Jamaica’s leading publishers and booksellers turned out in full force for the Kingston Book Fair – the highlight of the nine days of activities of the Kingston Book Festival. Among the sixty exhibitors was tech venture eBooksCaribbean, on hand to launch its downloadable ebook card – a marketing tool for publishers and authors.

eBooksCaribbean is a social commerce platform for Caribbean publishers and authors. The company offers publishers and authors a turnkey service for digitizing and selling ebooks in multiple formats through eight of the web’s largest ebook distributors. The company also creates online stores for authors and publishers who wish to sell ebooks through their own sites.  

The downloadable ebook card is an extension of the social commerce platform, allowing authors and publishers to sell their digital publications in brick and mortar retail points of presence. The cards can also be used in off-line marketing campaigns. Similar in size and format to pre-paid phone cards, the download cards carry the cover art of the book on the front, while the back has a PIN code that the reader uses to redeem and download the book from the author’s or publisher’s website or from the eBooksCaribbean site.

“The download card is a tangible representation of a digital product,” says eBooksCaribbean co-founder, Lloyd Laing. “It allows the publisher to have a physical product for customers to touch and feel. They can distribute the cards at book festivals and major events and it gives them a product to sell in real world bookstores. One of the challenges for authors with ebooks is getting attention for their books in the offline world. The card gives them a solution.

“It also gives traditional bookstores a way to participate in digital sales. For everybody in the industry it’s win win.”

The cards come in different grades of paper and plastic, to facilitate publishers who want to promote their cards as collectibles.

The cards were launched at the book fair with Pelican Publishers’ Caribbean Calorie Counter, which first appeared as a print book, is now available as an ebook and will soon be converted into an interactive app.

“We want to make this book available as widely as possible,” says Latoya West Blackwood, Senior Assistant Manager at Pelican. “But identity theft and credit card fraud are issues that Caribbean publishers trying to sell online have to deal with. The download cards allow us to reach the segment of the market that’s afraid to use credit cards online as well as  people who don’t have credit cards but have access to online books.”

For more information on the download cards, visit ebookscaribbean.com.

Cuba’s book market is very different from that of other Caribbean islands – the publishing houses are state-run and books are heavily subsidized, sold at rates far below the costs of production. Yet, the Havana Book Fair has many lessons for Caribbean publishers, booksellers and governments. Here’s our top 10.

1.     Make Books a National Priority
Every decision concerning the Havana Book Fair – from the programming to the funds committed – is based on the central belief that books and reading are critical to national development. “The mission of the Havana Book Fair is to give people access to books,” says Aida Bahr, Vice President of Cuba’s Instituto del Libro (Book Institute) and member of the Caribbean Literature Action Group. “[It is for] cultural purposes, not commercial purposes. It’s a cultural investment.” Cuba also sees the presentation of its books and authors on the international stage as a critical element of defining and extending its national identity and brand in the international arena. “The book is the main [channel] of communication and human knowledge,” says Edel Morales of El Instituto del Libro. “We must make sure that Cuban voices are heard.”

2.     Go Big (Or Your Audience May) Go Home

It’s been called a beast, a monster, a spectacle. By whatever name, the Havana Book Fair cannot be ignored. The sheer scale of the event is part of the secret of its success, making it a fixture both on the domestic cultural calendar and on the international publishing scene. Creating that kind of scale requires a delicate partnership between the public and private sector and local organizers, but the rewards in cultural and commercial terms are impressive.

3.     Plan Activities for Everyone

The Havana Book Fair’s programming isn’t just large. It’s diverse and deliberately so, designed to bring out a wide cross-section of the public. The mammoth schedule of 100+ activities per day includes talks, book launches, children’s events as well as conferences for writers, publishers, historians, social scientists, literature experts and other academics; and a staggering schedule of concerts and cultural events. Each year focuses on a guest country and two outstanding Cuban writers and the programme includes numerous panels and activities related to the literature and culture of the guest country and the work of each writer. The breadth of activities helps to ensure that Cubans of all kinds come out to the fair.

4.     Act in Unison

Every year, Cuban publishers plan their editorial calendars to release new titles at the fair. That collective effort drives anticipation for the fair, as the audience knows there will be many new books to look forward to. Bahr credits the anticipation and excitement for new books for the record turnouts to the fair each year.

5.     Offer Special Prices and Products to Drive Sales

Many of the participating international publishers at the Havana Book Fair use the event as an outlet for selling overflow stock. They come to the fair with steeply discounted prices designed to drive quick sales. They also bring the kinds of books they know will sell well in Cuba because they aren’t available in the local market, e.g. titles on American entertainment; hard cover or brightly illustrated children’s books, dictionaries and specialized books for professionals. Understanding what local buyers want and planning accordingly helps to ensure strong book sales.

6.     Take the Books to the People
The Havana Book Fair takes place at the Cabaña fortress as well as eleven other sites around Havana and then tours throughout the rest of the country for two weeks – a deliberate, though exhausting effort to make sure that activities are held in every single province of the country. The result: national awareness and participation and a month-long focus on books that has a spill-over effect for the rest of the year. “It’s the only cultural event that gets to everywhere and is respected by everyone,” says Bahr.

7.     Use Books to Drive Tourism
The diverse programming of the Havana Book Fair also helps to attract visitors to Cuba. This year, the visiting country focus on Angola brought more than 100 representatives from that country to the island; hundreds of other international publishing representatives come to the fair to participate in the many events or to exhibit and vend their books. It’s a chance for Cuba to attract new visitors, many of whom may end up returning for future visits.

8.     Think Regionally
Organizers of the Havana Book Fair coordinate closely with their Latin American counterparts to ensure that the schedules of their book fairs do not conflict with each other, allowing them to promote all the fairs at each event, increasing momentum and opportunities for regional networking. Their regional coordination also allows them to share best practices and market knowledge, helping them to raise book sales and reading levels across the region.

9.     Market Collectively
Cuba’s Cámara del Libro (Chamber of Books) takes the lead role in organizing the fair as well as a year round calendar of local book promotion activities. But it doesn’t stop there. The Chamber also plans Cuba’s participation in international book fairs, marketing the island’s authors in groups related to the genres in which they write and the interests of the target publishers and markets. Sure, that’s easy to do when the publishing houses are all state-run. But the collective efforts yield economies in research, event participation fees and marketing that Caribbean publishers can emulate.

10.  Have Fun!
The first thing you notice at the Havana Book Fair is that everyone seems to be having a good time. As Peter Gutteredge of the Caribbean Book Company puts it, “This isn’t a book fair anymore. [It’s] the largest Cuban social event of the year – with a book fair inside. It’s a fantastic setting where Cuban families come and [enjoy themselves].” That vibe is key for creating a generation of readers who associate books with fun and pleasure. 

“Some of the best parts of the book fair are the things we don’t plan,” says Jésus David Curbelo, another of the organizers. “They happen naturally when you put good books in front of people.”

Young writers from Latin America met at the Havana Book Fair to discuss alternative strategies for sharing their work.  Representatives from independent publishing houses in Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and Argentina discussed the challenges of self-publishing, alternative publishing and Latin America’s innovative cardboard movement. There were no representatives from the English-speaking Caribbean. Don’t worry. CaribLit is already working with the Havana Book Fair to change that. (See our related story on the Alba Narrativa award.) In the meantime, here are the highlights of the Latin American Young Writers’ chat:

New Ideas, Old Materials
Across Latin America the youth voice is largely one of resistance and protest. Many of the publishing projects discussed were born out of social movements. Young people also find it very difficult to get published by traditional publishing houses, which tend to focus on more established, well-known authors. The region’s cardboard movement has been a major outlet for sharing the youth voice. Libros cartoneros (cardboard books), are handmade books, bound in recycled cardboard. They first appeared in Argentina in the early 2000s and have since become popular throughout Latin America. They are published by small, independent presses, sometimes subsidized by the government, with the goal of promoting writing and making literature more accessible. The intent, explains Ecuador’s Freddie Alaya, is not to compete with the traditional book distribution model. “The main interest is political. It’s a way to give an answer to social needs.”

Thinking Beyond the “Book”
Other examples of strategies for sharing young writers’ work in Latin America rest on a re-thinking of the concept of the book. While the ebook market is evolving, young writers are also developing new conceptions of the physical book to appeal to their market. Dario Cemino from Argentina tells of one young writer who released his “book” of poetry like a pack of cigarettes with each poem rolled on a piece of paper. “We work with the book as an object, a work of art, “says Mexico’s Manuel de Jesus. Thinking of the book as an art piece can help to attract attention and reach new audiences.

Creating New Distribution Channels
Getting into traditional bookstore channels can be difficult for young authors, especially those who choose to self-publish. Creating new distribution spaces for books can provide a valuable outlet and help to build and retain an audience. For Argentina’s Dario Cemino, alternative bookstores are an important ally for young writers.

Cemino’s La Libre bookstore carries a diverse range of titles from Argentina’s growing self-publishing community, allowing young writers a space where their voices can be heard and they can create a community.

Cemino also recommends a more human approach to bookselling. While the traditional model of selling books through stores separates the writer from the reader, Cemino notes that many young Argentinian authors take the books directly to the reader, some selling books from their backpacks as they move around the city. Argentina’s Independent Book Fair also gives its young authors an outlet for reaching readers.

It’s Not Just About the Money
While the returns from the projects described may be low, they provide an outlet for young people’s views and allow for books that would otherwise be ignored to be published. Chile’s El Hecho De, for example, published a book of poems from inmates based on winning submissions to prison poetry contest. The books were then made and distributed to the prisoners.

“Young literature [in Latin America] is very political,” says Ecuador’s Freddie Alaya. Alaya notes that for many young writers, the motive is not to generate profit, but to give young people a voice in the political conversations.  “To create change, you have to have social recognition. [Books] create a dialogue between what is marginal and what is official.”

The organizers may not be focused on making a profit, but lots of business still gets done at the Havana Book Fair. Many international publishers come to the fair looking to acquire foreign rights to Cuban titles and/or to publish Cuban authors. Bahr estimates that about two thirds of the participating international publishers are selling heavily discounted stock into the Cuban market, while the others are looking for publishing deals and contracts. Here’s what Caribbean publishers need to know:

1.     Interest in Caribbean Culture
In 2012, the Havana Book Fair recognized “the Caribbean” as the country of honour; a generous conceptual definition of the region that swept from Louisiana in the North to Bahia in the South. “Cuba is a Caribbean country, but many of our readers are not familiar with the non-Spanish speaking Caribbean,” says Jesus David Curbelo. “For many of our readers, it was a whole discovery.” Many Caribbean titles were republished for the Cuban market, representing, for many, their first Spanish translations.


2.     Growing English Language Market
Cuba has 20+ universities with a large market for instructional materials. Regulatory changes now permit the licensing of private English-language tutors, also expanding the market for English materials.

3.     Demand in key areas
According to Bahr, there’s strong demand for titles in areas Cuban publishers don’t handle. (It’s worth noting that all of Cuba’s 172 publishing houses are state-run. That places certain limitations on the kinds of books published, which creates opportunities for external publishers to meet.

Bahr says that entertainment books, highly illustrated children’ s books, enhanced books (with CDs, sounds, puppets etc.) tend to do well. Dictionaries and specialized instructional books for professionals are also recommended. Sports books, especially football books, are also popular.


4.     Opportunity for South-South collaboration
The Havana Book Fair is a great place for making contacts both with the Cuban literary and publishing community and the large numbers of international visitors. Havana attracts large representation from South and Central America as well as Africa. Publishers seeking co-publishing arrangements that can’t make the hike to London or Frankfurt can take advantage of the networking possibilities in Havana.

 5.     Price sensitive market
While Cuba’s population of 11 million and its 100% literacy rate might make it attractive, the market is extremely price-sensitive. Local books are heavily subsidized and are deliberately offered to the public at well below the price of printing them. Bahr says it’s not unusual to see kids’ books on sale for less than 0.5 CUC (Cuban convertibles. The exchange rate is 1 CUC: 0.87USD). Foreign publishers are advised to offer deals, as in the example of the kids’ books, three for 5 CUC. Bahr notes that specialized titles can fetch higher prices.

6.     Prize available
The Alba Narrativa Literary Awards is now in its fourth year. The Awards honour works in English and republishes the winning book in Cuba. The Award has been undersubscribed each year. For more information, visit www.cubaliteraria.com.

CaribLit talks to Daniel Garcia Santos, Director of the Latin American Literary Agency

Talk to anyone in the Caribbean publishing industry and the absence of a literary agency is high on their list of challenges. In fact, the creation of a regional literary agency was one of the recommendations that emerged at the first meeting of the Caribbean Literature Action Group in Port of Spain in 2012.

One potential model for what such an agency would look like is the Agencia Literatura Latinoamericana (Latin American Literacy Agency), an arm of the Instituto Cubano del Libro (Cuban Book Institute). It was created in 1985 to represent the rights of Cuban authors. The objectives of the agency are to promote Cuban literature abroad and to represent authors in negotiations with foreign publishers. Cuba has had a national copyright law since 1977 and is a signatory of the copyright conventions of the World Trade Organization.

With a small staff of seven, including four experts in copyright law, promotion and representation, the agency represents the rights of the authors and facilitates the payments of their royalties. It undertakes a year-long programme of activities designed to identify new opportunities for writers – tracking trends in publishing in existing and emerging markets for Spanish-language literature, analysing the catalogues of international publishers and watching their moves to identify those who may be interested in Cuban authors. It develops and maintains the necessary relationships with foreign publishers, introduces new Cuban authors to publishers, negotiates the most advantageous contracts for the authors and manages the payments of their royalties. 

“We maintain relationships with foreign publishers and promote groups of authors according to the genres in which they write,” says Daniel Garcia Santos, the agency’s director. “Once we identify any interest in publishing a certain work in a certain country, we negotiate with the publisher and we protect the authors’ royalties.”

The agency has a promotion catalogue which is disseminated to the international publishing community. While the Havana Book Fair is its major forum for showcasing the work of Cuban authors, it maintains an active presence at international book fairs and promotes different groups of Cuban authors according to the profile of each fair.  “We have a tradition of participating in these fairs so we understand the differences and the interests of each market,” says Garcia Santos. “If we’re going to a fair for the first time, we try to gain some minimum knowledge of the market and then try to select the right authors for that fair. We do promotion in advance so that our attendance is effective.”

Garcia Santos cites as a key example the Frankfurt Book Fair, which he calls a critical space for the promotion of literature and the negotiation of international rights. The agency participates every year.   For Frankfurt, the emphasis is on young Cuban writers who have won literary prizes and received strong critical reviews. For the Guadalajara Book Fair in Mexico, the agency prioritizes the winners of Cuba’s most important writing prizes.  

“Our agency is given top priority, because it is important to the state to promote our literature and protect our authors,” says Garcia Santos. “We try to get contracts which are as beneficial as possible for our authors. When authors negotiate individually with publishers, sometimes the negotiations aren’t as beneficial.”

The agency retains a percentage of the royalties it negotiates for its authors (to a maximum of 15%). What the agency generates over the course of a year depends on the number of contracts it’s able to negotiate, the authors signed and the genres in which they work. Garcia notes that soap opera scripts are a strong income area, generating $30,000 to $40,000 in revenue.

The agency now has a wide network of relationships with international publishers and has built deep institutional knowledge of which areas and markets are most accessible for Cuban literature.

“The international market is very difficult. Inserting yourself and Cuban authors who are not known is very difficult. We work very hard to find areas where we can insert contemporary Cuban authors. Some of our authors are very well known and the requests come. But there are many others that we have to promote.”

Garcia Santos calls for more collaboration between Spanish-speaking and English-speaking Caribbean publishers.  “Sometimes we are a little isolated. We should establish relationships among publishers across the region. We have a common culture. We should have communication channels, systems that allow us to share the knowledge we have of these areas. That’s the only way we have access to these markets which are distant and difficult. Communication is of the essence.”

When asked how other Caribbean islands can follow Cuba’s model for negotiating international rights, Garcia Santos recommends developing a Caribbean organization for driving international promotion and rights sales. “It’s difficult for the author in isolation to access this world. An institution that has a cultural interest and an interest in the promotion of our literature should make the effort.”

Translation provided by Vladimir Dominguez.

Passion meets prose at the Havana International Book Fair – the largest in the Caribbean

The numbers alone are staggering: 140+ exhibits; 100+ events per day; 400 foreign delegates from 40 countries; 11 days of book launches, readings and performances; 12 venues across the city, including the sprawling Cabaña Fortress – a massive 25-acre historic site that serves as the Fair’s hub; on average, more than 20,000 visitors per day.

And that’s just the warm-up. 

When the curtain comes down in Havana on February 24, 11 days of non-stop activity after its Valentine’s Day start, the Fair repeats its combination of book sales and supporting events on a tour through all 14 of Cuba’s provinces, culminating in Santiago de Cuba.

By the time the fair ends in Santiago de Cuba – after 30 days in total -- more than 140,000 books will have been sold and more than 1,000,000 Cubans will have come out for the event.

But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. The Havana Book Fair is a cultural phenomenon. Since its start in the 80s as a biennial book fair, it’s grown into a massive event – annual since 2000 – the largest on the Cuban calendar.

“Everybody [looks forward to] the book fair,” says Aida Bahr of the Instituto del Libro (Cuban Book Institute), the state agency responsible for coordinating the fair. “It’s the cultural event that gets to everyone, everywhere. Most of our books are launched at this time of year for the fair, so it’s a great opportunity to buy new books.

“It’s not just book launches and sales, but a very wide programme of activities: conferences, meetings of librarians and historians, literature and social science conferences. There are meetings with publishers to discuss important issues [as well as] meetings with foreign publishers.”

Every year the fair honours one country and two outstanding Cuban writers – a fiction writer and a social scientist.  The selections influence much of the programming. This year’s honoured country, Angola, brought a delegation of more than 100 writers, performers, academics and cultural representatives to the Fair, to showcase Angolan culture in all its forms and Cuban publishers released 18 new editions of Angolan books for the local market.

It’s the combination of new Cuban books, the opportunity to learn about other cultures and the sheer magnitude of the spectacle that draws the Cuban audience year after year for an event that feels more celebratory than cerebral. 
That’s what the Instituto del Libro and its partner planning agency the Camara del Libro (Chamber of Books) are banking on. (Yes, Cuba has a Chamber of Books, like a Chamber of Commerce; a state run agency to tend to the business of its books.  The Chamber runs logistics for the fair as well as a summer slate of book related activities during the summer holidays and manages Cuba’s participation in international book fairs.) 

“The mission of the Havana Book Fair is to give the people access to books,” explains Bahr. Jesus David Curbelo who coordinates the fair’s mammoth schedule of literary, academic and professional events notes that the mission isn’t necessarily to get people to buy books during the fair. “A lot of people come just to have fun… It’s part of our cultural tradition and [it has made] people very  interested in reading.”

The human and financial resources invested are signfificant -- the organizing committee has more than forty members and  with the staff of the Instituto del Libro and the Camara del Libro, the full team numbers into the hundreds. The budget for domestic expenses alone; i.e. salaries and things that do not have to be imported, run into the millions. But the fair isn’t expected to make a profit.  As with all books published in Cuba, the book fair itself is subsidized by the government, with the long term goal of promoting reading and strengthening Cuban culture. 

“The point of it is to make a cultural investment,” says Bahr. 

“It’s an investment in the people.”