Frankfurt is the undisputed book capital of the world until this Sunday. Buchmesse, hosted by Spain and its literature, focused on tens of thousands of exchanges of ideas, talks, meetings and trade deals between professionals from all over the world during five intense days. A good portion will come from this cauldron of writers, agents, translators and editors. What will we read in the coming months? But what will we see and hear in podcasts and audiobooks at the same time?. Because in addition to being the epicenter of the book, the fair has become a place where stories are sought, no matter how they are told, in recent years. Never before has it been filmed as much as it is now, and there has never been such a hunger for original stories.
An arcade for the series
“Everyone is here: Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Apple TV, HBO… They’re coming from Los Angeles for two or three nights, despite the megajetlag. And many independent producers visit the fair in secret”, explains Anna Soler-Pont, specialist in managing the audiovisual rights of writers of the Pontas Agency. Pontas has been visiting the fair for over 30 years (he was the curator of the 2007 program, in which Catalan culture was the guest of honor), and one of the trends he observed in this edition is a change in the scale of the projects. that interest. “Contemporary stories are sought after and not very expensive to produce. The big thing has already been done”, Explain. After a fall marked by mega-productions such as ‘House of the Dragon’ and ‘Rings of Power’ (the most expensive drama in history), simpler and closer stories.
second life
In Spain, the relationship between the major broadcasting groups Planeta and Penguin Random House and broadcast platforms and audiovisual production companies has been almost symbiotic for some time. It should be, because after all, they are both creators of fiction and non-fiction content. In this sense, Both Planeta and Penguin have two teams that are very committed and specialized in selling the rights to their books. not only beyond our borders, but also jumping onto the small or big screen where these stories enjoy a second life and reach millions of viewers worldwide.
For example, this is the case of Luz Gabás, who won the Planeta Prize with ‘Lejos de Luisiana’ in bookstores on November 4th. Atresmedia’s successful 2016 adaptation of ‘Palmeras en la nieve’, starring Mario Casas and Adriana Ugarte, was one of the first national productions Netflix included in its catalog and brought Gabás’s story to an international audience. Many saw Planet’s final award to the author as another opportunity to repeat the formula. it turns so novel-audio adaptation package is the order of the day.
In search of trends
In the case of Planeta, Francisco Javier Sanzes is head of the Book and Film Rights division. “The film and TV industry has always had a great interest in literary adaptations. Platforms have been participating in major book fairs for several years. Not because they’re generally looking for content other than what they’re looking for; In general, they already have well-defined editorial lines. I believe their main interest is to have first-hand knowledge of emerging trends and of course, Beware of possible two or three ‘fair books’ that could become bestsellers in the future, if they can choose them before anyone else,” he explains. “Chatting with the editors gives them valuable first-hand information,” he adds. This week is no coincidence. Frankfurt fair coincides with MIPCOM celebrations (International Co-production and Entertainment Content Marketplace) in Cannes. Major platforms often participate in both events.
If platforms and producers have to look for a trend they’re currently looking for, Sanz says, “there’s a lot of interest in non-fiction books, so, true stories that can be taken to fiction, overcoming”. Two very clear examples of his group are Ángel Martín’s ‘If the voices come back’ or ‘El Gran Salto’, in which the comedian and television presenter describes the psychotic outbreak he suffered a few years ago. Olympic champion Gervasio Deferr talks about his alcohol addiction.
“These kinds of stories, intended to transcend first-person stories, are becoming trendy for documentary, and editing departments have seen they have to go that way.” The person in charge of Book and Film Rights at Planeta also says “Stories of adolescents aged 16-20containing trends within trends, namely: a love story, but better mixed with dystopia and ‘crime’. It’s a bit of a bet on everything, but that’s what’s in demand right now: contemporary stories”.
A Spanish trans story
LGTBIQ+ theme and personal stories about it gender identity They are also among the most sought after at the fair. One of the books at the fair Alana S. Portero, historian, author, playwright and theater director He was born in Madrid in 1978. In Portero, who transgender talks about ‘coming of age’ in the San Blas neighborhood in the 80s. His manager held an auction in Spain before the fair started, and Seix Barral held the rights in Spanish. He soon sold the translation rights to the United States, as well as other countries such as Germany and Greece. It is already one of the ‘hot books’ of the fair. “International success Camila Sosa Villada’s ‘Las malas’ aroused a lot of attention”, agrees Txell Torrent from MB literary agency, which sold the rights to the latest article. Elizabeth Duval to english. In the Anglo-Saxon market, the title ‘After Trance’ will be ‘Post Trance’.
Alana S. Portero’s book will be called ‘La malacustom’ and is set in the context of a “similar” class struggle in Madrid in the 1980s and 1990s. A contemporary queer tale: the life journey of a trans anti-hero with junkies, pop divas and fallen angels According to the publisher, band together to save him from a world determined to subvert his fantasies of living fully.” The novel has been bought by a company to be published in English worldwide. six-figure advance and by Flammarion for the French market.
At Penguin Random House, José Rafoso is responsible for ensuring that the publisher’s books have a second audiovisual life. Rafoso is the director of the Author’s Office, which has sold the rights to the books in recent months. Eloy Moreno’s upcoming series ‘Tierra’ hand in hand with an international ‘actor’ and the production companies Paradise Falls and Wanda and Mercedes Ron’s ‘Culpa mía’, which will premiere on Amazon Prime Video in the summer of 2023.
Rafoso, from Frankfurt, where the meeting goes to its demonic rhythm every twenty minutes, said: “There is really no fixed pattern, because each platform is at a different time and is looking for different stories. Yes, there are two or three things they all agree on: a modern thriller with a sexy hue and not a classic”Elite style. Rafoso thinks that “everyone wants to find a unique story, preferably with heroines with a strong role.”
local interest
Agent Amaiur Fernández, of the International Editor’s Co agency, detects another trend: the withdrawal of translations into their own literature, as Soler-Pont admits. “Translation is expensive and the times when books were published in 20-25 languages are over, but this can only happen with great success. There is a return to the local, perhaps a navel gaze that has to do with the return of nationalism across Europe.“, to explain. More literary tags that pack a punch: ‘comfortable crime’ (where Richard Osman is king), ‘rom com’ (basically, a new way of labeling ‘chick lit’, where Alice Haselbad and Collen Hoover are the new Helen Fielding) and nonfiction narrative.
Fernandez clearly perceives saturation the magnetism that audiovisual adaptations used to have. “Ten years ago, making a book into a movie was a surefire gimmick to get better sales. But beware ‘Fire and blood’, the novel on which ‘The house of the dragon’ is based: not on the bestseller list”.
“Beyond the books of tiktokers and influencersthey are looking for books that appeal to the next generation and reflect their lives, interests and concerns,” says Bernat Fiol, agent who sold the rights to one of the major platforms. ‘If Princesses Had Used Tinder’ by María Monrabal and options to adapt Albert Pijuán’s ‘Tsunami’ for a Mexican production company. “It’s an exhilarating moment when production companies are interested in all kinds of books and genres. Many books are chosen to be able to hold a meeting with HBO, for example. It’s hard because they are involved in one of seven projects”.