and to explore synergies and emerging trends. The GLOBALOCAL Asia Roundtable had representation from Indonesia – Dorothea Rosa Herliany (Poet and writer), Malaysia – Linda Tan Lingard (Managing partner, Yusof Gajah Lingard Literary Agency), Singapore + Phillipines – Jayapriya Vasudevan (Founder, Jacaranda LLP), Sri Lanka – Sam Perera (Perera Hussein Publishing House, a niche publisher based in Sri Lanka) and India – VinuthaMallya (Principal at LineSpace Consulting) and was moderated by Prashasti Rastogi, Director, GBO New Delhi. The discussions focussed on understanding the trends in respective markets, evaluating the existing trade ties, exploring potential for growth, discuss possibilities of promoting literature in each other’s regions and the initiatives needed to intensify exchange within Asia.

Guided Tour & Business Networking – Education: The GBO New Delhi offered a guided tour for Educational Book publishers/exhibitors from India to meet and interact with their international counterparts, i.e., International Educational Publishers/Service Providers in the dedicated Hall 4.2 – the location for STM & Academic Publishing, Specialist Information, Technology and Education. Interactions were organised with companies like Solution Tree, Bloomington; Pre K 12 Learning Group of the Association of American Publishers; EB Publishing, UK and US Commercial. The tour also included a visit to the Cyber Classroom which was a highlight of the area 4.2 and showcased forthcoming trends in education with live practical demonstrations of the technological innovations for the classroom and of the newly developed content in three dimensional learning modules.

Federation of Indian Publishers organised a Reception-Dinner on the sidelines of Frankfurt Book Fair on Oct 10, 2013. Prominent personalities from publishing industry gathered at Hotel Intercontinental, Frankfurt.