Last week, The Mysterious Bookcase was invited to a huge book event by our friends at Tiktok Shop: The London Book Fair.
What is The London Book Fair?
The London Book Fair is one of the largest international book trade events in the world. It is held annually in London, and attracts thousands of publishers, booksellers, agents, librarians, and other industry professionals from around the globe. The fair provides a platform for publishers to showcase their latest titles, negotiate deals, and establish new business relationships.
The London Book Fair has been running for over 40 years and it features exhibitors from over 60 countries, with a wide range of publishing genres represented. In addition to the exhibition, the fair also hosts a variety of events and seminars, with speakers from the publishing industry and beyond, covering topics such as copyright, literary translation, and the future of the book.
The London Book Fair is an important event for the publishing industry, providing a space for professionals to come together, network, and discover new trends and ideas. It offers an opportunity for publishers to sell rights to their books, find new authors and titles to publish, and learn about the latest industry innovations. Overall, the London Book Fair plays a vital role in promoting international publishing and the wider book trade.
Our day at the London Book Fair 2023
I know what you're thinking... how did a little bookish small business end up at such a huge event? Well, our friends over at Booktok for Tiktok Shop invited us! It was a perfect opportunity to speak with our contacts about The Mysterious Bookcase and selling our blind date with a book packages on Tiktok, so the first thing we did when arriving was find the Tiktok Shop stand and introduce ourselves!
Throughout the rest of the day, we had the chance to speak with independent, small and large book publishers to form connections in the industry (with the hopes of growing The Mysterious Bookcase).
We also had fun looking around all the publishers stalls and admiring some of our favourite titles, spotting new books that we're looking forward to being released later this year and even bookish displays -- like the literal Throne from Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series. This was an exceptional find, because earlier that day, I had heard about the Throne tour, and I was disappointed that it was not coming close to us in Bournemouth. It was very cool to admire and sit on it, especially as I'm currently reading the Throne of Glass series!
Our day at The London Book Fair was brilliant. We have never been to such a large event, and it was such an incredible experience. Hopefully The Mysterious Bookcase will go back next year!