Frankfurt and beyond

So crazy busy that it would be easy to just post some beautiful pics from Germany and be done with it, but the Frankfurt Book Fair is so much more than the few hours you can steal away for sightseeing that even the gorgeous photos would not do it justice.  For one thing, it is amazing to see so many buildings and booths taken up with books and the business of buying and selling them.  So affirming to see the agents’ center awash in activity and to hear all about what’s hot in various countries.  As a quick wrap-up and very general overview, young adult was definitely the hot genre rights-wise.  Paranormal romance and the more romantic urban fantasies are also sought after most places, historical romance was hot in some countries and not in others.  Fantasy and science fiction are still going strong.  Romantic suspense and thrillers are very promising, but traditional and cozy mysteries are, sadly, a struggle.  Unlike the US where e-books have risen to approximately twenty percent of sales (give or take, depending on the author/series and other factors), most countries are just this year getting e-book readers.  Digital sales account for approximate 1% in most places.  It was enlightening and thrilling that our own rights list was so in-line with the market.  New sales have already begun, and we’ve been alerted to a lot more coming down the pipeline, so it’s all very exciting.

That said, I do have some gorgeous pictures to show off, today of Heidelberg, tomorrow of the boat tour Elaine Spencer and I took up the Rhine (Rhein).

But before I get to those, two quick things:

I hope you’ll join The Knight Agency on Thursday, October 27^th at 9 p.m. ET for a chat with Kristen Painter, author of Blood Rights from Orbit.  Where?  TKA chatroom.

Also I hope you’re joining in the fun of the Crossroads Blog Tour.  Jackie Morse Kessler (author of Hunger, Rage and Loss) and I have been paired up for the tour.  So far, our interviews are up at Narratively Speaking, Electrifying Reviews,  Just Your Typical Book Blog.  Later today, we’ll be at Late Bloomer Online.  But, hey, there are many other tremendous authors participating as well (Rachel Vincent, Stacey Kade, Amanda Ashby, Linda Joy Singleton, Jeri Smith-Ready, Angie Frazier, etc.), so follow along with the whole tour and enter to win prizes, details here!

And now, I present to you, Heidelberg, beginning with a photo of Jamie Ford, Kristin Nelson, me and Elaine Spencer, intrepid explorers.