Selling Canadian Books and Rights to Asia: China, Korea and Japan

02/10/2011

Export Expertise – Webinar
March 1, 2011
From 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm EST

This webinar will show publishers the best strategies to approach the Chinese market, with comparisons to the Korean and Japanese markets for the sale of rights and finished products as well as how to build and maintain the different partnerships involved in selling books into Asia.

Topics addressed
Overview of the Asian book market
Selling Rights
Selling finished products
Digital rights and opportunities
Approaches to the marketing of Canadian books and authors in Asia
The key government agencies and their roles in the Chinese book industry
Co-printing

Who Should Participate?
Any publisher interested in selling rights or finished products in Asia. The seminar is aimed at publishers who already have experience in selling into Asia.

This event will take place in English only. French material will be made available in advance of the event.

Speaker
Xiaoyan Huang has 19 years of experience in publishing in the areas of acquisitions, import, marketing and children’s publishing, including positions at Amazon China, HarperCollins China, and the Shaanxi People’s Publishing House, China.  She was also the Editor-in-chief for the Children’s Classics Forever, Northern Women and Children’s Press, China and authored three published works. 

Registration
Price: $50 plus applicable taxes

Register now

For more information:
Christy Doucet
Programs Manager
T: 613-562-2324 ext. 225
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Livres Canada Books Consulting Opportunity

11/08/2010

Livres Canada Books is seeking a consultant with knowledge of sales rights and the digital environment to author a research paper on the topic of digital rights and export as they relate to Canadian publishers.  In addition to knowledge of the opportunities and challenges of exporting digital books, the consultant will bring knowledge of the key players and systems in the Canadian book industry and have excellent communications skills.

Deadline for applicants: November 16, 2010

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Exporting Digital Books:  a guide to best practices for Canadian publishers

Canadian publishers recognize the critical significance of digitization to the future of book publishing in Canada.  In export, new technologies are rapidly changing the way publishers do business.  Each international market has its own mechanisms for buying and selling digital content, as well as specific standards, formats and devices.  Canadian export publishers require a “one stop” resource for obtaining information about selling digital books in specific markets. Livres Canada Books seeks to produce a best practices guide that offers world-class market intelligence related to digital publishing and export.  The best practices guide should:

- Focus on export markets that are traditionally strong for Canadian publishers, and where there are currently significant sales of digital books.  These markets include the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

- Identify new and emerging markets that present opportunity for Canadian publishers exporting their digital books.

- Compile information about formats, standards, devices and (where applicable) software often used in these markets.

- Identify new advances in technology that exist in these markets.

- Discuss options for maintaining, selling or licensing rights, particularly as related to digital books.

- Make recommendations regarding digital formats and rights strategy that will assist Canadian publishers with eBook creation and (if warranted) with the process of converting print books to eBooks. These recommendations should ultimately help Canadian publishers to maximize opportunities to sell digital books in international markets. 

- Provide an annex of resources for Canadian publishers exporting digital books.

DESCRIPTION AND TIMELINE

Exporting Digital Books:  a guide to best practices for Canadian publishers can be broken down into three distinct project areas:

Market Intelligence
Includes a market snapshot for each of the traditional markets mentioned above (US, UK, France).  The market snapshot should include, at a minimum, volume sales for digital books in the areas of trade, scholarly and children’s publishing (where available); formats used and traded within the market; e-reading devices available to and used within the market; bibliographic standards adopted and advances in technology that affect the sale of digital books within the market.  This section will also identify new and emerging markets of interest to both English- and French-language publishers in Canada.  It is understood that new market profiles will be less developed than those of traditional trading partners.

Sales Rights
Includes a discussion of the options available to Canadian export publishers concerning sales rights.  The discussion of sales rights should present, at a minimum, three ways of handling sales rights—maintaining, selling and licensing – as well as the pros and cons to each approach.  Pros and cons should be discussed with a view to the sales and marketing of titles, and should include information that is relevant to trade, scholarly and children’s publishing.

Recommendations and resources
Provides general recommendations regarding the creation of digital books and the conversion of p to e with respect to format and delivery.  These recommendations should ultimately help Canadian publishers chart a course for creating and selling eBooks that will maximize their ability to sell digital books and digital rights to international markets.

Create an annex of resources that will aid Canadian publishers in developing a digital export strategy.  This will comprise a series of links (with descriptions) that can be updated over time.

The consultant will report to the Communications and Marketing Coordinator at Livres Canada Books. 
A final report will be expected by January 31, 2011.

Applicants should send a proposal with fee expectations by e-mail to:
Tricia McCraney
Coordinator, Communications and Marketing
Livres Canada Books
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About Livres Canada Books
Livres Canada Books is a not-for-profit book industry association that helps develop and increase Canadian publishers’ sales in international markets by providing market intelligence as well as financial, promotional and logistical support.

Canadian Book Seminar in Seoul, South Korea

07/16/2010

Hosted by the Embassy of Canada in Seoul, South Korea

The Canadian Embassy in Seoul, South Korea will hold its 7th Canadian Book Seminar on September 15-16, 2010. The seminar is designed to promote Canadian titles and to encourage the purchase of rights to Korean copyright managers and agencies.  The event will be an “open-house” style event, providing representatives of Korean publishing companies with as much time as they like browsing through Canadian titles. Following the event, Korean publishers that have expressed interest in specific titles/publishers will be put directly in touch with their Canadian counterpart to discuss possible collaboration and business opportunities.

This year’s seminar will focus on the following types of books:

Children’s literature, a key market for foreign publishers and a past focus of the Embassy. Children’s books continue to be one of the best performing markets for foreign publishers in Korea, given the country’s focus on education. New titles will be of particular interest to key Korean contacts, in particular those targeted at:

Preschool children: as always, picture books are widely popular.  In terms of illustration, publishers and consumers prefer pastel and oil painting colors;

Children in Grades 1-6: non-fiction titles that reinforce basic concepts that these students would learn in the classroom, in areas such as language arts, mathematics, science, economics, history, administration, social studies, common sense and even topics like wisdom of life are of interest. Those containing relevant illustrations and pictures will be of greater interest.

Literature for young readers (Grades 7-9) is a new and growing trend in Korea that continues to expand as younger readers age.  Though the current market share is rather small, there is a growing demand for fiction that tells touching and instructive stories about family, school, self-discovery and overcoming hardships and challenges. The market for genres such as science fiction, fantasy and romance is somewhat limited in Korea (with the exception of international best-sellers).

English as a Second Language (ESL) Materials, including textbooks and other materials used in schools and private learning institutes, a massive market in Korea. There is also significant demand for English learning series with different levels; and

In addition, award winning titles (including some adult titles) will be of particular interest to Korean contacts.

While French titles are more than welcome, given the limited ability of Korean publishers to read French, an English or Korean summary of the story line included with the book will be helpful to attract interest. Those materials will be very helpful for Korean publishers to have easy access to French books due to the language barriers.

If you are interested in showcasing your titles to Korean copyright managers and publishing companies, please ensure that your materials (including any related promotional materials) are delivered to the Livres Canada Books office no later than August 18, 2010:

Tricia McCraney
Coordinator, Communications and Marketing
Livres Canada Books
1 Nicholas Street, Suite 504
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 7B7
Tel: (613) 562-2324 ext. 228

At the same time, we would ask that you also send an email confirming your participation to Ms. Hye-shin Kang at the Embassy of Canada: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).  Please do not hesitate to be in contact with Ms. Kang should you have any questions.

The Embassy would like to thank the Livres Canada Books for its support of this initiative.

Report:  Livres Canada Books Scouting Mission to São Paulo, Brazil

05/19/2010

The objective of Livres Canada Books in organizing the scouting mission to São Paulo was to report on Brazil as a potential market for Canadian publishers in terms of rights sales and distribution.  The Livres Canada Books delegation consisted of three Canadian publishers with an active interest in or dealings with the Brazilian market, the Livres Canada Books Programs Manager, and Brazilian interpreter and publishing consultant, Dênya Rabêlo Castro.

Delegates met with relevant Brazilian publishers, distributors, associations and government officials in order to gain an understanding of the different facets of the Brazilian publishing market. The delegation also met with officials at the Canadian Consulate General to discuss possible future support and to build upon the work and findings of the scouting mission.

Following the scouting mission, Livres Canada Books felt that a Canadian presence at the Bienal Book Fair in São Paulo would build on the momentum of the mission, and will therefore be inviting publishers to exhibit on a Canadian Collective stand in August, 2010.

This report, written by the delegation of publishers who visited Brazil in February 2010, includes a profile of the Children’s book trade perspective, of the French-language Trade perspective, and of the Scholarly book trade perspective.

Download the report.

International Digital Rights Symposium - Frankfurt 2010

05/06/2010

Call for Speakers: International Digital Book Symposium at Frankfurt

After the success of our symposium at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair, Livres Canada Books has decided to do it again, this time with an emphasis on digital books. Livres Canada Books will host an International Digital Rights Symposium on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 5, 2010 in Frankfurt.

The Association is inviting speakers from international markets to discuss what’s really happening in the digital marketplace. We’re looking for various perspectives on rights, export sales and on different models used for eBook distribution in the global marketplace.

If you have a topic proposal, or would like to recommend a speaker, contact Tricia McCraney at +1 613-562-2324 ext. 228 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).