BISG Meets World (Publishing)

Every October, as the publishing world converges on Frankfurt, BISG takes its place among the global conversations shaping the industry’s future. The Frankfurt Book Fair is a regular and important part of the annual BISG calendar, and this year was no exception. 

The international steering committee meetings for ONIX and Thema take place during the book fairs in Frankfurt and London, and BISG represents the U.S. market in those discussions. The steering committees approve changes to the two standards and give EDItEUR, the organization that maintains the standards, direction on future development.

It was a busy and productive week for our team — filled with meetings, presentations, and collaboration across the international publishing community. Here’s a look at what we did and what we learned along the way.

The most exciting development to come out of Frankfurt this year is the enthusiastic response to BISG's Translation Rights Royalty Statement presentation, held on Friday.

Kris Kliemann, Chair of the BISG Rights Committee, presented the new standard to a packed room of rights professionals—each one eager to bring this long-awaited solution to life. The presentation was extremely well received, with thoughtful discussion and strong enthusiasm for implementation.

With just a few minor tweaks and the creation of a supporting template, BISG expects several publishers to begin using the new standard in 2026 and beyond.

Our heartfelt thanks to Frankfurter Buchmesse for their partnership and support in hosting and promoting this milestone event.

If you would like to learn more or get involved, please reach out to info@bisg.org.

While the book fair opens on a Wednesday, meetings with members and prospects start on Monday, a rhythm challenged at times by jet lag and adjusting to time changes. Starting last year, the Green Book Alliance (GBA) hosts a three-hour sustainability workshop on Tuesday morning, with more than two dozen publishers, printers, and other interested parties joining the discussion.

The GBA is focused on developing tools to help the supply chain understand its carbon footprint, with an eye toward making sourcing decisions that include consideration of carbon impact. BISG is a co-founder of the GBA, and Executive Director Brian O'Leary facilitated parts of the conversation at Frankfurt. Those attending supported the GBA's planned next steps, which include creating a web version of a publishing-specific carbon calculator. More information on that initiative will be released in next few weeks.

After the GBA workshop, EDItEUR hosted its 46th International Supply Chain Seminar, a half-day program focused on current and emerging issues in book publishing. Highlights included presentations on:

• What's new in AI (consultant George Walkley)
• Licensing, standards, and AI (Tom West of U.K.-based Publishers Licensing Services)
• Using Thema to highlight Indigenous content and contributors
• Current and expected impacts of EUDR
• Using ONIX Block 8 to help drive on-demand production
• An overview of accessibility metadata now that the European Accessibility Act (EAA) has gone into effect.

About 70 people participated in the seminar, which included questions following most presentations. EDItEUR indicated that presentations would be posted on their website shortly. The day ended with a small celebration of "25 years of ONIX," a reminder that every standard has its origin story.

On Wednesday morning, the team divided its time between a workstation at the book fair (our first time formally exhibiting in Frankfurt), staffed by BISG's Marketing & Communications Manager, Liz Bartek, and two international steering committee meetings held outside the fair. At those meetings, Brooke Horn (Membership & Operations Manager) and Brian O'Leary joined discussions about Thema, the international standard for subject classification, and ONIX, the global standard for metadata communication.

At BISG, we dedicate half of our staff resources to maintaining our committees and their initiatives, so it's hard to overstate how useful and productive the Thema and ONIX discussions are for our work. Representatives from dozens of countries share their experiences and initiatives, offering a roadmap for other markets, including the United States. Much of our progress implementing the current versions of ONIX have been informed by what has worked in other countries, something that would have been difficult to impossible to learn on our own.

While Brooke and Brian were engaged with the international steering committees, Liz was meeting with a wide range of BISG members. Over the course of the fair, we had opportunities to talk with Virtusales, Metacomet, 2K/Denmark, NordCompo, IBPA, Firebrand Technologies, eBound Canada, knk Software, Abrams, Ingram, and Lapiz Digital. We see many members in our committee and working group calls, but these in-person discussions help deepen our understanding of where and how BISG can help shape its work to advance the interests of our members and the supply chain.

We also had opportunities to talk with a range of prospective members whose support is important to growing BISG and extending our reach. Both membership and sponsorship are important resources for BISG, funding directly our work to solve problems that affect two or more parts of the industry.

On Thursday, Brooke, Liz, and BISG Committe Chairs Krista Coulson (Workflow), Claire Holloway (Metadata), and Kris Kleimann (Rights) took the opportunity to enjoy schnitzel and Oktoberfest, while catching up on year-end and 2026 committee planning.

And after four packed days of meetings, conversations, and education, the BISG team was fortunate to wrap up the week with an informal dinner hosted by Alex Murphy (Stison). Colleagues from Ingram U.K., Publishing Scotland, and GlassBoxx helped create a delightful end-of-fair conversation that reminded everyone how publishing (even the supply chain parts) is always about people.

People, and comfortable shoes to make your next appointment at the fair.