Talking to the guy in my local Waterstones book shop, having translated fiction on the cover wasn’t a good selling point, it gives and idea that the book is going ot be hard work before you even start it, this was again confirmed by my boss’s wife who while in areading group and always on the look out for something new to introduce toothers, finds that translated books if not translated well, often feel clunky and off putting and so we have the saying “lost in translation”

In another LBF seminar on the highs and lows of translation, the translator talks of being faced with the dilema, does he do a straight translation of the work, or does he use his creative licence, and how will this will be received by the reader, is it an enjoyable experience, some times he is even working alongside the author, and sometimes the author doesn’t want to be associated with the translation at all.

When we first think of the word foreign, there are a whole host of positive and negative connotations that could spring to mind, harnessing the right ones is the tricky part.

I’ve found from my research, a very small percentage of books that are in the english language are from foreign authors, wether its the hassle of dealing with another link in the whole process i.e. a talented translator, which is another added cost, or the unpredicatable aspect of wether they will do the story justice, or that this may take some time to turn around.

I listened to the keynote speech at the London book fair and while the panel explained at great lengths the significant contribution publishing and the creative industries play in our economy, when I african guy stood up at the back to complain there wasn’t enough books from foreign authors, to which the panel:

The value of publishing on society

Gail Rebuck CBE, The Random House Group / Tony Baldry, MP / Professor Sir John Enderby CBE / Margaret Hodge, Misister of State, DCMS

All were left pretty speechless, it seemed that maybe it was a closed shop, from the publishers point of view they want to make money from whats going to sell, and foriegn authors are a pretty small market.

So the challenge was how can we create a foreign fiction brand? who would buy this? and how could we reachan audience in an already saturated book market, is there room for something new?

A couple of obvious observations to be made at the LDF and trade fairs in general, the bigger and wealthier the publisher the bigger more bespoke the stand, being produced with higher quality materials, some having a second floor ontop with a bar, table a chairs to sit down and do business out of the way of everyone else,

Smaller publishers are set up close to others that will either have a rub off effect on their stand or foreign national tend to congregate close to one another in a fellowship. Some stands display a certain novelty to try something different, a double decker bus (GMC disribution), or creating a luxurious environment (Taschen), The displaying of books at a trade fair be seen as both boring and inspiring depending on where you look.

A good clip I spied on youtube of The London book fair  which I attended in on 14th -&15th April, shot here from the second floor where all the seminars were taking place, there is also another hall about twice the size of this one, is a good clip to give you an idea of the buzz that surrounds the event, hopefully I’ll get some pictures I took of the event up here.

The viral ad for books is an interesting concept and another tool for the branding and marketing department to increase sales, its a great taster into the book, a Guardian article claims that with increased sales this is the future.

“Small World” by Matt Beaumont was shot by a team led by Felix Wiedemann, which eventually won it this year in the Bookseller Video Awards. For a ninety second advert its really entertaining beautifully shot, nicely paced, I could see myself buying a book if its up to to such high standards as this.

Seeing a film trailer for a book in a cinema, may seem slightly strange with people no doubt saying at some point “I prefer the book trailer to the film”

Some words from the people at Random House

Ros Lawler, RH’s digital marketing and publicity manager, added: “From a digital marketing perspective it puts us on a level playing-field. We’re often in spaces where we’re up against the music industry or the film industry, and this is a good way of seeing whether we can do the same for books.”

Peter Bowron, group m.d. of RHG, said it is a “ground-breaking” experiment: “This is a completely original way to ensure awareness of our titles reaches a young adult and light-reading audience. The creation of short films could prove a creative and fresh way to market our books via multiple digital forums.”

A neat idea I saw the other day whilst in the Magma bookshop london, various literary works have been shrunk down in size and fitted into an even smaller cigarette packet, I can only imagine that this would be bought as a present as such a small format is pretty hard on the eyes.

From the publisher of the fashion magazine Tank, comes Tankbooks

From their website

“As one habit dies hard, another takes hold.
The ban on smoking in public places comes into operation in the UK on July 1, 2007. Tank is launching a series of books designed to mimic cigarette packs –
the same size, packaged in flip-top cartons with silver foil wrapping and sealed in cellophane.
TankBooks pay homage to this monumentally successful piece of packaging design by employing it in the service of great literature. Cigarette packs are iconic objects, familiar, tried and tested, and over time TankBooks will become iconic objects in their own right. The launch titles are by authors of great stature
– classic stories presented in classic packaging;
objects desirable for both their literary merit and their unique design.
TankBooks are for people on the move, lovers of literature and connoisseurs of design. Try one and you’ll be hooked.”

As part of the Holburn exhibition Bath of “50 years of Penguin” writer, designer and typographer Phil Baines discussed his favourite Penguin book covers taking us on a journey from the the original three striped cover through to the present with designs from David Pearson.

What I find interesting is how it can still maintain such a strong brand without it hardly being noticeable on most books, today the author is the brand as opposed to the publisher, some parts such as The Classics range maintains a strong look feel and identity while others are seen not to need it at all.

Phil suggests its about striking a balance, advertising is also used carefully, while others areas are seen not to need it so much, they found that during the early 90’s that branding worked against them, they were seen as being too bold and stuffy and so made a conscious decision to drop it in order to attract a younger market, now they’ve picked it up again and have begun to be more consistent with it, at the end of the day its about selling titles and as with many companies there is also deferring attitudes about how the branding should be used within its different departments.

The MA Publishing students of LCC (London College of Communication) put on a mini conference to debate the trends of reading and the future of magazine and book publishing.

The main points were that although new technology has come along it hasn’t presented itself as a threat to the physical published book, what is changing is the way we interact with our environment, we only need to look had how newpapers have adapted into a web like navigational feel, this more visually orientated culture means we consume ever more readily