An Insider's View of the London Book Fair

Today's forecast for St. Peters, MO: It's foggy and misty outside today. Tonight there's a chance of thunderstorms, high 75 degrees.

Update on last night's concert: Although it lasted almost two hours, it was great fun. Cari's eigth-grade class played the part as cool teenagers singing in their "Grease" attire, and Michael's fourth-grade class looked styling performing "Dreamgirls." The cutest act was the kindergarten class performing "Wizard of Oz." The sixth-grade's rendition of "Mama Mia" had folks dancing in the aisles, in part because it was the last act and folks were ready to leave, but also because they did a good job.

Now, on to writing, with a bit of poetry for good measure. Robert Browning said, "Oh, to be in England, now that April's there." April is a great time to be in England, especially if you were lucky enough to attend the London Book Fair. If you couldn't be in there in person, how about gaining insight from a blogger with connections to Missouri, who lives in England, and has written about his experience at the London Book Fair?


For the past couple days, Sean McLachlan has been writing about his experiences at the London Book Fair on his blog Midlist Writer. Sean advises conference goers not just to visit with editorial staff, but also the business representatives who have insider's knowledge about what lines will be expanding and what lines are not living up to sales expectation. He also comments that while the fair is geared towards agents and publishers, authors can benefit if they behave in a professional manner. He shares some stories of writers who did not behave professionally. Sean tells about one shameless (and desperate) author who actually pasted stickers about his book in the bathroom stalls. To read more about Sean's book fair experiences, visit his Midlist Writer blog.


I visit Sean's blog regularly because in addition to his blog posts on the writing life, he has conntections to Missouri and the American Civil War. He has a book coming out in the fall from Osprey Publishing titled American Civil War Guerialla Tactics.

Sean's book Outlaw Tales of Missouri also has recently been released, which follows his other Missouri history books include Missouri: An Illustrated History and It Happened in Missouri.

So, hop on over to Sean's blog and check out what he has to say about the London Book Fair, and if you're interested in the American Civil War or Missouri history, you can also check out his books.