The London Book Fair: Key takeaways for publishing hopefuls

Last week, I attended The London Book Fair, an annual publishing event, and here are the key takeaways for publishing hopefuls.

The London Book Fair is one of the biggest events in the publishing calendar for professionals. It's an international trade fair where publishers, agents and authors gather to negotiate deals and hold meetings.

It is, first and foremost, a professional work event. It isn't an event for readers to attend and come home with lots of books, despite what some people may think.

Whilst I am a reader, I am also an aspiring novelist and a publishing hopeful. For these reasons, I attended The London Book Fair last week for the third consecutive year.

The three days of the fair were full on with lots of talks to attend, people to network with and a careers clinic, which I detail more about below.

If you're a publishing hopeful, I highly recommend attending The London Book Fair at least once, particularly on Thursday, as the final day is more tailored to students and hopefuls.

Below are some of the takeaways I felt were most useful for publishing hopefuls.

Skills Skills Skills

The main takeaway from The London Book Fair that I learnt from the panels on publishing careers and from the careers clinic was all about skills. When applying for jobs, you will be asked for a CV and a Cover Letter; sometimes, companies will also ask application questions, which you have to answer too.

In your application, you, of course, have to detail your experience. I used to think that experience was the be-all and end-all. However, now the focus is moving onto skills.

When applying for jobs, you need to demonstrate your skills, both hard and soft skills. A piece of advice I received was to move my list of skills up towards the top of my CV, above my experience.

Recruiters don't have long to look at each individual application, so by putting the list of skills at the top, you're drawing their eyes to what you're capable of.

It's even better if at the top you can list hard skills, such as Canva, Microsoft 365, Transcription, etc., and then demonstrate your soft skills — communication, organisation, teamwork — when describing your experience.

Network As Much As Possible

When you're entering a new industry, it can be hard to make contacts and network. However, The London Book Fair highlighted just how important your network can be.

So, as a publishing hopeful, I'd start networking now by attending events, reaching out to people on LinkedIn, joining the likes of the Society of Young Publishers, and finding other hopefuls on social media.

There are a lot of resources out there to help you make contacts with other hopefuls, like Christina Storey's Facebook group, The Publishing Hopefuls, and others to connect you with industry professionals.

Attending The London Book Fair allowed me to meet other hopefuls and students wanting to work in publishing. However, I also met professionals in the industry, from the likes of HarperCollins and Bonnier Books, whom I now have on LinkedIn.

By growing your network, you'll surround yourself with a community of like-minded people who can answer your questions, help you with applications, and be a friendly face if you fancy a coffee.

Passion Is Key

Most people in publishing work in the industry because they love books. But being a reader is simply not enough.

When applying for jobs, you have to demonstrate your passion, and you can do this in many ways. Firstly, it's always good on an application to showcase not only your passion for books, but for the specific job and company you're applying for.

You could mention a couple of books recently published by the specific imprint, or a particular campaign that caught your eye that they designed. Highlighting their books clearly highlights your passion for books, but also for their books and makes you stand out more.

Another way to demonstrate your passion in a broader sense is by attending events, volunteering and using social media. You could volunteer at a local library, attend book festivals, or create your own BookTok/Bookstagram account.

All of these things show that you don't just enjoy reading a book, you love involving them in your life.

Demonstrate Commercial Knowledge

There's this saying, 'It's not what you know, it's who you know,' and I'm sure in all industries, there is a lot of truth to it. However, your knowledge is just as important.

Publishing is a business. It is a way for people to make money, and so, as a publishing hopeful, you can't just enjoy books and want to work with authors. You have to understand the business and demonstrate commercial knowledge.

When applying for jobs, it's good to showcase your awareness of what is going on in the industry. For instance, The Publisher's Association launched the 'Don't Steal My Book' campaign at The London Book Fair, and AI was a hot topic of conversation. The British Book Awards have also announced the shortlist for the award categories.

Knowing about these sorts of things can help you stand out and make your application much stronger. Now you may ask, how do you do this?

Well, you could subscribe to The Bookseller, subscribe to The Publishing Post and follow different publishing houses on social media. Also, having some publishing professionals in your network on LinkedIn is useful too.

Open Your Mind

As a publishing hopeful, it can often be disheartening when you get rejected from jobs and when you hear other hopefuls share similar stories. The industry is so competitive, but by keeping an open mind, it can be a lot easier for you.

What I mean by this is don't just focus all your attention on one job, one publisher, one role. At The London Book Fair, one of the panels highlighted how important it is to be adaptable and open, even if you're happy with where you are now.

So, consider different departments (not just editorial or marketing); look outside of the Big Five and consider smaller indie presses; and embrace opportunities when you're presented with them.

Publishing is not an easy industry to get into — it'll feel like a full-time job just applying for jobs — but I hope these tips can help fellow publishing hopefuls navigate their way to working with books.

Until next time...