The London Book Fair, day 3
Final day of the London Book Fair and I am here for it!
Today was never gonna be as busy as the previous days, seeing it is the last day and that I will be traveling back to Sweden tonight. I did however have some things to tend to at the grounds.
First I met up with Richard Addis of Dolby Laboratories. We ended up having an interesting conversation on audiobooks, listener patterns and everything that comes with it. It became apparent during our talk how things have changed over the years. According to somewhat recent studies we touched on, people listen through multiple different devices and speakers every day, be it you headphones, in the car, smart speakers or even directly from your phones speaker. The real task at hand, and what Richard and his colleagues at Dolby are tending to, is to make sure that the experience and quality is always as high as possible for the end consumer - no matter how or where you listen.
Following our meet I made a last stroll of the Olympia and it struck me that a lot of the exhibitors had already called it and cleared out their stands. After a few days of being here, there wasn’t really anything I felt I hadn’t already seen, so at this point I decided to fetch my bags and head into town.
The last errand I had in London was off off the fair grounds, so I boarded the double decker (number 27 to Chalk Farm) and steered - well not me directly, the driver handled that - towards central London. It was time to meet our good friends at Pottermore Publishing.
After being gracefully greeted I found myself in their brand new offices (wow, indeed!) where I met up with senior production manager Jasmine Turley and her team. We have been working together on different projects for the last couple of years and we had a great time talking about everything from book fairs, literature, to how the Swedish winter makes your mustache freeze, and everything in between. It is safe to say that the atmosphere at their office is creative, which feels absolutely necessary given the titles and productions they manage. A big shoutout to Jasmine and her team for having me!
This leads me to the end of my trip to the London Book Fair (and beyond). After a pleasant fly and an unpleasant layover at Arlanda in Stockholm, I arrived home in Örebro where I reside.
So, how do we unpack all of this? Where do we even start?
The London Book Fair is a vibrant place where a lot goes down over a couple of days. The sessions are all high quality and seems well thought of. Personally I would have enjoyed even more deep dives into audiobooks and everything related, but I have come to understand that this might not be the place for that. However, the audio village is said to have been growing a lot over the years and who knows, in a few years time it might play an even bigger part at the fair.
I will take with me some new learnings. The interesting facts about what category of listeners Spotify are attracting and new market ventures of Audible to mention a few. Also, I will take with me all of the good discussions I’ve had with so many interesting and cunning professionals from all over the world.
Because that is what drives us, I suppose. We all play somewhat the same game, but in some instances with different rules that apply. Even though we all tell them differently or sometimes even see them in a different light from one another, it is the shared passion for great stories that binds us.
Until we meet again,
Christopher Pålerud