A couple of weekends ago I drove to Sydney for the Book Expo, it’s the second of its kind in Australia and I would have been there last year if I hadn’t needed a medical procedure as I think it’s a very important event; attending has just confirmed my thoughts. It’s the Expo Australia has to have.

Germany has the Frankfurt Book Fair, this year was their 67th year and it’s massive! I aspire to be there but for a reader from Australia it’s a really big commitment. The Australian Book Expo took over one hall at the Sydney Showgrounds with a handful of little rooms while the Frankfurt Book Fair has multiple rooms, they have so many exhibitors they have to use the foyers as well! This is what we should aspire to and if we don’t get there for 50 years the least we can do is to improve every year, and starting is the first thing.

What do you get for your entrance fee?

You get to talk to many authors. I have many photos and will show them all using Friday Photos over the next few weeks. They are happy to talk about their book, sell you a copy and sign it for you. I could have spent more money than I had just on books alone.

There are publishers in attendance who are happy to talk to you about the world of publishing. Some of them are traditional publishers while others are happy to help you with your epublishing problems.

Then there are the other support personnel. You’ve got Julie who designs book covers, Book Systems International who work in book distribution, Bookabuy who are a book subscription service and Books In Homes who support schools in disadvantaged areas to help with the love of reading.

More Book Expo stuff

I have plans to write about the publishers and the support personnel in future articles as they deserve their own day on my blog. As I write about these companies/people I’ll also write more about our discussions. I really don’t know how I do it but I had most of two days there and I only managed to see some of the stalls, I missed absolutely all the talks and I’m cheesed off at having missing the blogging stream.

How did I prepare for the event of the year?

Not well. Normally when I attend something like this I look at who is going to be there and I plan my time making sure I visit and speak to the really important people. This time I tried to tee up meet ups with book blogging friends and Discworld friends, some of that happened, but apart from ensuring I had plenty of business cards for my blog and for the Victorian Discworld Klatch that was all the preparation I did.

I’m glad I had the cards with me, though. I handed out my blog business cards to many people and also some Victorian Discworld Klatch cards. I was wearing my Moist von Lipwig hat and one gentleman greeted me as the Postmaster General, we ended up having a good chinwag and I’m hoping he’ll join us in the future, he knows Terry Pratchett’s books better than I do.