Scramble for series in international trade

Despite the gloom back home in the UK market, international publishers were positively buoyant, with those attending the Frankfurt Book Fair reporting brisk business.

In stark contrast to 1998, this year the general atmosphere among German publishers was upbeat, following a set of promising market statistics; book sales were up in September for the second month running and thanks to one of the strongest lists in years.

Traffic in Halls 5 and 6, home to German trade publishers, repeatedly came to a standstill. A record number of German booksellers made it to Frankfurt—many of them to place orders for this autumn's big books, high among them Thomas Harris' Hannibal, publication of which had been brought forward by Hoffmann und Campe from its original publication date in January 2000.

Two German authors attracted unprecedented media attention: politician Oskar Lafontaine and 1999 Nobel Laureate Günter Grass. Some 800 journalists and 40 television crews turned up when Lafontaine, former minister of finance, presented his memoirs, The Heart Beats On the Left.

Elsewhere, publishers reported strong demand for series, especially in the children's market. Canadian children's publisher Valerie Hussey of Kids Can Press said: "We have found a general responsiveness to our books, but series are the strongest. With Harry Potter doing what it is, it is hardly surprising that everyone wants something similar."

Fellow Canadian Anna Porter of Key Porter Books was having a lively time thanks to a controversial book on corruption in the Vatican and War at the Top of the World by Eric S Margolis, about the conflict between India and Pakistan—given extra topicality by the recent coup.

Brian Phillips of Random House Australia said: "We are doing terrific business with coeditions, especially in gardening, cartographic and children's." Gardening also proved a big draw for his New Zealand colleague, Jane Connor. "People seem interested in quite specialist subjects."

For Bridget Impey of David Philip Publishers in South Africa, Frankfurt 1999 was extra special. "It feels more like South Africa is part of the normal world at last. Doing business in a normal way and not feeling like an oddity, with a nasty history."