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Record: 201 submissions / Many business models emphasise networks

Frankfurt, 11 July 2017 – Innovation earns a stand at the fair: In early March, the Frankfurter Buchmesse (11-15 October 2017) launched its third Wildcard campaign. Applicants with creative business ideas were invited to compete for the Wildcard to win a free 8-square-metre stand at the Book Fair. More than 200 applications from over 20 countries worldwide were received – totalling 64 more than last year. Many of these submissions combined app functions with the dynamics of networks, e.g. digital city guidebooks or collaborative authoring tools.

The winner of this year’s Frankfurter Buchmesse Wildcard is the advisory literature portal litnity, founded by Dörte Brilling and Birgit Kidd. With their DIY portal HANDMADE Kultur, the two Hamburg natives have already built a business based on online community recommendations. With litnity, they aim to extend the emotionally charged choice of what to read to the Internet with just as much emotion.

“I’m very pleased that this time around two founders from the DIY community have won the Wildcard. I hope that, using this same DIY approach, they will make a success of their literary portal. The Frankfurter Buchmesse – like the sector as a whole – needs newcomers from other fields with fresh, community-driven business models”, says Katja Böhne, Vice President Marketing & Communications at the Frankfurter Buchmesse.

“The Wildcard gives us a great opportunity to bring the literary community together at the Book Fair’s Lit & Sit. We’re already looking forward to interacting with readers, authors, reviewers, bloggers and publishers. It’s so fantastic that the Frankfurter Buchmesse is helping us get started like this!” say winners Dörte Brilling and Birgit Kidd of litnity.

Website: https://www.litnity.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/litnity

About the Frankfurter Buchmesse
The Frankfurter Buchmesse is the international publishing industry’s biggest trade fair – with over 7,150 exhibitors from more than 100 countries, around 278,000 visitors, over 4,000 events and approximately 10,000 accredited journalists and bloggers - in attendance. It also gathers key players from other media, including the film and games industries. Since 1976, the Frankfurter Buchmesse has featured an annual Guest of Honour country, which showcases its book market, literature and culture to attendees in a variety of ways. The Frankfurter Buchmesse organises the participation of German publishers at around 20 international book fairs and hosts trade events throughout the year in major international markets. With its Business Club, the Frankfurter Buchmesse offers essential services and an ideal setting for the activities of publishers, entrepreneurs, pioneers, experts and visionaries. The Frankfurter Buchmesse is a subsidiary of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association. https://www.buchmesse.de

Contact for the media:
Press & Corporate Communications, Frankfurter Buchmesse
Katja Böhne, Vice President Marketing & Communications, tel.: +49 (0) 69 2102-138, press@book-fair.com
Kathrin Grün, Head of PR and Communications, tel.: +49 (0) 69 2102-170, gruen@book-fair.com
> Press information online >https://www.buchmesse.de/en/press/press-releases
> Photos in print quality >https://www.buchmesse.de/en/press/press-material

www.litnity.com/