POV: You Volunteered All 3 Days of LBF

London Book Fair (LBF) took place 12-14 of March this year (2024) at the Olympia London in Kensington, London. I, an MSc Publishing student, decided it would be a great idea to volunteer for all 3 days of the event. Here is how it went: 

The day started out great! Woke up early, grabbed coffee and a quick breakfast from the Costa down the street and made my way to the convention centre bright and early on Tuesday morning. I showed my ‘LBF Staff’ badge to event staff at the door and wound my way through the maze of vendor booths to the back of the hall to meet my fellow volunteers and the volunteer coordinator. We were all assigned to various locations around the convention hall. I and two fellow volunteers—who were also my course-mates at Napier—were placed at the lecture hall where English PEN (“one of the world’s oldest human rights organisations, championing the freedom to write and the freedom to read around the world”) was stationed for the duration of LBF.  
For the most part, the day was quiet and honestly pretty boring. There wasn’t much for three extra people, in addition to the seven-ish members of the English PEN staff, to do. We were most needed for an afternoon session, ‘Palestine, Israel, and Free Expression in the UK’ in which there was a massive queue and the room had to be swept by security and K9 units. It was all quite hectic for about an hour or so, but then things died down again and we were standing around for the rest of the day.  
I took a break during the day for around 15-20 minutes to just walk the floor and speak to a few people. I walked up to The Bookseller’s booth and happened to start up a conversation with the Head Marketing Manager! I told him about my placement where I was working as a marketing intern, and he loved my enthusiasm. He, Fergus Carroll, gave me his email address and told me to send him an email with my CV when I could, and he would be happy to chat!* 
The highlight of the day was that where we were stationed was right across from the Spotify booth where they were promoting their audiobooks and handing out the prettiest tote bags! I was able to swipe a few of them for myself and the other two volunteers with me when I asked! I also stopped by Flame Tree Publishing, lured in by the offer of mini cupcakes, and was able to snag a journal and coloring book designed by one of their illustrators who was also there signing copies of the book! 

LBF Snags:  

1. Coloring book and journal illustrated by Angela Harding (Flame Tree Publishing)
2. Spotify tote bag 

Day two, I woke up a little later than I had intended and so I was a few minutes behind in getting into the convention centre. When I got into the volunteer room in the hall and met with the coordinator, I was supposed to be assigned to the English PEN hall again, but I politely requested to be anywhere else! The coordinator agreed that so many volunteers were probably not necessary at that location, so I got reassigned to help out at the International Rights Centre (IRC).  
I stood by the large map just outside of the IRC and helped to direct admittees around the hall. It was better than Tuesday; I could talk to people, move around and feel helpful. I was also able to wander around a bit and meet some of the vendors.  
When I went for a wander, I stumbled upon a man dressed as a train conductor of old, monocle and all. He was completely in character and when I approached him, he asked if I had “dropped my train ticket”; I played along, and he gave me my ‘ticket’ which he told me to turn in to the Hachette UK booth and when I did, I was gifted an advanced copy of the book, The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks! 
Later that evening, there was a meet-up of students from various publishing programs around the UK (especially Scotland). On my way to meet with my course-mates, I passed by the Bloomsbury booth where they were having an event to launch a new release, The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable. I was able to swipe one just by asking an employee! Then I went up to the meet-up by Publishing Scotland and swiped a mini bottle of whisky before heading out. 

LBF Snags:  

1. The Cautious Travellers Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks  
2. The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable  
3. A puzzle by Pelikan Printing Ltd.  
4. Mini whisky from Publishing Scotland  
5. Tote bags from Wordsworth Editions and others 

I am outing myself here when I say that I was 20 minutes later in getting to the convention centre than I should have been! But if I was going to be late, I was going to be late with coffee because there was no way I was going to be able to make it through the day un-caffeinated.  
This last day of LBF, I was assigned to the Author HQ with two other volunteers (and another two of my course-mates). Again, there wasn’t really a reason for three volunteers at this lecture theatre; I asked to be ‘relocated’ to be a wandering volunteer. I meandered around the convention centre, making a few laps on both floors and in all the halls, killing time until 3:30pm. 

That’s when the fun begins!

At 3:30 on the dot, publishers started to pack away books to take back with them to their offices and warehouses and to donate to Book Aid International, London Book Fair’s Charity of the Year for 2024 alongside the National Literacy Trust.  
I had heard from a little birdy earlier in the week that on the last day of LBF, some publishers give away books! So, I started to make my rounds around the trade book hall; I simply asked if they “had any books to spare” and more often than not, when I asked, they said yes! I grabbed books from Canongate, Sourcebooks, Simon & Schuster, Bonnier Books UK and Wordsworth. It was the greatest day of my life! 

LBF Snags:  

1. One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware (Simon & Schuster) 
2. House of Ash and Shadow by Leia Stone (Bloom Books, imprint of Sourcebooks) 
3. The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste (Sourcebooks) 
4. Pestilence by Laura Thalassa (Bloom Books, imprint of Sourcebooks) 
5. 1984 by George Orwell (Wordsworth) 
6. Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti (Sourcebooks)
7. The Medici Murders by David Hewson (Canongate)
8. Night of the Witch by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis (Sourcebooks) 
9. Athena’s Child by Hannah Lynn (Sourcebooks) 
10. The Hollow Dead by Darcy Coates (Poison Pen Press, imprint of Sourcebooks)
11. Raybearer and Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko (Hot Key Books, imprint of Bonnier Books UK) 

• Talk to anyone and everyone
  • People are there to network and they want to talk to you, especially students! The worst they can do is say no; if you stumble over your words (or literally), they probably won’t even remember you, or if they do, it can make a great anecdote when you reconnect! 
• Wander around and explore the smaller publishers
  • A lot of the time, the big guys like Hachette, Harper Collins and Penguin are in meetings or are booked up with appointments all day and won’t have time to talk to students or interested individuals. Smaller publishers like Flame Tree and Wordsworth have staff on hand at their booths to answer questions in their spare time; they have a lot of wisdom to share too! 
• Just ask
  • Everything I got for free from the very generous and kind people at LBF was given because I just asked! I would start up a conversation with small talk, introduce myself, explain that I’m a student and ask a simple question or two like “how did you get into the publishing industry,” or “what made you want to do x, y, z.” On the last day in particular, I politely asked, “do you have any books to spare” and it was either a yes or no answer. The important thing was I. Just. Asked!