The program features nearly 50 activities in which more than 100 speakers will take part
Liber, the largest international fair for books in Spanish, taking place on 12-14 October at Barcelona's Gran Via Exhibition Centre, is finalizing the content of its one-day conferences for professionals in which more than 100 Spanish and international speakers will reflect on the main problems and challenges facing the book world and how to tackle them successfully. The preliminary program includes nearly 50 round tables, conferences and presentations that will deal with different issues relating to new business models, foreign markets, marketing and the evolution of the digitalization of books, amongst other topics.
The various activities making up the professional seminars of the book fair have been grouped according to the core themes approved by the Management Board of the Spanish Association of Publishers Guilds (FGEE) and the Executive and Organizing Committees of Liber 2016, although other sessions of a transversal nature are also included.
Thus, as part of the topic dedicated to increasing the presence of books in Spanish in foreign markets, the spotlight will fall upon Latin America, the USA and Europe, the main export destinations for Spain. There will be sessions focussing on how to sell more books in the USA and how to access new markets via the internet. The free circulation of books in the Ibero-American area will also be debated. Additionally, a study will be presented on the circulation of Spanish culture in the USA and new horizons on the selling of rights will be discussed.
Various of the round tables and talks will concentrate on the professionalization of publishing as opposed to other publication methods. A highlight is the contribution of the analyst and international journalist Edward Nawotka, who will identify the trends that are changing the publishing world on a global level. Other interesting presentations will cover desktop publishing and small and medium publishers; the contrast between free and professional publishing; and if the usefulness of eBooks with technical content for professional activity counts as leisure or business.
The digital evolution of books and markets in Spanish will also be considered by the Liber Seminars. There will, for example, be discussions on digital business models that work, smart recommendation algorithms for books on the web, digital trends in Latin America, libraries in the digital age and how Big Data and artificial intelligence can assist the publishing sector. The updated edition of the book La gran transformación (The Great Transformation) will also be presented, which is an in-depth study of the book industry in Spain.
In the current context, marketing is also affected by the new business models, especially through the use of e-commerce and the opening up of bigger opportunities in a global market. Therefore, consideration will be given to the consequences and implications for the book world of the European Digital Single Market and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP); new dispensations affecting the book world in the European Union; strategies for distributing eBooks; technology as a support for marketing books with the presentation of the Libelista platform that will enhance and increase the value of the corner bookshop as a cultural reference in an online environment.
Books for children and young people, technical publications and comics
Furthermore, The Liber Seminars will include specific sessions in order to analyze specific aspects regarding books for children and young people, scientific-technical and academic publications and comics. With regard to these, round tables will be held dealing with reading and education in Ibero-American countries, the keys to distributing and promoting literature for children and young people and encouraging reading through classic texts.
There will also be an assessment provided of scientific publishing in Spanish which attempts to evaluate scientific-technical and academic publishing based on constructing a ranking method that acts as a seal of quality, a system that will be launched at this year's edition of Liber. Meanwhile, the world of the cartoon will have a presence at two conferences that will discuss, respectively, about the importance of the comic industry in Spain and Latin America and about the emergence of the South American comic.
In addition, during the seminars directed at professionals, information will be provided on the latest news about the DILVE-ISBN and the Bookshop Seal of Quality; an agreement will be signed with the National Library to take advantage of metadata on the book market for Legal Deposit and there will be discussion on several aspects relating to libraries, translation, proofreading, biodiversity and the future of the book. At the same time, meetings with participants will continue to take place both at the United States Library Mission and the Program for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE) through which international buyers and opinion leaders are invited to Liber.
