Publishing Twitterati Flock Together at the London Book Fair

Clockwise from left: Anna Lewis, Jon Reed, Jon Slack and winner Emily Benet

The publishing Twitterati were out in force at the London Book Fair last night, for London Book Tweet – the official tweetup organised by the London Book Fair and Publishing Talk. Despite a little ash-depletion, 50-odd publishers, authors, agents, journalists, trade association representatives and other book trade folk squeezed a bit of tweeting-up in between ligging drinks at various stands and going on to the Canongate party. Many thanks to all who came, and to those who made it all possible with their creative contributions.
The evening started at 5.30 with drinks at the Market Focus bar, and an announcement of the winners of the Author Blog Awards 2010 – followed from 7pm onwards by cocktails and the Latin sounds of Jonathan Davis and Ernesto Priego who took to the decks at Eclipse in South Kensington.
Plenty of Twitter veterans who attended previous book trade tweetups #tweetmas and #twinter came along, but for many it was their first – hopefully the first of many. Tweetups are curious experiences where you walk into a room full of people you’ve never met and are greeted like an old friend. People feel like they know each other from their 140-character updates, where they’ve made connections based on shared views and interests – pure content, unencumbered by social interaction or hierarchy.  The thing I like about book trade tweetups is the real mix of authors, publishers, agents and other bookish folk who would otherwise never meet socially. From industry leaders and famous authors to those new to publishing or writing, all are welcome. In the sometimes insular world of publishing or isolated profession of writing, no one can hear you scream. With social media, everyone has a voice. And we like to meet in real life too.

Author Blog Awards 2010

Following over 500 nominations in the last four weeks, Jon Slack and Anna Lewis announced the winners of the inaugural Author Blog Awards in three categories: Best Author Microblog, Best Unpublished Author Blog and Best Published Author Blog. The winners were:

• Best Author Microblog: Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself)  / Runner-up: Richard Jay Parker (@bookwalter)
• Best Unpublished Author Blog: Sam Starbuck (copperbadge.livejournal.com) / Runner-up: Jane Alexander (exmoorjane.blogspot.com)
• Best Published Author: Emily Benet (emilybenet.blogspot.com) / Runners-up: Cleolinda Jones (cleolinda.livejournal.com) and Jackie Morris (drawingalineintime.blogspot.com)

As luck would have it, Emily Benet was at the tweetup – congratulations, Emily!

The Author Blog Awards highlight the power of social media to offer a more level playing field for authors who are willing to interact with their audience online, and gain exposure for their work in the process.
ANNA LEWIS, CompletelyNovel

You can hear the Awards announcement, plus a few words from Emily, on the AudioBoo, read more about the winners at CompletelyNovel, and see Emily’s thank-you video on her blog.

Party at Eclipse

Festivities continued at Eclipse, with Jonathan Davis (@canadiancat) and Ernesto Priego DJing and spinning some Latin/salsa/soul sounds (there’s an AudioBoo for that too), and Toby Rhind-Tutt  (@the_rts)doing the photographic honours again. See his photos on his Twitpic page. If you have any photos of your own from the night, add them to our Publishing Talk Group Pool on Flickr to see them automagically appear in the sidebar of this site.

More Tweeting Up

This was the first London Book Fair tweetup – but there are more Publishing Talk events and more booktrade tweetups to come this year. #twicnic has already been mooted as a summer booktrade picnic in London. Why not organize a booktrade tweetup in your part of the world? Let us know and we’ll list it in our Events section. Meanwhile, carry on tweeting!
Related articles by Zemanta

• Author Blog Awards Winners Announced (completelynovel.com)
• Shop Girl among Blog Award-winners (bookbrunch.co.uk)
• London Book Fair Goes On Despite Volcano (huffingtonpost.com)