Wednesday 22 April 2009

Things I discovered at the London Book Fair

Having spent a full day at the monster that is the London Book Fair, here are the three things that struck me as most interesting:

1. Despite huge online interest and discussion about ebooks, eReaders and digital media there was very little going on regarding these kind of topics. Don’t get me wrong the Sony eReader, Stanza and other applications had a presence but it was nowhere near as prominent as I thought it would be.

2. Being a Twitter fan felt a bit like being part of a secret society. I expected social media to play a big part in the fair but it was largely lacking. You only have to look at the Twitter feeds to see the #LBF tag flying around. However, on the ground there was little physical linkage between the virtual world and the reality of publishing.

3. It is now harder than ever for writers to get published. The one thing visitors can’t miss when visiting the fair is the number of stands and the weight of quality books. Almost every company had a selection of exciting books. The sheer quality of the books already on offer makes it that extra bit harder for new writers to break into the market. So old advice stands - if you are looking to get published make sure your work is the best it can possibly be before any agent or publisher ever sees your masterpiece.

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