An Insight To The Publishing Industry
An early start to the day for me on Tuesday as I caught the dawn train to London and on to the 2022 London Book Fair, which was being held at London Olympia.
The suggestion that I go had been made by my friend and editor Edward Couzens-Lake who was also attending in order to not only promote his own growing media business but to catch up with some of his clients, one of which, of course, is myself.
Ed had advised me beforehand that, as shows go, this one was a bit of a behemoth-and he wasn’t wrong.
Olympia first opened in 1886 with two, for want of a better word, extensions, added to it in 1923 and 1930. The site had a £40 million uplift in 2013, one that will preserve it for years to come-and rightly so, as, amongst the shows and performers who have featured there in its history are the International Motor Exhibition, the World Scout Jamboree, the Smash Hits Awards and an ATP tournament as well as concerts by Jimi Hendrix, The Cure, Status Quo and Rod Stewart.
So its a location that has more than a few stories to tell!
London Olympia (Ruth Sharville/geograph)
I wasn’t quite certain what to expect from either the event or the day itself beforehand, and found myself, upon arrival, looking around the vast halls, wondering quite how I’d be able to work out where everything and everyone was. Fortunately, Ed arrived soon after me and, as I took in my first coffee of the day, he talked me through everything that I needed to do and think about as I set out to promote my book, which was the main purpose of my visit.
I’m very pleased to be able to say that, overall, people were impressed by it. But not only by my story and how the narrative covers the various escapades and adventures I have had in my life. They were also very taken by how well the book was conceived and designed, something which is, as I now know, media people take very seriously.
They really do, in such instances, judge a book by its cover. And My Way went down very well indeed.
Where it and my future exploits in media and publishing in general remains to be seen but, I suspect that, if you keep on reading my blog every fortnight up until around about this time next year, after I have been to the 2023 London Book Fair, you’ll know almost as much as I do, as I intend to keep everyone up to date on all of my business developments on this page as well as, of course, all of the myriad charity themed events I’ll be managing and hosting as part of my responsibilities with the Lord Baker Community Fund.
I’m thinking there is probably another book in the making about some of the events we’ve managed as well as the stories that have come out of them and what the money raised has done for some hugely deserving Norfolk based charities, a part of my life I am determined to continue with and expand throughout the rest of this year as well as into 2023.
Someone once said something along the lines of how mighty oaks spring forth from tiny acorns, and that’s how, with reference to all of those plans for the next year to eighteen months, I saw my day at the London Book Fair. It was a great opportunity to see how the publishing industry works from the inside as well as to have the chance to get to catch up with some of the people I’ll be working with in the future, one of them being marketing guru Vanesha Peach, the owner of Peach Revolution.
A networking lunch. With Vanesha Peach-a quick break for lunch on Tuesday, but, rest assured, we are all talking shop! (Couzens-Lake Media)
I’ve always believed that the best way to push on with any business is to surround yourself with people who are experts in what they do-and I firmly believe the people I was with on Tuesday are all examples of that in their respective fields.
So yes, all in all, a good day that has left me feeling even more enthused about the projects that lay ahead. I’m looking forward to sharing them all with you on here as things develop.
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My next blog is due to be published on April 22nd so I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all of my friends, colleagues and business contacts a very Happy Easter -Russell.