WM goes to London Book Fair

Writing Magazine editor Jonathan Telfer, marketing manager Lauren Beharrell and ad sales executive Sarah Ng enjoyed a hectic visit to the London Book Fair this week.

Weaving our way through a thronging Olympia Kensington, we were delighted to catch up with WM readers, enthusiastic authors, mainstream and self-published, rekindle a few long-established friendships and make some new ones. Exciting plans were hatched but it's still early days – and everyone is still soaking their aching feet and resting their hoarse voices after all the fun of the Fair – so keep watching this space!

Reflecting the evolving status of indie and self-publishing, Author HQ has grown in recent years to become one of the Fair's busiest sections, and one of the most useful for writers. Jonathan was excited and flattered to be asked to chair a panel on the current state of the publishing landscape with Nicola Solomon, chief executive of the Society of Authors, and Nielsen Book Research territory development and support manager Reeta Windsor. To a standing-room-only audience, Reeta presented enlightening figures on key areas of sales growth and the encouraging statistic that sales are up in all categories, and Nicola highlighted the importance of relying on multiple sources of income for 21st century authors to be able to make a living.

Were you there? Sorry we missed you! Which aspects of the Fair did you find most useful? Do let us know, on Twitter, Facebook or email