Blog Posts

I could not have dropped the ball further when it comes to posting blogs.  However, I know when soemthing's worth dropping everything and writing about, and I know that a letter I got today is just that.

The following comes from my friend, a librarian in New York City:

I feel like my life is made up of a few three-to-four day periods at a time, and sadly this, one of the better three day periods, comes to an end later today.  But, as it's not ended yet, and I still need to recap yesterday, I'm not yet ready to call it the end, just coming to it.

Yesterday, the second day of London Book Fair 2009, was another one full of great traffic, lots of meetings and lots of inquiries to the New Title Showcase.  Aside from the exhibits I'm working, lots of "future of publishing" and "next big market" discussions were had.  I can only speak for me, but I'm getting a big impression that although India is the Country of Honour here this year, The Arab World is still the buzz.  They're still striking up a lot of conversations--even one's that they're not actually involved in--and while a lot of people seem to be sold on India as one of the next great English Language markets, the Arab World is still an unexplored territory that a lot of people are happy and excited to explore.

Aside from official business, I spent a lot of my day yesterday doing things surrounding the Society of Young Publishers here in the UK.  I've spent at least six months trying to conjure up something similar in the states (with lots and lots of help of course), but we've so far just had a few ideas.  However, yesterday I was re-energized not just from the great stuff fed to us by the SYP, but also by the few American's there that are pumped to start something similar as well.  (I should not that the AAP has a group for Young Publishers that is just great!..but it doesn't meet the needs of many of the people I've met around the world).  The SYP also hosted an event that they call Cannon Tales, which is a series of publishing professionals sharing their stories in different ways.  Last night's stories were told with pictures.  Each presenter had 7 minutes to tell their story using different pictures that remained on the screen for 21 seconds each.  It was awesome...

...and so has been LBF!!

A few nights ago when I went out to dinner, the bosses and I were deciding what to wear, unsure if the restaurant was more formal or casual, when one of my bosses said "everyone could use the money, what are they going to do?  Not seat us?" to which our friend from the Publishers Association here in the UK replied, "I don't think we've been hit as hard as you yet here."  The hard hitting she spoke of was, of course, the economy, and judging from the traffic here at London Book Fair, she's completely right.

That's not to say that it's busier than years past (or year past in my case as I've only attended once before), but it's certainly not "no one has any money for the fair" quiet.  It's really great.

And, speaking of really great, the New Title Showcase, in its new location is making a killing.  This is the first time the exhibit's not at the very front of the hall, but in the main thorofair between the two halls of the show.  It's a much more logical location for people to spend their free time than the front of the hall, and it garners traffic from people who have destinations anywhere in the hall.  And we're collecting quite a lot of impressive leads from some pretty impressive visitors to the exhibit. Let's hope they all lead to good things.

Today is the International Society of Young Publishers conference that I'll be attending.  I'm interested to see how other countries facilitate young publishers, in the hopes we can expand what's currently in the US.  Lots more on all that after.