Nicola Vincent-Abnett

Nicola Vincent-Abnett
"Savant" for Solaris, Wild's End, Further Associates of Sherlock Holms, more Wild's End

Monday 16 April 2012

London Book Fair


It is London Book Fair this week, and it dawns on me that I know nothing about how these events work.

Now that I have an agent (I know... Wow! Right?) I feel like I really ought to know a little more about the industry I am, finally, officially a part of.
I know writers write, agents sell to publishers, and publishers make books and sell them to the public... more-or-less. I also know that there are any number of book fairs, and that Frankfurt and London are the two that are probably the most talked about. I know these are industry events, and that all the agents and publishers I follow on Twitter have been talking about prepping for the London Book Fair, and how exciting, and how much hard work it’s going to be. I shall, of course, keep an eye on my feed to hear all about what happens, as it happens.
What I feel I ought to know is just what goes on at one of these shindigs. Is it an excuse for otherwise hardworking and solitary creatures to get together for a knees-up? (In which case, that’s fair enough, as far as I’m concerned). Or is it where the main business of the year is done? Where new writers are sold in? Where the pace of bidding for new works hots up? Where publishers advertise their latest acquisitions and lists for the coming year?
I assume all of the above, but I don’t actually know.
This is what Londonbookfair.co.uk says about it:
Now in its 41st year, The London Book Fair continues to be the global market place and leading business-2-business exhibition for rights negotiation and the sales and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels.
So that clears it up nicely.
I think I’ll stick to what I know best, and get back to the writing.

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