THIS WEEK, everyone who’s anyone in the publishing world will be heading to Germany for the event dubbed the literary Oktoberfest, better known as the Frankfurt Book Fair. The annual fair, which begins on Wednesday, is the biggest of its kind in the world, attracting thousands of publishers, booksellers, agents and film producers. It is also the stuff of authors’ dreams, as the site of many a legendary bidding war between publishers convinced they’ve found the next JK Rowling.

This year the fair is running an innovative crowd-funding competition, StoryDrive, with the aim of helping media professionals transform their projects into a reality. The competition is open to anyone with a finished book manuscript, web series or concept for a feature film or video game.

An international jury will choose the five most promising projects, with priority given to those with a cross-media approach (incorporating a variety of media formats and interactive elements). The selected individuals or teams will then be given the opportunity to present their concept to, and potentially raise start-up funding from, investors, business angels and finance experts at the fair on Sunday.