REPORT

CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FAIR **New Title Showcase** Shanghai, China November 7-9, 2013

China is considered the land of opportunity when it comes to business for many reasons, not the least of which is the size of the market. Over a billion people call China home, and approximately a quarter of that population is aged between zero and 16. When it was announced that some of China’s most important enterprises—including its largest educational and children’s book distributor and the official office that assigns ISBN numbers—were teaming up with (organizers of BookExpo America, The and other publishing events around the world) to create a children’s and educational material oriented book fair in the region, we at Combined Book Exhibit were excited to get involved. Now, with hindsight being what it is, we’re VERY excited that we did.

For the debut of the book fair (affectionately referred to as CCBF), we established a partnership with the fair as we do at its sister fairs in London and America: The first New Title Showcase to reach Chinese land was launched and we began to sign up publishers and authors both curious and eager about what a children’s book

277 White Street ♦Buchanan ♦New York ♦10511 Toll-free: 800-462-7687 ♦ Tel: 914-739-7500 ♦ Fax: 914-739-7575 ♦ Email: [email protected] fair in China would bring. By the time the fair opened, the New Title Showcase featured 17 companies, and close to 500 titles.

For the hours that the book fair was opened on the first day, traffic was constant and of a high caliber. For companies with larger areas within the New Title Showcase (and who sent staff), meeting tables were constantly full with attendees representing publishers and distributors eager to do business with English- language publishers from America. One area where CCBF really shined was bringing quality attendees: not only did the fair’s management convince thousands of professionals to want to attend, but they also had very popular programming throughout the fair. One such program was a match-making session between the participants of the NTS and local companies. Many leads were generated via this match making session.

As the second day of the fair got underway, it appeared as though the success of the programs also had some drawback: with so much attention given by attendees to programs, the exhibit hall did suffer a slowdown in traffic which lasted a large percentage of the day. Though day two ended strong, day three brought members of the public to the fair and in essence marked the end of the professional business at the fair. This did however come after very high quality meetings in day one or two that left our participants satisfied.

The entirety of the New Title Showcase was very well trafficked, and was perhaps one of the most popular stands on the entire show floor. Companies like Bella & Harry, ABDO Publishing, American Psychological Association and Saddleback Publishing experienced very full days of productive meetings, while other companies like Xlibris, BookWhirl and Jacqueline Muller all had books on display that received a lot of attention.

This year’s booth representatives were Jon Malinowski and Seth Dellon. Next Year’s CCBF will be held November 21-23.

277 White Street ♦Buchanan ♦New York ♦10511 Toll-free: 800-462-7687 ♦ Tel: 914-739-7500 ♦ Fax: 914-739-7575 ♦ Email: [email protected]