This year, I visited the London Book Fair – my first trip to the greatest book trade fair. Here are my reflections on the event, whether it’s worth attending as a freelancer and what self-publishing advice I learnt from the event.
Self-publishing at the London Book Fair
The bulk of the exhibitors at the London Book Fair are, of course, involved in traditional publishing. However, there was still plenty of space for self-publishing companies.
KDP, IngramSpark, Troubador, Book Vault and Lulu, among others, were there to talk about their self-publishing options.
The various companies showed off their finished products. It was quite fascinating to compare the qualities and varieties of books that can now be produced through self-publishing and it is vitally important that you do your research when deciding where to publish your book. (IngramSpark’s hardback with dust cover looked very good.)
Seminars: Diversity and Publicity
I chose too attend two different seminars in the morning: one on publicity and one on diversity, both with a focus on self-publishing.
When it comes to publicity, the panel of three authors offered up the range of strategies their use to market their books.
As self-published authors know, it’s down to you to market your books. But that also gives you a lot of freedom. Instead of purely focusing on the new releases, for example, you can also market your backlist.
The authors also shared more about how they use their mailing lists and social media to engage with their existing readers, connect with new readers and answer questions from readers too. Ensuring that you know your intended audience, even before you start writing, was seen as key to marketing your books.
Diversity was the focus of the second panel I attended. Again, self-published authors took to the stage.
When it comes to author earnings, ALLi shared findings of their author earnings survey which showed that self-published authors can earn more than their traditionally published counterparts. Women earn more than men and LGBTQ+ authors out-earn hetrosexual authors by 19%!
Self-publishing allows writers to share their words with readers without the gate-keeping that traditional publishing sometimes comes with. While publishers are far more willing now to publish diverse fiction, readers are even more hungry for it and self-publishing is allowing more writers to tell their stories. Diverse authors are leading to more diverse output and readers, especially younger ones, are actively seeking this out.
Making connections
Along with seminars, it was also good to get out and talk to people in the publishing industry. I saw books where augmented reality is bringing the choose your own adventure genre to life. I saw new and inclusive education resources, showing more representation (although there is still work to do here). Of course, most of the meetings are planned months in advance to sell international rights but it’s good to talk to smaller presses who are interested in working with freelancers.
Should you go to the London Book Fair as a freelancer?
In short, yes. Would I go again next year? Probably not, unless the seminar programme was specifically aimed at me!
It’s great to be there, to learn a little and to speak with those who are involved in the sort of work you do. However, most of the emphasis of the fair is not really for freelancers in publishing. It’s for agents, purchases, international rights, and so on. Even authors are really pushed aside at the event in favour of the deals that are being made.
And that’s fair enough. It’s not really an event for freelancers but it’s certainly something that you should attend at least once. You get to see cool new books, the trends of the industry and listen to experts explaining things. I might not be going again in 2025, but I’d certainly say I’ll go again at some point in the future.
Nick (he/him) is an experienced, professional editor and proofreader, specialising in LGBTQ+ writing. Use this form to get in touch right now!
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