The largest and most important gathering of publishers, booksellers, librarians, distributors, rights agents, ebook-technology developers, authors, editors, printers, scouts, media, and book enthusiasts in the United States, BookExpo America is held annually in New York City in late spring and is second only to the Frankfurt Book Fair in terms of prestige. More than 20,000 publishing professionals find BEA to be a hotbed for networking, sourcing, and relationship building.

The American Library Association Conference and Exhibition is the annual librarian literary love fest. Similar in scope to BEA, without the glitz, ALA plays a matchmaker role between librarians and the insistent publishing industry hoping to woo ordering dollars. As at BEA, Foreword maintains a large stand at ALA to mingle with its readership of librarians, independent publishers, and university presses.

Considered the most important book fair in Asia and key to entering the Chinese and Asian publishing market. The Beijing Book Fair has grown to become one of the top four book fairs in the world and welcomes an average of 200,000 visitors in lat August/early September. With rapid urbanization, demand for publications within Asia continue to surge.

To accurately describe the Frankfurt Book Fair, one word cannot be avoided: “overwhelming.” The numbers alone are daunting: nine show halls, more than 7000 exhibitors, publishers from 100 countries, and a stunning average of 280,000 attendees. Luckily, with excellent train / metro services, ample hotel space, and German efficiency, Frankfurt’s just the place to pull off such an event. Historically, Foreword’s booth is across from Random House assuring fantastic traffic.

Children’s Picture Books, Young Adult, and Juvenile Fiction and Nonfiction continue to see strong global foreign rights sales. As an indication, each spring the Bologna Book Fair in Italy crowds an agents calendar with four full days of fruitful appointments.

The best foreign rights exposure for children’s books publishers is to participate in the annual Bologna Children’s Book Fair: nearly 25,000 international professional trade reps and agents from 75 countries scouting for gems and doing deals on a 20,000 square meter show floor. In Bolognese book-speak, children’s books implies picture books, and the show floors of the Bologna fiere are awash with some of the most astounding art and talented artists anywhere.