My London Book Fair - Day 1

Where to begin? It was a corker of a day! Sipping my glass of wine, I am trying to review the fizzing day. Let me share it in pictures because in my shattered state, it’s going to be easier…

Here I am at the Kobo stand. Thrilled to see INCEPTIO was included in the graphic on the side wall. Of course, I had a copy of the paperback with me so, of course, a photo was mandatory. Next, Kobo invited me to have a professional photo taken by Rebecca Millar, with their compliments.

Back to the SilverWood Books stand which was constantly busy. Director Helen Hart declared herself hoarse by the end of the day! The interest in self-publishing is growing exponentially.

I set off to explore Author HQ in EC2, the vast hall behind the main exhibition hall EC1 and ran into many friends.

Some I had met in the flesh for the first time on Sunday such as Jessica Bell, Rohane Quinn and Carole Cooper.

Jessica Bell and Dan Holloway

Others I met for the first time today: Dan Holloway, Eliza Green, Chele Cooke, Catriona Troth, Roz Morris, Karen Inglis. Too much, too many!

My critique partner, Denise Barnes came up for the day and somehow survived the melee.

A terrific panel ‘What Independent Authors Know About Reaching Readers’ with Orna Ross (ALLi) and Ben Galley (ShelfHelp) chaired by Diego Marano of Kobo was crowded out.

Orna Ross

Ben Galley

Diego Marano

I spotted two Romantic Novelists’ Association colleagues, Evelyn Ryle and Jenny Haddon, both listening intently to Orna, Ben and Diego.
I did pop over to the Choclit stand and chatted to fellow RNA writers Christina Courtenay and Sue Moorcroft – lovely to see their smiling faces. I forgot my camera…

Then on to the launch of the ALLi ‘Open up to Indies with Dan Holloway, Orna Ross and Debbie Young.

Somehow, I fitted in a terrific workshop on Publicity with Liz Dawson of Harper Collins – practical and very informative; today all authors however published must be proactive in marketing their books by developing and implementing a solidly planned PR campaign of their own.

And at the end of the day, I ran into Mel Sherratt on the KDP/Create/Space/ACX stand.
There are two more days to go, but I don’t mind if they’re not as good.This day was wonderful.

Go on to Day 2 and Day 3

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers, INCEPTIO, and PERFIDITAS. Third in series, SUCCESSIO, is now out.

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