London Book Fair, Day One
So, my second first time at the London Book Fair started off well, but for a relatively new entrant into the publishing world, it’s still rather daunting. A hive of activity, it’s difficult to get your bearings and figure out where to go, as it seems to just keep on expanding further and further down whichever aisle you happen to be walking down. Even with the planning I had done, I felt very much a novice at this networking lark.
I had planned to get to the fair in time to see a talk on children’s literature in translation, which I managed to do. It was a very interesting discussion, featuring my publishing mentor at Aurora Metro. I was also able to meet Ellen, PR person for Aurora who introduced me to their new catalogue, featuring my edited book on the front cover:
I didn’t know this was happening, so it was a real surprise to see it. For promotional purposes, I also had my photo taken with the catalogue in front of Aurora’s stand:
Apologies to Ellen for completely messing up her own promotional photo for her new book about Jane Campion. I hope there is something she can do with the photos I took – it certainly wasn’t the subject’s fault, but the photographer’s.
Filled with a little more confidence, I set off to do some networking, but I unfortunately allowed personal issues into my head and this affected me for the rest of the day. A little bit of social anxiety thrown in for good measure meant that I left the fair earlier than I aniticpated. After a good rest, I awake this morning slightly renewed, and after some excellent advice and listening (AV, you know who you are), I think I’m ready to have another go at the fair this afternoon. There are a couple of people I want to see, meet and catch up with, and it would be a shame not to grasp this opportuniy. So, with that in mind, I’m getting myself ready to try again at the fair this afternoon.