Difference Engine signed our international distribution deal with Diamond Book Distributors in 2023 with the dream of seeing our comics on bookstore shelves across the world. As we visited book fairs and conferences overseas to learn more about the international comics community, we’re thrilled to have met so many people along the way who share the same vision as us. 2024 has really been a year of experimenting, trying, and learning, and we wanted to share some thoughts from our travels to London, Bologna, and San Diego.
London Book Fair
London Book Fair (LBF) was our first international book fair as clients of Diamond, and seeing our comics showcased on the Diamond Book Distributors stand made everything feel real! Our Publisher Felicia Low-Jimenez and Business Development Manager Charlene Shepherdson were able to learn more about the UK market and opportunities for us as a publisher of Southeast Asian comics. We also connected with other publishers around the world who were looking to do the same – diversify the global book market by publishing lesser-heard stories from their corner of the world. With our upcoming webcomic Tiger Girls in mind, we were excited to speak to webcomic publishers and ebook distributors to learn more about book trends and data that can help us grow our audience.
Our trip to London also included a bookstore tour which is of course the highlight of any book nerd’s itinerary! In Singapore where independent bookstores, especially those that specialise in comics, are incredibly rare and precious spaces, a bookstore tour is such a treat. Some of our stops included Waterstones, Gosh! Comics, and Forbidden Planet. At each stop, our eyes grew wide at the sheer scale of the manga and comic shelves and the diversity of titles available.
We noticed so many little details about these bookstores that gave their space a sense of community – handwritten book reviews, curated book stacks, and themed displays. All of it inspired us to imagine where DE comics could fit in someday on those shelves amongst titles from other well-loved publishers. Needless to say, we couldn’t help but bring home many of those books for ourselves! (It’s all for research, of course.)
We also had a chance to visit the Write Cut Rewrite exhibition at Oxford University’s Bodleian Libraries which was an interesting look into the invisible labour of editing in literature. Showcasing various drafts of famous manuscripts and abandoned works, it made us think about how we could render the typically unseen process of comic-making more visible and accessible to readers through experiences, activations, and workshops.
Bologna Children’s Book Fair
As a comics publisher, we felt right at home at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF). Our booth was located in the Comics Corner. This dedicated comics section of the fair was almost doubled in size compared to last year which was a great sign of the growing interest in comics globally! We had an exciting schedule full of meetings with publishers, marketing professionals, and illustrators from all around the world. Some highlights included chatting with Janna Morishima from Kids Comics Unite who shared so many insights with us, and meeting the team at Andrews McMeel who will be releasing US Editions of The Makers Club in August 2024, originally published by DE as our first comic series! It was truly a full-circle moment for us.
Our Design Lead Claire Low joined Felicia this time and she had much to share about the fair from an illustrator’s point of view. What set BCBF apart was how art could be encountered everywhere from the communal graffiti wall to the Illustrators Wall where artists could display their artwork. We brought prints illustrated by our in-house designers at DE and claimed a little corner of the wall just for Singapore! It was refreshing to see illustrators boldly approach publishers for a portfolio review which made BCBF a great space to connect with illustrators and potential comic creators. With so many comics available to browse, one easily got lost in the worlds of different illustrators amidst the hustle and bustle of the fair.
Felicia also shared some of her thoughts at New Comics From Southeast Asia: An Emerging Market, an all-women Southeast Asian comics panel with representatives from publishers in the Philippines as well as industry colleagues from Singapore. We were so happy to be able to put Southeast Asia on the map as a region with many different but shared cultures that are reflected in the range of comics coming out of our scene.
The ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition
The sprawling ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition (ALA) was a book lover’s fever dream where we were constantly surrounded by and talking to people who love reading – it’s definitely our kind of convention! As much as publishing is a business, it’s also a deeply human one where conversations and connections become part of the story. ALA proved that librarians are not only some of the loveliest people to talk to, but also people who shared our sense of humour with how quickly our comic badge ribbons were snatched up!
It was really encouraging for a young publisher like us to hear that some librarians were specifically looking at expanding their Southeast Asian collections. A common thread across these conferences and fairs has been an increasing emphasis on diversity, and we’re so heartened to meet many librarians who share that ethos and want to inspire young readers to read widely. We were also pleasantly surprised to see a ton of interest in our short comic Ada’s Adventure which we conceptualised as a resource for breaking down the elements of a comic for young readers. Physical copies made their rounds across ALA and we’re hoping they might even find their way into school libraries in America! You can read the digital version of Ada’s Adventure here.
We also had the chance to meet incredible creators such as Daniel Nayeri of the award-winning middle-grade novel The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams and Sabir Pirzada, writer for TV shows such as Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel! Their positive reactions to our work lit a fire inside us, and there’s definitely no better feeling than being able to share what you’ve created with the people whose work you love.
And finally, we got to have dinner with a few librarians and reunite with our friends at Diamond Book Distributors since officially inking our partnership deal at Frankfurt last year! After speaking with them over good food, company, and drinks, there’s no doubt in our mind that they truly are the nerds we need.
Thank you to everyone who spent time speaking and sharing with us! We’ve learnt so much and are excited to plan for the road ahead. Look out for us at Frankfurt Book Fair from 16–20 October 2024!
