This year’s London Book Fair was a totally different experience for me than last year’s. I had my baby daughter with me this year, but at least I could trundle her in a buggy instead of schlepping her around in my belly! As I said in my blog post for Help For Writers, I conducted several meetings sitting on the floor, but I think most authors appreciated the fact that I don’t stand on my dignity all the time. At least, I hope they did …
I wasn’t on a stand this year, either, and I enjoyed being able to roam free. Out of all my scheduled meetings there was only one person who didn’t show up at all, with no warning – and they contacted me afterwards to apologise! This made quite a change from my previous experiences in a different industry. What a nice lot you authors are! I hope to give everyone the same respect in return.
I also popped over to see the folks on the SfEP stand – always nice to say hello and put some faces to names.
So, what’s new in the publishing world? There was a bigger emphasis on self-publishing this year, with the expansion of the Author HQ area and more services targeted at self-publishing authors. It’s good to see that there isn’t any technology that can do the copy-editor’s job … yet! I don’t think there ever will be, but by the time I’m 90 I might be eating my words (hopefully not in paper form).
I’m conscious that I haven’t been blogging as much as usual since the sproglet was born, and I hope to get back into the groove with more regular posts. You can look forward to some tips about how best to proofread your own work. And if there’s anything specific you’d like me to cover, please contact me and let me know!
