London Book Fair and opinions.

[AnyaKimlin]

Those that went what do you think?
Indie writers’ dismay at Author HQ | The Bookseller

 

[Ray McCarthy]

See also
London Book Fair Debrief

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I read that which kind of tied in with what Ben has said. I was just curious if it really did feel like being at the children's table.

 

[Dan Jones]

As far as I know I was the only Chronner there, and it was my first London Book Fair, so I couldn't compare it to previous years, but I did think it was a bit rum that the authors – the brains behind the industry, let's be honest – were tucked away up the back. It didn't offend me (perhaps others are ore easily offended than I?), and I was quite happy to stay where the Author section was - there was a networking section, some pretty decent talks (see the link to the longer thread Ray put up above) and there was coffee, beer etc - it's not like we were herded and kettled like the scum we are or anything. I thought it was fine.

The fact is that publishing is an enormous industry - anyone who was there would have seen that; there were thousand of folks milling about, and publishing runs a gamut that spans far beyond mere fiction. Then there are all the other services that underpin the business: design, manufacturing, translation, etc etc. It's a trade show. Authors sometimes get a raw deal, it's true, but LBF was originally a trade show that expanded to incorporate authors. It could quite easily get by without an author section - so I'm not saying we should prostrate ourselves at the feet of LBF or anything, but some perspective is probably required.