London Book Fair

I had always planned to take my book to London Book Fair at the end of the project, however the books I had printed cost a bit too much to just give away for free so in the end I took two copies with me: one for the stall, one to take around with me to show with my portfolio.

I also took a selection of business cards, mini cards and postcards to give out to people who were interested in my work. 

I had ended up using some of the pages from my book full sized in my portfolio, and everyone I showed was interested in seeing the whole book afterwards which was a positive sign. I got very positive reactions to my work, particularly my book so I think having it printed in time to take with me was a really good idea.
In hindsight, I do wish I had taken more copies with me. Although I couldn't afford to have them on the stall for people to just take, it would have been nice to have a few extra copies to give to the bigger companies who were interested. Although by the end of Wednesday when I went back to the stall my book had gone, so somebody was obviously interested in my work!

I showed my book to a company called Ginger Books, and within a few days of the fair finishing I got an email asking me to send them a PDF of my portfolio as they are interested in my work, particularly my book. They are still quite a small company, and I am still waiting for any feedback, but it's great to get such a positive response so quickly.

I also managed to get an appointment for the portfolio surgery on the Wednesday afternoon with Strawberrie Donnelly from Little Tiger Press. She liked my book, and gave me some good feedback. She said she really liked the idea for my story, and said that the text was well written and it had potential. Her main piece of advice was that my character looked too old for the audience I am aiming my book at, so I would need to adapt her proportions and facial features to make her look younger. Overall she said she liked my work so once I have worked on the things she had advised and gained more confidence in my work she would like to hear from me again in around six months. 
This was a fantastic opportunity, and gave me some really valuable feedback to work on.

Going to London was a really useful experience. It gave me a much clearer idea of what publishers and companies are looking for in a book, and also gave me a chance to show my work to publishers face to face, an opportunity that I probably wouldn't have gotten if I hadn't gone to the Book Fair.