A major initiative of the fair this year is to be more selective about book launches.

"We want to save the center stage for high-quality books and esteemed authors," Xu says.

Popular subjects such as personal finance and healthcare have proven successful in the market, so it is the fair's quest to find quality books for readers. The organizers will also space out reading sessions for authors so as to make the most of the time the visitors will spend at the fair, including on a weekend.

Spanish author Enrique Vila-Matas, whose novels Bartleby y compania and Dublinesca were published in Chinese earlier this year, will attend the fair in his debut visit to the city.

Chinese-American author Gish Jen, Austrian novelist and dramatist Peter Handke and German Sinologist Marc Hermann are among other high-profile participants at this year's fair.

Penguin Random House will also join in. An orange bag with its logo was among the most popular items of merchandize at last year's fair.

Encouraged by Chinese readers' response to books and impressed with the vitality of the event, the New York-based company has decided to put up its own stall this year. It was represented by a Chinese publishing house in 2014.

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