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Rights & Licences workshop for the Frankfurt Book Fair Invitation Programme 2022 (15th October 2022)

For the fifth time in a row and for the second time in attendance since the pandemic, Nicole Witt and Jordi Roca held a full-day workshop on Rights & Licences for the 20 participants of the Frankfurt Book Fair Invitation Programme (on Saturday before the book fair started). The guests were publishers from 20 countries and six continents. The workshop strengthened the participants for their international rights negotiations by presenting main points and pitfalls of agreements and how to negotiate them. After the presentation, participants had the opportunity to ask questions and clarify specific issues they faced. Another part of the seminar was dedicated to the role of different market players such as agents and scouts and how new publishers can find business partners, how to offer their books, how to pitch and how to organise their work and submissions. The plenary presentation was followed by practical work in smaller groups.

The Invitation Programme from the Frankfurter Buchmesse,  supported by the Federal Foreign Office, offers small independent publishing companies from Africa, the Arab world, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean the chance to participate. For publishing companies from these regions, globalisation is a two-edged sword. Access to the world market seems easier thanks to all-pervasive communications. At the same time, the advance of new conglomerates makes it harder to break into the market.

Some voices of the participants:

»The seminars were very enlightening. I am now equipped with more publishing tools and knowledge.«
Chinyere Elohor Egbordi, Ouida Books, Nigeria

»The seminars were an invaluable opportunity for the publishing houses and for my country and for myself, as a professional.«
Rena Suleymanova, Fabula Publishing House and Libra Kitab Publishing House, Azerbaijan