London
Book Fair, my impressions. It was very busy, and the stands of the major
publishing groups were heaving. Mostly they were discussing rights and all
meetings were by appointment. There was a massive poster of JK Rowling on the
stand of Little, Brown, promoting her new book for adults, The Casual Vacancy, and she looked rather smug in a heavy gold
necklace, like the cat who’d got the cream. No reason why she shouldn’t, of
course, if anyone has the right to look like that she has and good luck to her
too, but from a PR point of view I wouldn’t have chosen that photo. Anyway, to
me it typified how the stands of the big publishers came across. But of course
that was an entirely superficial reaction and for all I know in reality they’re
terrified the twin monsters of Amazon and self-publishing are going to get
even bigger and gobble them all up.
That
to me was the interesting element to the Fair. So many of the seminars and
talks were dedicated to self-publishing – and not just the digital side,
either. Matador I’ve known for a while; they conducted talks several times a
day about self-publishing so plenty of other people got to know about them too.
They have a good, professional offer, and reassuringly they understand the
publishing trade. Their background is in academic publishing. Indepenpress, who
had a stand close to the front door, also had plenty of good things to say and
had an author singing their praises and giving away his books. New to me was an
outfit called Acorn, started in autumn 2010, and owned by a brother and sister
team, the Dewjis. They ran an hour-long seminar. Ali had worked in sales at
Emap whereas Leila’s background was Scholastic, Orion and heavyweight literary
agents Sheil Land. If I were considering print self-publishing, they too would
be big contenders.
If
people are interested in publishing ebooks rather than printed there were
plenty of opportunities, and lots of seminars by the likes of Kindle Self
Publishing. A company called Autharium, which I’d not come across before, did
some talks with Matador; they were an online community-based publishing outfit,
focusing only on ebooks. Again, very interesting. If there was a trend, it was
very much that authors are doing it for themselves. If they pay for professional
distribution and marketing, and can help themselves by setting up a good
following with a blog and using social media, they have a chance of earning
more than with a traditional publisher as royalties are so much more generous.
Acorn said some established authors were coming to them because their
traditional publishers wouldn’t let them write what they wanted to, or had
withdrawn support, so it’s not only debut authors who believe self-publishing
with a reputable company has a lot to offer.
The
other thing to hit me was how many independent publishers there are in the UK.
Lots and lots. They were very busy too. I had several good experiences on their
stands; one publisher which I followed up later said they’re considering
launching a fiction list and would be interested in Fiction Feedback submitting
my authors’ work to them. They’ve not yet told me what kind of fiction, but if
I sensed anything, it was that the independents were sniffing opportunities.
One (very, very small publisher) actually said to me they preferred authors
without agents. Now, I guess for established writers, that would simply sound
warning bells. To unpublished authors, who have tried without success to get an
agent, it’s heavenly music. Other independent publishers whom I spoke to seemed
more receptive, more ready to consider unknown authors, and can point to a
catalogue that shows they’ve put their money where their mouth is, sometimes
with spectacular, award-winning results. It certainly makes you think about
where the best home might be for your masterpiece.
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