London Book Fair -Tuesday

I think most people were relieved to see that the London Fair was crowded, packed actually. A comforting mass of people jammed their way down the aisles. I had to hold two meetings standing up, as the Mondadori Booth was so crowded there were not enough seats for everyone.

And still, there is overwhelming uncertainty in the air. And so, many of us took comfort in just getting together and talking with old friends from the business. I was glad to share thoughts with Leslie van Breen of Hudson Hills, Dan Farrell of the Antique Collectors Club, Sherry Babbit of the Philadelphia Museum. I also had a chance to pitch ideas to Leslie Stoker of STC, Michael Jacobs of Abrams, Frank Oppel of Book Sales, Robert Abrams of Abbeville. There might even be a few resulting sales from these meetings, we'll see.



Paolo Scaramuzzo from Imago was proud to display a kit designed for children in the British school system by the Kew Gardens, that allows them to perform various horticultural experiments and learn all about Darwin's adventures and discoveries.





Steve Bryant of Everbest was looking suave and unflappable as ever, and expressed confidence that we'd all be making buckets of money by the end of the year.

London Book Fair - Monday

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Are these the last few people on the planet who read books???






Monday was the first day of the Fair, and yes we did do some work.

But the nicest part of the day was a "Sex in the City" moment in the late afternoon, lounging around the hotel lobby bar with Elsa from Paris and Maria Eugenia from Barcelona, and a couple rounds of Cosmopolitans and Margaritas!

Later we went off in search of an Italian restaurant. We never found the one that had been recommended to us. Instead we stumbled (not literally) on this cute little joint - Ollins Restaurant - with probably six tables and three giant chandeliers.  Dinner was great, and a bottle of Sicilian wine kept the conversation flowing from politics, to movies, to husbands, to dessert. 

London Book Fair - Sunday afternoon - Taking it Easy

I know New York City pretty well, after living there for 15 years. And once upon a time I could find my way around Hong Kong, in fact on a day off I would play a game in which I would actually try to get lost. But I always managed to orient myself because of the Harbour and the Peak, and never really got very turned-around.




But there is no other city I can really figure out. I could never figure out Boston, after four years of going to college there. And to a great extent the layout of Washington DC, where I travel once a month, is still pretty obscure to me (I have this vague impression that it is more or less like a circle, or a snail shell - wait, maybe that's Paris ...)




I wake up this afternoon in my London hotel, after a flight from New York in which every conversation on the airplane, subway, on the street seems to have to d0 with publishing and seems to invariably include "And Business is Down by 40%!" Outside, I have no idea where I am in relation to anything else in London, but it is Spring and it is beautiful and I am touched by that magical feeling that strolling through a foreign city on a lovely afternoon can give you. I decide to get lost, which shouldn't be too hard.



I have been to London several times already, but still really have no sense of the overall layout or feel of the place. I wonder: Is this what it all looks like? Who knows, but this is what it looks like to me. For all us clueless Americans there is lettering on every street corner to remind you which way to look so that you don't get flattened.





Another reason why you might get distracted and bowled over by on-coming traffic is that it is just so incredibly cute. Yes, it does look like this.





Even the back alley ways are picturesque









Good Heavens! Who would have expected such unusual birdlife! I risk getting flattened (again) to capture this "National Geographic" shot of what is probably an ordinary London Bird, but looks highly exotic to me. He's big too!






Later I meet up with my colleague Nancy, and our wanderings inevitably lead us to a cute cafe and a glass of wine. After which we wind our way through these small streets, hitting dead-ends, false turns, a secret pathway between a tall garden hedge and finally make it back to our hotel just in time for our pre-Fair meeting.

Turbulence

I recently spent the week in Washington DC and then New York City.  These are such crazy times, with publishers, directors, managers being laid off right and left.  And yet at the same time, it seems to me that people are starting to focus on what comes next. Whether that means honing in on That One Special Talent or Market, or trying something completely different. Maybe we are all starting to come to grips with the complete shock of seeing friends and colleagues and respected mentors get laid off - and beginning to focus our energies on what each of us can do to keep business moving.

Some people are focusing in on their specialty. John, a packager I know who combines incredible good taste with charm and good looks, is overwhelmed with work at the moment, all of it celebrity-driven. "These clients are so high maintenance" he sighs, "but it seems to be the work I'm known for".  Doesn't sound too bad, being the book packager to the stars!  

Others are exploiting a niche. My friend Steve is doing incredibly well selling something called components: those items like book jackets and covers for bestselling books and kids books, that have all the fancy foil stamped type and special sparkly varnishes.

Other people I know in the printing business are taking a look at some of the non-traditional applications of their technology. A friend of mine at Toppan showed me samples of a new, high-grade lenticular printing, which made me think of William Gibson's holographic rock diva in Idoru...

And some people are just completely re-thinking what they want to do next. Mary, a friend who worked for one of my biggest customers, just got laid off and is thinking of starting her own "green" publishing company, something she's had in mind for a while. This change in employment status is the motivation she needs to take a serious look at this idea. Her friends have rallied to help her: "I've got a lot of contacts, and people have been incredibly helpful with introductions and support."

And then there are the entrepreneurs like Bahar, who see this time as an opportunity to experiment with and exploit new forms of communication, through his podcasting company Sonibyte. I think Bahar is determined to turn everything in print into a podcast! Books, magazines, even blogs, are all possible sources for this new audio tool.

In the world of traditional book printing and publishing, it is definitely a challenge trying to cajole clients to spend the extra money to print in Italy. Then, once the job is printed, the next challenge is getting paid! Just in time, Mondadori's director of Sales and Marketing flew in from Italy last week to spend quality time with some of our best customers,  administering a combination of arm twisting and good old Italian charm. We are nearly out of ammunition at this point, so let's hope this works!

By the end of the week I am trying to nail down my schedule for the London Book Fair. But who is going to the London Book Fair in April? Is anyone going to the London Book Fair in April?

Carved in Stone

For six years, William Wylie photographed the changing landscape of the Carrara marble quarry. His images capture the intense physical scale of the site, the dramatic setting, and the character of the stone cutters - caravatori - whose families have worked the quarries for generations.

Wylie has worked extensively on the subject of place - from the American West to Europe. His photographs have been widely exhibited, and may be found in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Yale University Art Museum and others.



Bill Wylie was on press recently at Mondadori for his latest project, CARRARA, which celebrates the legendary Cava di Gioia quarry in Carrara, the source of the luminous white marble used by Michelangelo, Bernini, and Henry Moore. It is a beautifully printed project in duotone and four-color. I just received my advance copy and I confess, it definitely took my mind off the daily drone of economic disasters.


Which stone supports the bridge, Kublai Khan asks? The bridge is not supported by one stone or another, Marco answers, but by the line of the arch that they form. Kublai Khan remains silent, reflecting. Then he adds: Why to you speak to me of stones? It is only the arch that matters. Polo answers: Because without the stones there is no arch. (Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities).

These questions from Kublai Khan are all quite interesting. But I wonder if Marco Polo could also tell me why these Carrara stone cutters are so darn stylish and good-looking?

Sartorialist, perhaps you would know ....

How Bad is It?

In one way last week was great. It started off with two days in DC, including a lovely evening on Monday having drinks by a roaring fire at The Tabard Inn with Rachel from National Geographic. And all week long I spent time with clients whose company I enjoy very much, and generally speaking, everyone was in the mood to talk. The bad part of course was that most of the discussions were pretty grim.

At The National Gallery in Washington, it was a nice surprise to hear that everything seems pretty much status quo. The show Robert Frank's The Americans has been a big success and is highly recommended. My friends at Meridian International also seemed to be doing OK, as far as I could tell still basking in the glow of an earlier exhibition for which we produced the catalogue, The Jazz Ambassadors.

But by Tuesday the weather and the news started to turn bad. I woke up to DC's first snowstorm of the year, had my breakfast, and trundled off to National Geographic with my suitcase and bag full of books skidding behind me in the snow. Now, I have always thought it would be impossible for anything to put a serious dent into the perennial optimism of this group of people. But the grim economic news seemed to be rubbing off on everyone. And worse! Book projects I was counting on now seem to be going to China! I have to say I felt a little desperate as I tried my best to badger upcoming projects out of Phil, Chris, and anyone else who would lend a sympathetic ear.

It was a very snowy train ride to New York, and the next day I gave up the suit and heels, and tromped around the city in my heavy boots, ski sweater, and parka. Lunch with Eric, editor-in-chief at Harry N. Abrams; Eric talked about the bad news in the industry -- including the fact that the publisher of PW has just been let go, which I could not believe. He seemed relatively cool as he spoke about all his concerns -- but maybe that is also because Abrams has just launched the big hit series Diary of a Whimpy Kid, which has allowed everyone a momentary breather. We discussed Art Basel Miami, which Eric attended too. It sounds as if he had a much more intellectually and culturally high-brow experience than I did, and once again I regretted that I am not just a little bit smarter and more well informed when speaking with Eric. Aside from books, we chat about blogging, podcasts, and Facebook -- all of which interest us both. Later in the afternoon, I marched through two feet of slush down to Abbeville Press. Susan, Louise, and David had great patience with me as I ran through my schpeel - and in fact they may be interested in one of the book projects I was trying to sell rights for as well as in Mondadori's new stock image service PhotoserviceElecta. Susan kindly mentioned she had read my blog -- and later I noticed that Abbeville has a very cool blog of their own, The Abbeville Manual of Style.



By Thursday I had had enough of the cold. But unfortunately, there was still more cold to come. However, I felt slightly better knowing it was also cold at home in Florida. In fact, it was so cold that one of our "neighbors" decided to climb down the palm tree, where he and his relatives usually hang out, and sun himself by the pool. (Photo courtesy of my husband's iPhone).


At Harper Collins, Marta and Liz were both pleased about the success of Kat Von D's High Voltage Tattoo, which had just made the New York Times bestseller list. On the other hand, Marta said she was not sure anyone was even going into bookstores these days. It is clear that many of the sorts of projects I have tried to pitch to Collins in the past are not going to fly at the moment. Subsequent meetings with Simon and Schuster and Stewart, Tabori and Chang also re-inforced this idea of overall uncertainty: that is, there is a feeling that no one really seems to be buying many books right now, and it is not certain IF and WHEN people are going to get back to buying books in the future, and what sort of books they will be interested in.

On my last day I passed by the '21' Club on my way to another meeting. When I got my first job in publishing 25 years ago, my grandparents took me here for a celebratory lunch. My grandfather ate here all the time with clients, and he knew the owners, who had left Europe during the War, as he and my grandmother had. I got a special tour of the hidden wine cellar that allowed patrons to stay lubricated during Prohibition. And I think there may have been some famous people -- possibly even from publishing -- eating there that day. But I don't remember. I was not sure if this restaurant was still around, and I am glad to see that it is...

Favorites - (fourth post) from Spain!

My good friend Maria Eugenia who represents Mondadori in Spain reminded me that she also has some lovely titles to boast about this year.

Medievo (The Middle Ages) and Renacimiento (The Rennaissance) are two of her favorites. Both of these big, sumptuous artbooks are published by Random House Mondadori through their imprint Electa Espana.

I think that about wraps up my informal, international survey of big, beautiful books for 2008. The question is now, what will we be working on in 2009? Let's hope we have some equally exciting projects to look forward to!