Rights negotiations step up at ABIDF
25.03.09 Hannah Davies

The new rights subsidy programme, entitled Spotlight on Rights, that was launched at the 2009 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair received 220 applications by the close of the fair on Sunday (22nd March). Lynette Owen, copyright director for Pearson Education, who was at the fair overseeing the scheme said this was "far better than expected, although it was rather difficult to predict the scale".

The initiative, sponsored by Kitab, the joint venture between the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage and the Frankfurt Book Fair, plans to offer about 100 $1,000 subsidies for translation rights deals to and from the Arabic language and for deals from Arabic to Arabic, that were discussed at this year's fair.

Of the 220 letters of intent signed for deals, that have to be concluded within four months of the fair to be eligible, Owen said that "by far the majority were for licences into Arabic from foreign languages, a small number from Arabic to English and a few from Arabic to Arabic [which] was a permitted category because of distribution problems between the markets."

She added: "I would say perhaps 20% were for children's picture books, 20% for illustrated information books for teenagers and/or adults, 15% for academic, 10% for fiction. 10% professional books (i.e. business), 5% educational (i.e. for teachers, on learning difficulties), 5% personal development and the rest miscellaneous."

Applicants were limited to 10 deals each, with no restrictions on the type of books to be translated. Owen said that translation deals would be given higher priority than Arabic to Arabic licensing, and that deals for books that have a wider-reach than their own country werelikely to be selected.

The successful applicants, which will be selected by a Kitab review panel will be given $1,000 towards the license fee or royalty advance negotiated between the applicant and rights holder. The aim of the initiative which will run for three years, is to offer publishers an extra incentive to trade in the proper, legal way and Owen says that several publishers had attended the fair specifically to apply for the scheme.

Hannah Davies ABIDF