Sharjah International Book Fair Boosts the Regional Publishing Landscape

As a precursor to the official opening of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) 2016 on November 2, Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) organised a Publishers Training Programme for Arab publishers, which took place on Sunday, October 30. Held at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the training was conducted in association with the NYU School of Professional Studies (NYUSPS) Center for Publishing.

The programme opened with a welcome speech by HE Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, Chairman of SBA, followed by key remarks by Andrea Chambers, Director of NYUSPS Center for Publishing.

Defining the main objective of the training programme, HE Ahmed Al Ameri said, “Since SBA’s inception, we have aimed to create a bridge between Arab cultures and the rest of the world. Training local and regional authors, aspiring writers, publishers, literary agents and editors to become experts in the field and bringing them closer to global publishing practices are key pathways to reaching this goal.”

“The Publishers Training Programme, as a build-up to SIBF 2016, has been organised in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah and is a reinforcement of our intent in establishing Sharjah as the publishing and cultural capital not only of the UAE, but the wider Arab region,” Al Ameri added.

Expressing her delight in a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with SBA, Andrea Chambers remarked, “This is our fourth consecutive year of participation at the Sharjah International Book Fair, and we are here to share best practices of the publishing industry worldwide, training local publishers on how to adopt international strategies, and turning their businesses into runway successes.” 

The training day began with a seminar titled ‘Creating an Author Brand,’ in which New York Times bestselling author, Elin Hildebrand, discussed how she and her publisher, have been working together since 2007 to create bestselling titles through various publishing strategies, and how they have used social media and targeted marketing to create a loyal readership base.           

Other sessions in the programme included, ‘Social Media Intensive,’ conducted by Bryan Christian, Senior Brand Manager at Time Inc. Books Division, which discussed the most effective latest trends in social media for achieving book marketing objectives and a seminar on ‘Data-Driven Decision Making and Pricing: How Effective Research and Data Can Shape Strategy and Sales,’ delivered by Kempton Mooney, Senior Director of Research and Analytics, Nielsen.

Also on the agenda was a brief interactive exercise for participating publishers titled ‘Creating a Strategic Plan,’ followed by a concluding session on ‘Recap Marketing: A Global Perspective’, which reviewed the contents of the training programme, throwing light on them from the perspective of author and publisher both in the US and Arab markets.

The SIBF Professional Programme continues over three days in the run up to SIBF 2016.