Having just returned (9:30pm) from a long day at the London Book Fair, I wanted to give you a glimpse of the side of the book business you normally don’t see. This – in all it’s panoramic glory – is how commercially-published books begin. Here you can see the International Rights centre, an area of the book fair normally off-limits to all but agents and publishers. You won’t see any of the colourful marketing paraphernalia here – it’s all pretty dull, across-the-desk sort of stuff. Agents on one side of the table, publishers on the other. Guys, this is where we earn our percentage. Click on the photo for a pretty darn impressive full-size version to open in a new window.
