I’m Not In China – But BEA Is……

For the last two years, much to the Editor-in-Chief’s chagrin, I have spent Labor Day weekend in Beijing talking with Chinese publishers about BEA and the U.S. publishing business in general. I’ve served on panels at the Institute of Chinese Publishing Science, I’ve slammed glass after glass of Chinese red wine with leading Chinese publishing execs, I’ve walked the great wall and I’ve even eaten sea slugs, but this year I’m on U.S. Soil while Rüdiger Wischenbart, BEA’s Director of International Affairs takes the reins in China for me. Why do I get to stay in the Western hemisphere this year? Something bigger than the largest nation in the world – Penny Arcade Expo. I couldn’t be in Seattle and Tianjin at the same time, hard as I tried……

So instead of tasting yummy Peking Duck and waiting through simultaneous translation, I’ll be reading about the current state of publishing in China via Rüdiger’s blog, Booklab, and so should you. BEA has been working with Rudy for about 4 years now and his insights into the international publishing world are as keen as anyone’s I have met. He’s also one of the most well networked guys on the international literary scene that I know.

Give it a read, it’s no sea slug, but maybe that’s a good thing……

Lance

PS – I noticed in some of Rudy’s pictures on the blog that you can see the blue sky in Tianjin, that never happened to me in Beijing!