My Time at the London Book Fair

This year was the first time I had been to the London Book Fair and I enjoyed it immensely. However I noticed that one sector of publishing was more dominant at the fair, this was digital publishing. The digital zone was full of innovative businesses who were warring with each other to show the best technologies  and seminars about their new and exciting ventures. What I found interesting was that businesses which are not traditionally linked to the publishing world, such as Samsung, had large and bustling stands. It proved to me that the publishing world is not archaic and it, like lots of other sectors want to explore other digital options. I found that many of the stands were focused on the creation of apps and were exploring how to fully integrate this technology into the digital development of publishing companies. 

My favorite part of LBF was the marketing and publicity seminars. One particular marketing seminar turned how we as publishers research target audiences, on its head. Instead of discussing how to hit young target audiences with new and modern technologies, it discussed how to target the over 45's in campaigns and motivate them to maybe start using modern technologies. There was also a lot of discussion about digital marketing and publicity and I found it interesting how companies are using completely different strategies than the traditional model. 

However, what I did notice, that I found to be rather idiotic was that the digital zone was completely separate from the trade. Surely there shouldn't be a divide as it is imperative for trade publishers to be in the digital fold and using new publishing technologies to keep up with competition.  Maybe next year the organizers would have realised this also and it won't feel like two separate entities like this year.