His gravitational pull rivals a black hole's. Hype and hope Hype and hope always spring eternal at the fair, where 80 percent of the industry's rights deals are negotiated every year. The search is constantly on for the bestseller that will capture the world's imagination. Clearly British publishers Penguin felt that Spice Girl Victoria Beckham had the pulling power as wife to football star David Beckham and member of Britain's most successful female pop act ever. She is Britain's new Princess Diana.
Instant fame can make an author suddenly bankable overnight.
Just one week after landing the Nobel prize for literature, dissident Chinese writer Gao Xingjian found himself bombarded with faxes from around the world offering to publish his works. Talking up authors Literary agents adore the fair. It is the chance to talk up their authors and get publishers to wave their checkbooks in a carefully choreographed public relations exercise. A master of the art is British agent Christopher Little, who within four days of receiving a manuscript from first-time author J.K. Rowling had signed up the Harry Potter sagas that became a publishing legend. It is such a giant rights market.