Melville House Books

Attendees at the recent Frankfurt Book Fair were witness to what was, hands down, the most bizarre and perversely brilliant publicity stunt ever at a book fair — events that are known more usually for publicity stunts that are, well, pitiful. As documented on this video from the folks at the terrific Publishing Perspectives webzine, the German publisher Eichborn, whose logo is a fly, tied a tiny banner giving their booth location to hundreds of flies and released them in the hall.

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.