Just back from the London Book Fair

EileenG

Just back from the London Book Fair, where I got to meet my publisher and some of the editors. For anyone who thinks erotic romance is a niche market, Ellora's Cave is selling 190,000 books a MONTH!

The Book Fair is massive. All the agents were up on the second floor, and you needed a written appointment just to be allowed up the stairs to get near them. Any notions about casually bumping into an agent and pitching your novel are pure fantasy.

There was lots of seminars and stands aimed at self-publishing, very often from companies who promised to do all the hard work for not much money.

There was huge sections devoted to China and Chinese books, and the distribution for them.

I also chatted to the executive director of Publish America who, on the basis that I sounded intelligent and literate, promised to publish my book. She said that PA paid 8% royalties, but if you sold a lot (maybe 100 books) it could go up. They owned your book and all rights for seven years, and you might have to pay a subsidy. Just a small one.

I asked about editing, saying that I knew my book had a lot of mistakes in it, and she said they didn't provide edits as "their authors don't wish to avail of that service". I asked if they would accept a Psion file from me - I didn't use Word because it turned everything I wrote green and red, and she agreed that Word is a disaster for a creative writer. I swear, there was nothing I could say that would make her reject me.

I took away a few of the books, and they were unbelievably bad. I showed them to the EC editors and watched them having heart attacks on the spot.

wavehopper1

Interesting read.

Publish America is pretty notorious at this point, I've seen them mentioned derogatorily a lot in the last few years. I hope the brand is getting toxic for readers.

EileenG

I still hear from people who are being sucked in.