I always look forward to the London Book Fair – I think it’s the thrill of being surrounded by so many books! Today was the first of three, and I used it to attend seminars for the most part.

I’m delighted to say that the talk and panel discussions I attended were excellent: not a dud one in sight. The interviewers asked some probing questions, and so did members of the audiences.

The London Book Fair this year takes up 2 floors of 2 halls at Olympia, London

My focus was on book promotion and marketing, and book cover design. (I’ve come to the conclusion that my wondering about whether cover design is important in a highly niche market (see A self-publishing journey: book covers and current “conventional” wisdom) was misplaced. It certainly is.

Terry’s top tips for those intending to attend:

• Download the app. It’s almost excellent (it was completely excellent until it inexplicably deleted an entry from my diary).
• Get to seminars/discussions 15 minutes early to grab a decent seat.

This year, my attending the London Book Fair is a major part of my self-publishing journey.

On day 2 I will be working on one of the three books I am currently writing before heading off to the show. There I will attend two seminars and spend more time wandering about.

If you tweet about the London Book Fair, the main hashtag seems to be #LB515.

The giant social networking sofa: brilliant!