The South African Booksellers Association and Publishers’ Association of South Africa Annual General Conference 2018

 

South Africa’s flagship book industry event is set to happen on 28 and 29 August at Wanderers Club in Illovo north of Johannesburg.  Booksellers and publishers of South Africa gather at co-joined Annual General Meetings (AGM) to discuss topical issues in various sectors of the book industry.

 

“The two day conference is a gathering of key players in the business of bookselling. It is a time for all of us to celebrate our successes, share our concerns and collaborate in finding solutions.” explains Guru Redhi, President of the SA Booksellers Association (SABA), which organises the AGM with the Publishers’ Association of South Africa (PASA).

 

“The relationship between SABA and PASA is complementary within the book value chain as the publishers create and distribute, while the booksellers retail the books; one cannot exist without the other” says Redhi.

 

The premise behind the two AGMS happening at the same time and in the same place is to create an enabling environment where discussions can promptly happen with the relevant parties to bring about a swift plan of action.

 

“The AGMS are co-located to encourage PASA and SABA members to strengthen their business relationships in the book value chain,” says Mpuka Radinku Executive Director of PASA.

 

A much-anticipated part of the conference programme is the Sefika Awards & Nielsen Booksellers’ Choice Award on the evening of 28 August. The event acknowledges and celebrates booksellers and the role they play in promoting literacy and a culture of reading by producing and selling quality books in South Africa.

 

The following categories form part of the bookseller’s awards:

• Academic bookseller of the year
• Education bookseller of the year
• Library supplier of the year
• Trade bookseller of the year (chain stores)
• Trade bookseller of the year (independent)

 

Publisher’s awards that will be elected are:

• Academic publisher of the year
• Education publisher of the year (large)
• Education publisher of the year (small)
• Trade publisher of the year

 

Winners are selected through a voting process which enables Publishers to select the best among Booksellers and in turn Booksellers choose the winners among Publishers.

 

The evening culminates with the most coveted accolade, the Nielsen Booksellers Choice Award. The award is bestowed upon a local author for a South African published book that booksellers most enjoyed selling or that sold so well that it made a difference to the bottom line of booksellers across the country.

 

Last year’s winner was Born a Crime and other stories by Trevor Noah, published by Pan Macmillan in South Africa.  The book is a memoir of Trevor’s path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show in New York which all began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison.

 

The short-listed books for 2018 are 90 Rules For Entrepreneurs, published by Tracey McDonald Publishers, which is based on Marnus Broodryk’s business experiences with insights from his friends and fellow entrepreneurs.

 

Two Jonathan Ball Publisher titles also made it into this year’s shortlist, Redi Tlhabi’s Khwezi – the story of four courageous women who interrupted Jacob Zuma’s victory address at South Africa’s heated municipal elections, and Thandeka Gqubule’s No Longer Whispering To Power – the story of the South African people’s attempt to hold power to account through the Office of the Public Protector.

 

Steve Biko’s I Write What l Like has also made it into the final five. The title features the writing of this famous activist and Black Consciousness leader before his untimely death in detention at the age of 30. Biko was instrumental in uniting Black Africans in the struggle against the apartheid government in South Africa.

 

Lastly, President’s Keepers by investigative journalist Jacques Pauw rounds off the shortlist. This bestselling book, published by Tafelberg Publishers, exposes a secret at the heart of Jacob Zuma’s compromised government.

 

The short list was created through a nomination process by SABA booksellers and the winner is selected through votes from booksellers for a specific author/title.

 

The Sefika Awards & Nielsen Booksellers’ Choice Award event is per invite only.  Media accreditation requests can be sent to maiyo@nativeworx.co.za.

 

 

Jacana Media is proud to announce that they have been awarded the Bologna Book Fair’s ‘Children’s Publisher of the Year’ prize in the African category.

The prize is for “publishers who have most distinguished themselves for their creative and publishing excellence over the year, showing originality as well as professional and intellectual skills” and Jacana Media congratulates the other shortlisted publishers Boustany’s Publishing House, Sub-Saharian Publishers, Protea Boekhuis and Ruisseaux d’Afrique.

The prize is run by the fair in association with the Italian Publishers’ Association and rewards the best children’s publishers in six areas of the world: Africa, Central and South America, North America, Asia, Europe and Oceania.

“We are honoured to be recognised with this award,” says Carol Broomhall, publisher at Jacana Media. “We work hard to bring our books to a primarily South African audience and it is heartening when the quality of our publications is recognised internationally and we are thrilled to be so acknowledged.”

The winners in the other regions are:

OneTree House – New Zealand (Oceania)
Éditions D’eux – Canada (North America)
Ediciones Tecolote – Mexico (Central and South America)
Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry Publishers – Poland (Europe)
Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers – Japan (Asia)

Take-homes from Shanghai

Bumble Books, a small South African independent publisher has won several international awards including the Best Children’s Book Publisher Africa in Bologna in 2016. This international recognition has led to rights sales of Bumble titles, some of which have been in Chinese. As a result Robin Stuart-Clark, owner and publisher of Bumble Books, was invited to attend the Shanghai Visiting International Publisher’s Programme Fellowship (SHVIP) at the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF) in 2017.

The CCBF is the only book fair in the Asia Pacific region fully dedicated to children’s book publishing and children’s content. Established in 2013, after five successful book fairs, today CCBF rapidly confirms its status as a significant publishing event on the global market.

The SHVIP is a six-day fellowship programme that offers a group of children’s book specialists the opportunity to gain detailed insight into China’s publishing landscape and visit the CCBF from an exclusive perspective. The 2017 fair took place from 13 to 18 November in Shanghai and welcomed 11 children’s book professionals.

The programme is designed for publishers and editors from all levels. However, vacancies are reserved for foreign rights and, literary agents, scouts and other specialists in children’s literature with a strong interest in the Chinese market.

The Fellows met Chinese publishers who showed them what they are doing and what they are buying from international publishers. Meetings with some of their writers, editors, designers and illustrators led to an exchange of ideas with both parties.

The programme culminated in a book pitch party where the 11 international fellows and 9 Chinese publishers each had three minutes to present a book. The Fair then ran from 17-19 November where various appointments with Chinese publishers had been pre-arranged.

The Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair has 350 exhibitors from some 35 countries displaying over 60,000 new titles in 25,000 square metres of exhibition space, 66% of which is Chinese product. The development of the Fair over the past 5 years has mirrored the social and cultural changes in China that have led to growing consumer demand, particularly for pre-school titles and picture books. Many titles are designed to introduce reading to young children with interactive and novelty titles much in evidence.

The Chen Bochui Literature and Publishers Award as well as a comprehensive conference and children’s literature programme are major features of the Fair. Highlights of the event are the Golden Pinwheel Illustrators Award (now in its third year) designed to showcase new talent from around the world. A record 3,655 entries were received from 37 countries. Notably, South African Dale Blankenaar, who is currently working on a Bumble book, Copycat by Sadia Ismail, was one of the nominees.

The State encourages publishing – including purchase of international rights (adult and children’s titles) – and promotes accessibility with subsidies to keep book prices low and provides access to the education system. This allows publishers to publish many more titles per annum; for example, The China Welfare Institute Publishing House publishes over 200 titles per annum. There has been talk of the State limiting the allocation of ISBNs for international titles published in Chinese, but it seems that China’s ‘open door’ policy will prevail.

TRENDS

China is open for business. They want to be seen as truly international and want to trade with us: buy and sell. Their books are sophisticated, beautifully produced and accessibly priced. Bookstores are child-friendly with special areas for activities, readings and performances, resting, food outlets and can also include optometrists.

Art, culture and heritage are big earners in China. The Chinese are proud of their culture and heritage and this is evident in children at heritage sites and the many books published on folk stories, history, fantasy and the like. This reading ethic extends to international children’s classics which are hugely popular as well as contemporary children’s books.

There is a definite interest and need for entertaining but less didactic texts with images – Bumble titles like The PossibiliTree, The Rainbow’s Heart, and at a simpler level The Baby Brother Curse, Mu’s Wolf Problem and Farrah is not a Dalmatian were their top picks in the 2017 Bumble Catalogue.

OPPORTUNITIES

China offers South African Publishers a massive market. The bureaucracy requires patience but in general publishers will be looking at print runs of 6,000 – 100,000 copies and upwards with 80,000 considered a bestseller. Bumble has sold the Chinese (simplified characters) rights for Farrah is not a Dalmatian for a 20,000 copy print run. This is a far cry from Bumble’s 1000 print run in South Africa.

WORK ETHIC

Four of the five publishing houses we met were woman-owned with what I can only describe as a dynamic family atmosphere; employees are highly trained – graduates or post graduates – and were encouraged to communicate and present their roles to us. My over-riding impression was a strong team ethic, disciplined, hard-working and respectful with a pride in their product which is of the highest quality.

TAKE HOMES

Bumble Books is publishing and selling rights for South African written and illustrated children’s picture books that have relevance to foreign markets – China, Finland, Japan, Korea and Spain (Spanish and Catalan). From the Fellowship it was clear that there are other international like-minded publishers and Chinese publishers with whom South African publishers can network and trade to access far larger markets beyond South African retail.

By ROBIN STUART-CLARK