Publishing Scotland hosts a Books from Scotland stand for
members at the London Book Fair every year.
New Books Scotland 2018 is our most
recent rights catalogue - created in collaboration with Creative
Scotland - showcasing members' books. The print version gets
distributed at the London and Frankfurt book fairs and other events
throughout the year. You can download the PDF version 2018.
The 2018 fair took place at the Olympia Conference Centre and we
were at stand 2C80 for members.
The following members exhibited at the fair on our collective
stand 2C80:
Other members who exhibited at the fair were:
For more information about the fair generally, visit the
official London Book Fair website.
Photos
The photos above of the 2018 fair were taken by Lucy Feather,
Member Services Manager, and Eleanor Logan, Trade Liaison Manager,
except for the photo of students Bea Joubert and Megan Carney which
is by Saraband.
Prepare for Book Fairs
Whether it's your first visit to a trade book fair or you've
been before, have a look at our Prepare for Book Fairs PDF for some tips and
advice on how to get the most out of your time there.
Five Top Tips for preparing for London Book Fair
appointments
from one of our publishers who has learned from
experience
If you are thinking of going to a London Book Fair, make sure to
take note of these tips from one of our publishers.
1. When to make appointments
Make your appointments well in advance. Many people's diaries
are already filling up. Don't leave it until one or two weeks
before the fair.
2. Time-slots
Appointments are half-hour slots from 9am to 5.30pm. The halls
at London aren't so vast that you can't easily get from one
appointment to another. The Agents Centre can take longer to get
into because of extra security. A spreadsheet with space for each
time-slot can be a good way to keep track of your schedule.
3. Where to have meetings
You can arrange appointments both at your stand, or the other
person's stand. Many foreign publishers just 'visit' LBF and don't
have stands of their own. As a rule of thumb, if you're buying a
service (eg from a printer, or buying rights from another
publisher), the meeting will be on their stand. If you're
selling (eg rights on your books, or books to a wholesaler,
retailer or rep), the meeting will be on your stand.
4. Who to meet
Think about the different types of people you might want to see.
Here are few to consider:
- Foreign publishers -- you selling foreign language rights (your
stand)
- Foreign publishers or agents -- you buying English rights
(their stand, if they have one)
- Wholesalers, eg Gardners, Betrams (your stand, so they can see
the range of books you publish)
- Other retailers, eg Waterstone's, independents you trade with,
bookclubs, remainder dealers (your stand, except remainder
dealers)
- Reps and other trade partners, eg Faber Factory -- if you share
reps, they may well be at LBF meeting with their other publishers
(your stand)
- Printers (their stand)
- Other services, eg eBook converters, App-makers, distributors,
print-on-demand printers, etc (their stand)
5. Attend seminars
There's also a good programme of free seminars at the London Book Fair. Get there early to ensure
getting a seat at the popular ones. Block off those time slots in
your schedule so you don't double-book.