5 Reasons Why an Author Should Visit The London Book Fair

Many people ask me why on earth I attend The London Book Fair. Here are five reasons I always try to make the Fair:

1. To learn. During this year's London Book Fair I attended over ten seminars, and although not all of them were right for me, the majority taught me something new. I will write about specific subjects under another post, but for example in AuthorLounge on Tuesday (16 April 13), two industry giants, Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne and Eric Huang, Director New Business and IP Acquisitions at Penguin, gave an interesting and informative talk about how books are changing with additional digital content. Apps, games and toys are all part and parcel of the digital future for books. I came away excited about the future, rather than fearful.

2. To network. Each year, sometimes by pure accident, I meet someone who is interesting and who I can exchange views and keep in touch after the Fair. This year, because of the wonderful Alliance of Independent Authors, I met many like-minded writers. I also got two definite promises of book reviews from influential people. And I got to pitch to an agent who asked me to send my book to him. (I've been here before, still it was great to have affirmation from someone in the traditional industry that my writing pitching is on the right track).

3. To make friends. This year particularly, I really feel I've made some true friends. Having all the fellow ALLi members there has been such a huge support. Thank you Orna Ross for making it happen! Thanks must also go to AuthorRight who provided us with the AuthorLounge seminar area - and drinks at the end of each day! (VERY important). Gareth Howard was a tireless host - I wonder if he slept at all during the three days? Not forgetting the giant Amazon who hosted the ALLi 1st Birthday Party on Monday. What a coup!

4. To sell your books. Here planning is key. Making appointments with agents and publishers at LBF is notoriously difficult, but it does happen. However, even if you haven't planned ahead, just your presence at the Fair, talking about your book and asking other writers about theirs will provide results. As Joanna Penn from The Creative Penn says, reviews sell your books, and talking about your book(s) will gain you those. You are the best salesperson for your books, so be yourself and talk about your work.

Me with Joanna Penn

5. To see the bigger picture. I always remember the first time I entered the hall and was surprised by how many segments the industry was made of. The vast space at Earls Court is divided into areas by genre, from the academic press to children's literature, as well as industry segments from international focus (like Finnish Literature Exchange, FILI), the digital zone, to a few second hand booksellers. In the middle are the grand stands (some with staircases to bars) of the major publishers like Hachette (below), while the smaller boxes of the independent presses and second-hand booksellers line the walls, with perhaps a chair or two around a lonely table.

I took this picture at the end of the
last day - during the show this space was filled with literary folk having meetings.

One of the larger second hand booksellers at LBF13. Nice to see!

Finland was represented by FILI in the Nordic countries stand.

Inside the Finnish FILI stand.

This year there was a definite change in the air at the Fair. There was a rumour going around (I heard it from Rohan Quine ) that the International Rights Centre upstairs was a bit quiet and that all the action was downstairs. There certainly was a huge buzz around AuthorLounge (and no, it wasn't just the bar). Most of the time it wasn't possible to get inside to listen to the seminars, let alone get a seat.

So, if you are an author, or an aspiring writer, try to make it to The London Book Fair next year. It inspires, it makes good business sense and it's fun!

A-Z Blogging Challenge: E is for The Englishman and F is for Freebies

My theme: Writing and the Business of Writing

Free Books

Many people when they hear that I am putting my e-books on a free promotion look at me puzzlingly, ' Really?'

Why, they ask, after spending up to two years writing, editing and formatting a book, do I want to give it away free? When as I mentioned in my Creativity versus Cash post, even us writers need to eat?

There are many reasons.

Firstly, the more people read your words the better. As with the blog (which after all is the same: ie giving your work away free) the more readers you have, the bigger your writer platform. And a big platform means more book sales, eventually.

Or so the theory goes.

Here's what my experiences have been so far.

The Englishman

I've just finished a second free promotion of my e-book, The Englishman, and once again had a good response. It's exciting; I love getting new readers, the more people read my story, the better.

The Englishman - as those of you who've followed my blog for some time know - became a book after I started telling the story of my life here on my blog. The first draft of the book was fairly quick - it took about 6 months to write. At the end of it, however, what I had was just a set of blog posts, not a novel. The editing process took best part of eighteen months. I really struggled with the format. Should I keep it as a memoir, even though the story had already veered into the fiction side? Or should I take it into a fully fledged novel? What I first produced, about a year ago now, was a first person hybrid, which I sent to a few of my biggest fans (including Liberty London Girl and Mrs Trefusis). All were influential people in their fields, so I thought their advice would be invaluable. I knew I was lucky to have such people taking an interest in my writing.

All the good advice pointed in one direction - to make the blog posts into a 'Will they, won't they' love story, ie a traditional novel. So I changed the point of view (more on POV, my pet love/hate in the P post of this challenge) from first person to third person, and added about 20,000 words. After a few more final edits, it was time to send it to a professional editor, and in August 2012 I eventually let The Englishman loose on the world.

When the novel came out, the first sales figures where very promising. I also had several incredibly fabulous reviews, and many of my blogging friends hosted me and the book on their websites. The Englishman was featured on The N10 Show and the book was even recommended as a good read on the Alliance of Independent Writers web site. Accolade indeed!

But by October sales had started to flag a little, so I decided that, to keep up interest in the book, the best thing would be to make The Englishman free for a period. And I have to say the results were staggering. Overnight, during the first 24 hours of the promotion, over 600 copies were downloaded. During the whole promotion I 'sold' over 1,000 copies. That, I've been told is not a bad figure for a first novel in any genre or format.

But, and this is a big but against giving your books away free.

After The Englishman's success, I decided to publish my other two books, Coffee and Vodka and The Red King of Helsinki also as e-books, and at the same time, do another free promotion for the backlist novel. But now the free promo is over, some of my readers are asking me when (not if) the other two will be free…

This is very flattering, it is truly wonderful for a writer who has struggled for years to have any readers at all, to be asked when your work will be available.

But at the same time I wonder if I've created a reader expectation that all of my work will forever be free? Have I completely destroyed any hope of ever making money (read: breaking even) with my writing?

I do hope not, because as I mentioned before, I too need to eat.

Author exits stage right.

4 reasons why I'll never forget 2012

Another year is nearly over and after such an eventful 2012 in London (Olympics etc!), personally I too have had quite a remarkable year. Here are the four major reasons why.

1. In January '12 we finally took the plunge on the property market and moved into our own flat in Crouch End. I cannot describe to you how wonderful it was to set my roots down again. (A few mishaps like being shut out on the balcony not withstanding) In the last 11 months or so we have grown to really love this part of North London, from its pubs (The Maynard Arms and The Queens), to its award winning coffee shops (The Haberdashery and The Blue Legume) to its fishmongers (Walter Purkis and Sons). The End is truly a lovely place to live.

2. The year 2012 also saw the first ever Crouch End Festival, a feat of local arts in the form of music, literature, dance, performance, bunting displays around the Broadway and much, much more. The festival broke all records for both the supply of events and spectators, but to me it was a fantastic way to get to know the local arty folk. (It's reputed that over 40% of the people living in N8 are working in the creative industries - no wonder I feel so at home here). I cannot wait for the 2013 Festival which I'm lucky again to be involved in.

3. The year 2012 was also significant for me because I published my first ebook, The Englishman. As well as having wonderful support from many of my fellow bloggers, who reviewed the book and/or let me talk about The Englishman on their sites (thank you Tania, Karen, Expat Mum and Ruth), it got terrific reviews (4 and 5 stars!!!) on Amazon. It was also a choice of the month at Indy Writers and became an Awesome Indie. It also made the N10 Show locally, where for the first time I read out loud from the book. That was scary….What's more the sales of the book have completely outstripped my expectations. All is now set for the next two books to be published in 2013. My tale of displacement, Pappa's Girl, will be out in January closely followed by a gentle spy thriller, The Red King of Helsinki. All I now need to do is to finish the next one…

4. Last, but not least, this year I found a diet that works for me: the 5:2 fasting. I've talked about it  lot here, but the fact is that I lost a whopping 5 kilos in the first two months! Plus the fasting has completely changed my relationship with food, so much so, that even during this holiday season when I decided to give myself a break with the diet, I've not been overeating as I usually do either. This is truly unusual and revolutionary for me. I cannot wait for the New Year when I will be starting the regime anew. And roll on 10 January when Dr Mosley's book, The Fast Diet is out (where this blog gets a mention).

So those were my highlights of 2012 - what were yours?