Discussion

Downside of Being a Book Blogger in the UK

Read.Dream.Live

So I am going to start with saying that this is my opinion and in no way reflects on anyone. It is just a blogger’s thoughts and should not be used as fact against any individuals.

I spent my weekend enviously watching twitter and instagram as the lucky individuals at BEA16 met authors and received coveted arcs. Unfortunately living in the UK means no major bookcons. The closest we get is YALC which is in London and is tied to Comic Con, which means it is very crowded with people who are not even attending the event. Not only do we lack bookcons but we also get hardly any signings, especially when it comes to best selling American authors. They very rarely cross to this side of the pond and when they do it is usually only to London. It would be nice if other cities such as Cardiff and Edinburgh could welcome authors for signings. Travelling to London can be expensive and since the events are often on weekdays, they are impossible to get to without taking time off work. Unfortunately my bosses wouldn’t give me time of for getting a book signed. Crazy right??

I love all my American online book friends but I often feel like the UK and other countries get the short end of the booknerd stick. Perhaps it’s time the publishing industry start thinking about events such as BEA for the UK. If you build it the bibliophiles will come!!

What are your opinions on this? Does your country get a lot of book related events or do you have to watch from the screen as well? Are you American and have the same problem? Or are these events just too expensive to go to? I would love to know what you all think. Please comment below.

amy

28 thoughts on “Downside of Being a Book Blogger in the UK”

  1. Oh my gosh, i could’t agree more! I’m also from the UK, but I live in London, and yes, there is slightly more here than other parts of the country, but it is hard to attend timing wise and not very frequent! It’s also not advertised very well and there are no big events. Book signings aren’t a massive thing, even in the bigger book stores, and YA literary genres seem to get forgotten about – come on UK sort it out!

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    1. I couldn’t have said it better myself. There are very little YA events and I think with the current strength of the genre the UK are missing out on meeting some very talented authors.

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  2. Yes, yes, yes! The UK publishing industry / book community should do bookcon events, America has so many and I know that the U.S. is so much bigger than the UK but we definitely need more. I agree it would be nice if authors travelled to different parts of the UK, in Scotland there is only the Edinburgh Book Festival which has a limited number of YA authors.

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    1. I think there is a big market waiting for the book industry if they just took advantage of it. Let’s hope with the growing popularity of YA authors more events will start popping up.

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  3. I’m not even as far off from the U.S. as you are (I live in Canada) but I feel this! I live in the Toronto area but even we—as a big city—don’t get big bookcons, or any bookcons at all (at least none that I’ve been made aware of). It does kinda suck to watch from behind the screen and not be able to go myself 😦

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    1. It would seem like the book industry needs to expand. They have loyal fans everywhere and they need to think of ways to cater to them. Spread the book love!

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  4. I’m in Melbourne Australia and it’s the same thing here, we have Supanova (which is like (comicon) but there are maybe 2-4 Authors there, some that are new to the scene.
    I’d love a YALL west or Bookcon etc… I wish there were more bookish events where I was as well ☺️

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  5. I’m in Australia and I feel the way you do, but I guess I kind of get it – the publishing industry IS centred in the US, so it makes sense that most of the happenings happen there, haha.

    I think rather than just diversifying events, it might be good for the industry to work on diversifying itself in general – I’m sure there are SO MANY great writers out there who don’t live in the US and miss out on major opportunities because of this. It’s a shame.

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    1. That’s a really good point. I am wondering how many great authors live pretty much on our doorsteps without us knowing.

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  6. I think the problem for the UK is that in comparison to the US it’s a much smaller market and because of that I guess there’s less money for events and such.
    I agree though that most cool events are linked to London. There is also the London Book Fair but I don’t know if bloggers/vloggers can attend.
    Unfortunately for Wales the Cardiff Waterstones doesn’t have a lot of events. Last year we got the Sarah J. Maas signing and there was a David Levithan/Lisa Williamson event but there hasn’t been anything YA-related since then. 😦

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    1. That is very true. I am attending YALC so I hoping that will fill my bookish needs. I hope Cardiff can get more signings such as the Sarah J. Maas one.

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  7. Pingback: May Wrap-Up || June TBR (2016) – She Latitude

  8. Oh, my god! I agree! I live all the way in India and forget bookcon. A new book takes months to release here! I can only dream about meeting my favourite authors or being a part of something like BEA. It’s infuriating sometimes! There are so many book lovers here who would love to be a part of such events and yet we can do nothing but sit and watch

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    1. Aw that is such a shame that you have to wait so much longer for books! I think other countries need to take a leap out of America’s book and create a bookcon. Book lovers everywhere deserve the chance to meet their favourite author.

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  9. Speaking as someone who lives in the north of Norway, nothing happens here LOL. I fell all over myself when I found out they’re arranging Comic Con in Denmark this year, that was close enough for me so I got tickets immediately. It’d be awesome with something book related too.

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    1. It seems like there are many countries who are missing out on book conventions. I think the publishing world need to jump on it lol. I hope you enjoy Comic Con!!

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  10. I live in France. That says it all, haha. We don’t get many book events, and they almost always involve French authors. Of course, I don’t read in French. Nor do I read French authors. Well, not living in a country in which the language is not English obviously makes me out of the industry!

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      1. Amazon is my best friend 🙂 Also we have the biggest independent French bookstore in Bordeaux. They have a couple of bookcases full of books in English version. And once in a while my secondhand bookstore has a few titles available.

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      2. I love Amazon. I get way too many packages from there lol. I’m glad you have a few options to find books.

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      3. The delivery guys know that when a package is coming from Amazon, it’s for me XD I’m the Amazon girl of the building. One day I’ll succeed in staying away from the website for a week!
        There’s also the university library but they only have classics and it’s not my favorite genre.

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  11. I live in the UK too and I FEEL YOUR PAIN.

    I hate when I read a review for an amazing book and then find it doesn’t come out here for months. It is so frustrating!

    One piece of advice I would give (if you can get there because it is Scotland), is to check out the Edinburgh International Book Festival. I worked there last summer. It wasn’t like a haven of YA authors or anything, but there were more people around than usual. I met Patrick Ness. He prereleased The Rest of Us Just Live here at the festival so we got copies a few days before everyone else. That was pretty cool. There is a kids lit festival in Bath too, that sometimes has some pretty famous authors. When I was a teenager I went there to see Meg Cabot talk and at that point it was basically the most exciting thing that had ever happened.

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    1. I literally just got back from Edinburgh. I wish I had known about the Book festival because I would have planned my holiday around it. Ah well may have to look into it for next time. Thanks for letting me know about it. That’s cool that you got a copy of the book a few days before everyone else.

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