Indie Authors Storm the London Book Fair - by Kathleen Jones
It's 3 years now since the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) first stormed the closed doors of the London Book Fair and since then the dust has begun to settle. Although there still seems to be some bewilderment at the change, authors are now firmly a part of one of the biggest book events in Europe. It seems incredible that it was ever otherwise. How can you have books without authors? It's as though the mainstream publishing industry has got into the habit of regarding us at best as inconvenient amateurs, at worst just the chicken that lays the egg. Just one of the halls at Olympia. This year, for the first time, I was able to go along and I had the most incredible experience. Held at Olympia, the Fair is absolutely vast. So big that I got lost on a regular basis, despite having a map, and on Day One I had three attempts to find the right exit before being escorted out by a burly bloke in a Book Fair T-shirt. All the major publishers (an...