There’s No Business Like Show Business

92-year-old American publishing attorney and author Martin Levin reflects on attending 60 years of book fairs

Book Fair is—always—an adven-

ture.
This year, I am hopeful I can
share more of my experiences with
my colleagues from around the
world, if you don’t mind my saying
it, sell more rights to my just pub-
lished book All I Know About Man-
agement I Learned From My Dog
(just published in the United States,
rights sold in seven countries) and
introduce my new book Letters
From Angel to be published by Sky-
horse in October 2011. It is the story
of my dog, Angel, “as told to me in
her own words.”
There is much more to be written
about the book fairs and their role
in bringing countries and cultures
together. The overview of interna-
tional book fairs developed by the
By Martin Levin hibitors showed up in 2010 . . . this he was establishing a Russian Book Frankfurt Book Fair lists over 60
attendance is virtually the popula- Fair to be held in 1977 and was seek- Fairs spanning the globe scheduled
In a career that spans six decades, tion of a small city, such as Rye, NY ing the participation of the U.S. pub- for every month of the year. With
and still counting, I have found that where I live. Simply amazing. lishers. scores of devices that allow for in-
there is nothing quite like the annual The American publishers asked stant communication, these Fairs
trade shows in book publishing. 1960s: Frankfurt the inevitable probing questions: exist and will continue to grow be-
Every time I leave Frankfurt af- Will there be censorship? Will all cause they are demonstrably better
1950s: Washington D.C. ter pressure-filled days and nights, countries be invited? Israel? How than email or Skype. They enable
I recall my first American Book- I say I am never coming back. And much and what currency will be publishers and booksellers, authors
seller’s Show in 1950 and chuckle at yet every year, I return because the provided? Dollars? Will tickets to and agents, librarians and scholars
my clumsy attempt at erecting a dis- scope of economic activity and op- the Fair be available to all Russians, to meet in person. Where people
play stand. Back then, the American portunity is unlike anywhere else. In including the dissidents? Will we be meet to advance knowledge and
Booksellers Association held its an- the 1950’s, I was an occasional visi- able to meet Aleksandr Solzhenit- share their literary heritage, it is, in-
nual meeting at the Shoreham Hotel tor to the Fair, but started my cur- syn? Stukalin hid his annoyance. He deed, hallowed ground.
in Washington, D.C. The booksellers rent pattern of yearly attendance in handled the questions diplomati- From 1967 to 1983, Martin Levin
met in the ballroom of the hotel to 1966 when I took over as President cally promising answers. was CEO of the Times Mirror Book
share ideas and trade gossip, while of the Times Mirror Book Group. The first Moscow Book Fair was Group, growing it to become fifth
the publishers were relegated to a Then, the entire Frankfurt Book Fair a success. Admission to the Fair was largest publishing company in US at
basement area where they displayed was housed in what is now Halle 5 open to the general public, a del- the time. He is currently an attorney
their books. The booksellers would and 6; the UK publishers were in egation of Israeli publishers were at Cowan Liebowitz & Latman, spe-
leave their fashionable setting and Halle 5 along with U.S. publishers. invited, an agreement was reached cializing in mergers and acquisitions.
go down to the basement during The publishers in languages other on a bookstore stocked solely with He teaches Publishing Law at New
their breaks to meet the salesmen than English were housed across the American books without censor- York Law School and is a resident
and place orders for the Fall season. street in Halle 6. ship. As a result of the Moscow Book Fellow of the Yale Publishing Course.
I had just joined Grosset & Dun- Now by my count there are ten Fairs that followed, I was able to get
lap as assistant to the Assistant Sales “Hallen” and the number keeps on permission for the Reader’s Digest
Manager, a position charitably at growing. It is hard to exceed the at- to publish in the Russian language.
the lowest level in the company, and tendance: 11,000 journalists from And Solzhenitsyn, who we asked
was given the “honor” of attending 66 countries, over 7,000 exhibitors about all those years ago, was even-
the ABA and setting up our display. from 113 countries and more than tually honored at the 2009 Moscow
When I arrived, there was an assort- 180,000 trade visitors. Simply put, Book Fair.
ment of wood and several bags of the Frankfurt Book Fair is dominant
hardware, as well as a folding table and it still has the best frankfurters 2011: London
and two banquet chairs. I was (and and rolls served anywhere in the Of all the locales for book fairs,
am) the least qualified person to as- world. London feels the most like home. It
semble anything, let alone erect a was in London that Harold Robbins
booth from scratch, but I had help: 1970s: Moscow (author of The Carpetbagger and a
Celeste Barnes, and her husband, In October 1976, Boris Stukalin, series of steamy novels) escorted me
John, (I believe of the family that head of all publishing in the Soviet to Piccadilly and commanded that
then owned Barnes & Noble) took Union, invited ten American pub- I buy him a Rolls Royce before he
over building my “booth.” lishers to visit Moscow with the would sign his next three-book con-
Now, when I walk into Javits Cen- goal of introducing the Americans tract: which I did. (The accounting
ter I am staggered by the opulence of to their Soviet counterparts. The department is still trying to figure
the stands. I recall my simple table in opening day was consumed by bor- this out.) Then a perchance meeting
the basement of the Shoreham Hotel ing recitations by major publishers, with Bob Guiccione over time led to
and shake my head in disbelief. To in Russian, describing their compa- a deal to distribute Penthouse maga-
think that 13,872 verified industry nies. At the end of the day Stukalin, zine throughout the world, includ-
professionals along with 8,047 ex- who speaks English, announced that ing the United States. The London

PAGE 20 • PUBLISHINGPERSPECTIVES 11 APRIL 2011 • LONDON BOOK FAIR