Greece does not have an Audible as a market driver. But Greece has streaming services with growing popularity like Spotify and others which could be a springboard for developing the audiobook market in Greece.
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou inaugurated the 17th Thessaloniki International Book Fair last Thursday, and the event will run through until November 29, online due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The opening ceremony was broadcast live from the TIF-HELEXPO premises in Thessaloniki and the Hellenic Foundation for Culture in Athens.
The Fair hosts the 7th New Writers’ Festival, the 5th Translation Festival and the 3rd Literary Performance Festival within the main events and includes,
presentations of new publications, discussions with authors, meetings among professionals of the book industry, thematic exhibitions and film screenings. Seminars and professionals’ meetings concerning the Greek and the international book market are also being scheduled.
Per the press release,
renowned foreign writers will participate in the digital events of the 17th TBF, among which the distinguished Egyptian writer Alaa Al Aswany; French political scientist, professor and writer Gilles Kepel; British journalist, political commentator and author Paul Mason; French professor Freddy Vine, Italian author Francesca Melandri; Greek-American author George Pelekanos; the Spaniard Javier Thekas; Swedish writer Niklas Nat og Dag; British Hellenist Rodrick Beaton; award-winning Italian writer Paolo Giordano and so many more.
With the theme “Time in literature, literature in time” the event proposes to,
explore the author’s relationship with the past and the future, whether literature can distance itself from the time of writing, the relationship of the book in general with durability and wear.
Prior to the event, running 9-18 November, a professional programme explored the Greek publishing industry’s strengths and weaknesses, and discussions were to include the challenges of translating poetry and graphic novels (two separate debates), “successful online marketing”, and perhaps of most interest right now given the industry’s love affair with the spoken word, a seminar entitled “Meet the Experts! Audiobook trends from Germany.”
From the pre-event write-up:
Germany, together with the Anglo-Saxon countries is traditionally one of the biggest markets for audiobooks in the World. The format enjoys a high acceptance and fabulous growth in the last years. German audiobook publishers can work with a healthy retail structure for CD, Downloads and since a few years Streaming. Greece does not have an Audible as a market driver and CD like in many markets is an ever-shrinking format. But Greece has streaming services with growing popularity like Spotify and others which could be a springboard for developing the audiobook market in Greece. Let’s discuss the opportunities!
Speakers were to include Kurt Thielen, CEO, Zebralution Digital Media Distribution and Corinna Zimber, Publisher & Owner of AUDIOBUCH Verlag. The event, conducted in English, was to be moderated by Nopi Chatzigeorgiou of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture.
Hopefully I can track down details of that event for a future post.
