FEATURE Attending London/Bologna Book Fairs

Author, editor and producer of books, Lionel Bender talks about the benefits of visiting a book fair

My experience as an author, editor, and producer of books shows that face-to-face meetings, personal connections, and direct contact with products are the keys to success. In pursuit of these, I have visited more than 80 international book fairs and exhibit halls over many years. London and Bologna Book Fairs provide golden opportunities to do the same. In 2025, these will be held at Olympia from March 11 to 13 and in Bologna from March 31 to April 3. Take a look each fair’s website for details:

London Book Fair

Bologna Children's Book Fair

Which one is best?

As a minimum, attend LBF for one full day. Bologna BF, being much bigger, international, and for children’s publishing only, is by far the best. Go to this fair for two or three full days. In 2025, SCBWI will again have a stand at the fair, which you can use as a base, a meeting point and a great source of advice on everything related to your trip. But visiting Bologna and its book fair is an expensive trip—and you should book your travel and accommodation now! Remember, all visit costs are business expenses so are tax deductible.

 

Bologna and London are both annual book fairs

Why do I recommend going?

Whether you are a writer or illustrator, book fairs offer you so many unique opportunities to drive yourself and your projects forward. Here’s my list of what you can achieve.

1. see and examine publishers' products
2. identify the most likely publishers for your work
3. get a feel for your best place in the industry, for example; as a freelancer, working for a company, self-publishing, in print or online, and in traditional or non-traditional publishing
4. identify the editors or art editors you need to approach, meet them or get their contact details
5. determine publishers' procedures for submissions or applications
6. if appropriate, arrange to meet your editors, publishers, and/or agent, and members of your critique or creative group
7. collect publishers' catalogues and sample books, or have them sent to you
8. identify non-traditional outlets for your work
9. find writers' and illustrators' organisations that can give you advice and support
10. approach North American publishers directly and, if appropriate, foreign-language publishers. It is perfectly possible to work with them directly
11. get an insight into book marketing, social media, podcasts, audiobooks, foreign-rights
12. sense new trends and get ideas for new projects by reviewing what others are doing
13. see some digital developments on display and test them out
14. attend workshops, presentations and panels given by industry leaders
15. network with other authors, illustrators and freelancers and share information and experiences

Psyching yourself up for your visit

Each time I visit a book fair, I blitz the halls to look for opportunities to make these objectives happen. Of course, you can just wander round, glancing at each stand, soaking up the atmosphere, and attending a few workshops and panels. But you can achieve so much more. Look at the list above and home in on what is important to you now.

 

Then, prepare to overcome hurdles. First, exhibitors often resent your presence. They feel freelancers trying to muscle in on stands and asking for meetings are disrupting the business of sales, publicity, marketing, and selling of foreign and media rights that needs to go on. Second, on big corporate stands, gatekeeepers will try to keep you away from meeting the editors and art editors you want to connect with. Agents are often based in closed-off areas.

 

I have developed my own tactics for overcoming these hurdles—with an almost 100% hit rate!—and you will find yourself creating your own.

 Into battle

In advance, on each fair’s website look at the Exhibitor List. From this, make a list of those publishers and other organizers you definitely want to see. If you have an agent and editors you have worked with but never met, email them to say you are going and arrange to connect. [Sending others unsolicated mails to ask for meetings is a waste of time.]

 

At the fair, go first to those stalls on your target list. If you can, take photographs of anything interesting you see. Otherwise, make notes as needed. After any conversation, immediately record who said what. Elsewhere, go on stands to look in depth at books and talk to staff. Be firm but polite to get what you want.

 

Pre-planning your visit will ensure you get the most out of the event

Making the most of meetings

Try to identify and meet with the editor or art editor that deals with your work. You want their name and email address so you can contact them after the fair. They may well not be at the fair, be busy, or away from the stand. But, with chutzpah and luck, you can extract the details you need from someone else. Contact key people after the fair.

 

If you have a CV, resumé, manuscript, portfolio or published books, take a copy of each with you and, if and when appropriate, show these to get a reaction. But don’t leave material or spend long on any meeting: Yours and exhibitors’ time is precious, and being able to send material after the fair should be your objective.

 

The follow-up

No sooner than two weeks after the fair—to give exhibitors time to get back to normal and do their follow-ups—email everyone you met, remind them of your meeting and, as appropriate, send them material, arrange to meet or agree that you can contact them again when you have something specific to present. Should you go to another fair, email the best of your contacts in advance and ask to meet again.

 

On a good day at a book fair you can have 30+ meetings or meaningful conversations. Some of these can lead to an invitation to submit, an assignment, a contract or a career move. If you don’t go to the fair(s), none of these are likely to happen so readily.…or at all.

 

*Images provided by Lionel Bender

 

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Lionel Bender ran a book packaging company for 31 years, producing 1,400+ children’s nonfiction books for publishers in North America and Europe. For 10 years, his company exhibited at Bologna Book Fair. He now gives talks and writes about how writers and illustrators can succeed in children’s publishing. Contact him directly for his Guide to Visiting Book Fairs, which is packed with more hints, tips and advice on maximizing opportunities at all book fairs and conferences.

Contact Lionel on linked in

or on email: lionheart.brw@btinternet.com