News

The interim ban on Into the River has ended with the majority of the Film and Literature Board of Review classifying the book as ‘unrestricted’. The majority of the Board stated that the book dealt with the subject matter in a way that was essential to the story and was not gratuitous.

The board consists of three lawyers, chair Dr Don Mathieson, Andrew Caisley and Michael Stephens, and Professor of Film and Television Studies at Auckland University Lawrence Simmons and consultant Sandy Gill.

The majority viewed the book as dealing with matters “about the potentially negative consequences that can follow from involvement in casual sex, under age drinking, drug taking, crime, violence and bullying” in a way that was likely to educate, rather than promote. The majority therefore reached the conclusion that Into the River was not “objectionable” as defined by section 3(1) of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993. The sole dissenting voice was that of Dr Mathieson.

The Film and Literature Board also removed its earlier age restriction on Into the River and the book now carries no age restriction.  The majority decision can be viewed here. The dissenting decision can be viewed here.

Debra Millar, Publishing Director at Penguin Random House NZ, says they have sold North American rights for Into the River and Thunder Road to an independent US publisher Polis Books, as well as ANZ and UK audio rights for Into the River to Audible. But there have been no other confirmed rights sales at this point, she says.

However, the company’s Australian based rights manager is still following up on interest from other countries and discussions held at Frankfurt.

“We have seen strong orders for Into the River from New Zealand booksellers since the ban was lifted, and to date we have reprinted 1000 copies to meet demand, Debra notes. “There has also been unprecedented eBook sales globally since the review board decision to impose an interim restriction on sales in New Zealand.”

Report from Peter Dowling Managing Director of Oratia Media (www.oratiamedia.com) and publisher of its books division Libro International (www.librointernational.com), and international councillor of the Publishers Association of New Zealand.

Smaller and better: that’s my feeling after four days at the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair, the major event on the world publishing calendar.

The Frankfurter Buchmesse organisers condensed the layout of the fair this year, bringing English-language publishers from the distant and cavernous Hall 8 to reside across three levels in Hall 6. With the New Zealand stand well positioned on the ground floor, it was a lot easier to connect for meetings in the other halls and to feel part of this great global village of books.

Compliments again to Anne de Lautour (pictured below with Peter) and the Publishers Association of New Zealand for the very cool and visible design of the collective stand on which Oratia Media took its place alongside 14 other Kiwi publishers – and to our stand staff Christiane Arheilger and Heike Reifgens. There’s a supportive spirit of collegiality and fun all week (rated as the week’s best by many fair regulars). 

Meetings here are conducted at half-hour intervals, which on the busiest days this year meant over 15 official encounters with publishers, agents, distributors and service providers at our stands and theirs – before dinners and gatherings into the night. Along with reviewing current business relationships, presenting new books, seeking rights deals and pitching new series and book ideas, I started communicating our soon-to-be-public rebranding and development plans.

At the New Zealand party: Michael Duckworth (University of Hawaii Press) and Scott Beatty (Trajectory)

Smaller and better also describes how the book industry is looking now. Sure, bookstores have closed, publishers have pulled out of some markets and tightened their lists, and ebooks have generally not delivered on their promise. But a leaner publishing industry has got smarter and is seeing a consumer move back to print, and for independents there’s market share to be grabbed and easier international connections to be made.

For our authors, exposure to the international publishing community will hopefully lead to seeing their books overseas and in translation. With our Chinese agent Fanny Yu of CA-Link I toasted the sale of mainland Chinese rights to Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird’s I Need a New Bum!, and I got a good response to their new book Mister Spears and his Hairy Ears. Our new international picture book series Indigenous Voices, which includes a great new story from Tim Tipene, is exciting a lot of interest also. And the September release of Hirini Moko Mead’s classic Te Toi Whakairo: The Art of Maori Carving is also promising good sales offshore.

With Fanny Yu of our Chinese agency CA-Link

I was also delighted to present some fine NZ books from outside our own programme, including Neil Coleman’s hard-hitting YA novel Roskill, David Bell’s YA fantasy novel The Dog Hunters (first in a very promising series), David Lupton and Leonel Alvarado’s beautiful The Divine Remains, and the sumptuousCoast, Country, Neighbourhood, City, which profiles the work of design studio Isthmus.

Our section of the NZ stand

So much of world publishing is dominated by big US, UK, French and German corporations. Alongside good meetings with colleagues from all those markets, this year Frankfurt brought me great exchanges with publishers from publishers as far flung as Belarus, Chile, El Salvador, Ireland … Big is beautiful but so is small.

Read more from Peter on http://librointernational.blogspot.co.nz/

From Book Sellers NZ:
With over 180+ bookshops involved, publishers, book industry associations, community groups and some libraries.  Check out “What’s Up” and Participating Stores online http://www.booksellers.co.nz/bkshop-day/participating-shops

Now it’s time to take to social media and create a ground swell!  Easy quick links are below:

1. Take action and post this event onto your Facebook page  and LIKE & SHARE our page and stories.
2. Include a note for newsletters due out before the day.
3. Take part in the “Snap Me Reading” competition, we are seeing some clever photos of where people read!
4. Take part in the All Good colouring competition – lets see that artistic flair!
5. We are posting up an “Author and Quote” everyday, these could be your favourites  to follow on your Facebook page
6. Go out and visit your local participating bookshop on NZ Bookshop Day, tell your friends!

Thank you to those who have already starting promoting, blogging, liking,  tweeting, snapping, etc.

All Campaign and Bookshop Event updates

Like us on NZ Bookshop Day Facebook

Follow us Twitter – #nzbookshopday, #snapmereading and #allgoodcolouring
Post your photo using hashtag  #snapmereading.  Add your caption and this hashtag sends it straight to our Facebook competition page.

Pin this wonderful collage of NZ Bookshop Day

Competitions – Spread the word to friends and family to enter into the competitions!  Great prizes!

Click here to post a photo of your families entertaining reading moments

Pop into your local store or download colouring sheet to be in the draw.

Yvonne Cookson

Project Manager

Booksellers NZ

04 815 8364

www.booksellers.co.nz

Dame Wendy Pye was one of 16 women icons from APEC countries when she represented New Zealand at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Women and the Economy 2015 Fora in Manila in mid-September.

Dame Wendy Pye next to her 4 foot x 8 foot visual

“The meeting was very interesting,” said Dame Wendy. “It was attended by leading Information Computer and Technology people from all over Asia and America. Taking part in the conference on ICT were women from many start ups and companies who were selling apps and digital content, not in publishing but other fields.

“There were interesting seminars also on crowd funding and also the future of digital technology,” she told PANZ News.

“The ICONs from other countries were wonderful women who had achieved great success in their own countries. Representatives from Russia, China and Canada were to me the most outstanding women.

“A great event and a celebration for all women achievers,” said Dame Wendy.

Delegates attended the twin launch of Iconograph and Luxe Philippines exhibits at the Philippine International Convention Center. Iconograph highlighted the stories of the 16 extraordinary women economic leaders from APEC economies.

In a touching bequest from former publishing identities Margaret and Ted Forde, an annual scholarship from 2016-2019 will enable New Zealand publishers to further their careers by attending the annual Yale Publishing course.

Woodhurst E Forde (Ted) and his wife, Margaret came to New Zealand from Glasgow where they had both worked at William Collins & Sons. Ted was in charge of publishing in the Bible Department and Margaret was secretary to Ian Collins, the Vice-Chairman of the company. They decided they wanted a change and contacted the New Zealand branch of the company. On their arrival in the late 1950s Ted was employed by the company to produce non-fiction books and Margaret was secretary to the Managing Director.

When Ted retired, Margaret did too, but they continued to publish for William Collins on a freelance basis. After Ted’s death, Margaret continued editing and proof-reading for David Bateman Ltd, the publishers in Auckland. On her death in 2014, she left a legacy to fund the scholarship. With a value of NZ $13,000 per annum the W.E and M.L Forde Publishing Scholarship is available to one publisher per year for the next 3 years to attend the Yale Book Publishing course held in mid-July on the Yale University Campus.

Sam Elworthy attended the course when he was based in the US. “I’d been in publishing more than a decade when I did the Yale Publishing Course and I learned a whole lot—from outstanding Yale Business School lecturers; from major figures, young and old, from US publishing who were the presenters; and from other participants in the course. You live in, you talk publishing 24/7, you gain a bigger vision,” he says.

David Bateman’s Associate Publisher Tracey Borgfeldt attended the Yale course earlier this year and says she would highly recommend the programme for anyone in middle or senior levels in publishing, across all areas including finance, editorial, marketing or sales.

“The valuable aspect of the YPC is the calibre of the participants. There were around 68 on this course, the majority overseas, with maybe 25 to 30 from the US. There was a lot of sharing of information and contact details and I would feel comfortable contacting them, or the speakers, in the future. If the person attending was wanting to extend their international network, this is the place to do it,” Tracey believes.  Read Tracey’s full report from Yale here.

Applications are open now to PANZ members and they close on 30th October. To download a copy of the application form go to the  training page of the PANZ website.
Any queries contact katherine@publishers.org.nz

Pania Tahau-Hodges in the Fischer verlage office in Germany

Herzliche Grüße aus Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland!

Ngā mihi maioha ki a koutou mai i Frankfurt, Tiamana!

Greetings from Frankfurt, Germany!

I am now in to my third week here in Frankfurt on a work placement with Fischer Verlage, one of the biggest publishing houses in Germany. The placement is an initiative that has been established through the collaborative efforts of PANZ and the Frankfurt Book Fair and funding from Creative New Zealand. My first couple of weeks here have been an extreme learning curve to say the least – with a slope so steep in fact, I have at times wondered if I was going to fall off the proverbial slope just from pure sensory overload!

I arrived here in Germany thrilled and excited for lots of reasons: it is my first time in Europe, the fact that Frankfurt is so close to some of the countries that are on my bucket list to visit, and my love for European shoes are but a few. However, it was the opportunity for personal growth and professional development, and the chance to gather knowledge and information to benefit my team at Huia Publishers and the wider New Zealand publishing industry that really had the butterflies in my belly doing the loop-di-loop.

To be honest, before embarking on this trip I also felt slightly terrified. It’s my first time travelling alone, I didn’t know any German language whatsoever before I left New Zealand, nor did I know a single soul in Germany. The thought of looming loneliness and cultural isolation threatened to bring the whole trip to a halt even before it had started. Thank goodness I had the sense to pop on my big-girl-knickers, have a drink of concrete and listen to my husband’s advice to ‘Suck it up!’ For it has indeed turned in to an unforgettable experience, beyond anything I could have ever imagined – and I’m only halfway through the trip!

There is a rich history of literature in Germany and the staff here at Fischer are extremely proud of the contribution that German writers make to the literary world. I have been placed in the Rights Department here at Fischer for the duration of my placement. This has given me the chance to learn about Fischer Verlage as a publishing house: their programmes, their practices, and their vision. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with staff from a number of different teams and everyone has been extremely generous with their time, knowledge and kindness. I have also been able to start building my understanding of the German publishing industry and what it looks like at its various levels.

I have visited libraries and interviewed librarians, hunted out bookshops, read a couple of books by German writers that have been translated in to English, attended readings with authors, pestered staff here at Fischer with a million and one questions, and taken every opportunity available to me to learn about what makes Fischer Verlage ‘tick’.

While I have tried to make myself an open receptacle to capture all of this learning, I am conscious that an important part of this placement is to not only ‘take’, but to ‘give’. Fortunately the work that I am doing here in the Rights Department has made this possible. The tasks I have been given to date have included proofing their English language autumn catalogue (which is due for release in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair), preparing English language information sheets for their upcoming titles (and yes, they have a lot!), and helping the Rights Department research potential clients in preparation for the fair. All of these tasks have also been a great learning opportunity for me to see how Fischer works and about the international publishing scene. So I’m glad to be making a positive contribution to the Fischer work programme, even though it feels like a pittance in exchange for the wealth of knowledge I am gaining from the staff here.

While there are limits to the meetings and conversations I can participate in due to the language barrier, I am doing everything I can to learn, learn, learn – and retain! With three weeks to go, I know that there will be lots more to soak up before I come home, particularly as Fischer moves in to hyper-drive in preparation for the looming Frankfurt Book Fair. Despite the pressure of this impending event (that is the single most important entry in the calendars of all Fischer staff), the team here continue to make time for me and are happy to answer my multitude of questions.

I look forward to whatever the next two-and-a-half weeks has in store, and to returning to New Zealand a little wiser, a little more worldly, a lot more brave, and ready to share what I have learned.

Für jetzt auf Wiedersehen

Hei konā

Farewell for now!

Pania Tahau-Hodges is in Frankfurt as part of the Frankfurt Book Fair legacy project publisher exchange 2015 funded by Creative New Zealand.