The London Book Fair is a worldwide book publishing event that takes place every year in Olympia, London. Now in its 47th year, The London Book Fair maintains to be the global marketplace for sales and distributing a variety of content across different channels such as digital and print media. In 2019, LBF (London Book Fair) will celebrate its 48-year anniversary. The London book fair is one of the largest book fairs held in the world, and this year it will begin on 12th March and end on 14th March 2019.

History

The fair started as a trade show for librarians known as Specialist Publishers Exhibition for Librarians (SPEX). It started on 5 November 1971 by Clive Bingley and Lionel Leventhal.

Bingley wanted to provide small publishers with $500 loans and a way to share their work with librarians. The first event was a success and Bingley, and Leventhal was desirous to make the event businesslike.

Development of LBF

The London Book Fair has expanded in size and gained importance over the years. More than 25,000 publishers, booksellers, literary agents, librarians, media and industry suppliers from over 100 countries now attend the fair, according to the figures given by Jacks Thomas, Director of the London Book Fair. Book publishers come to London to disclose their upcoming title and to sell and purchase insignificant titles from other publishers.

Aim of LBF

The London Book Fair focuses on displaying one specified country each year, with the aim to promote publishing trade with that country and to provide opportunities for administrating business with the rest of the world.

The new focus is the attention of video games that started in the year 2015. With the evolution of digital technologies, many authors and publishers are finding new ways to present their stories and attract their readers. With the help of video games, the reader will gain more knowledge.

The Event Itself

There are various activities during the event. Business meetings are arranged between publishing companies, the disclosure of titles for readers and visitors, distribution of prizes and awards, and many workshops.

LBF Storybook

Each year LBF makes its storybook. This storybook contains all the information about the event. You can consult it to know all the details about the event.

Book your Stall

At the London Bookfair, you can book your stand. Whether you want to advertise your brand, generate new business leads or widen up your business network. The London Book Fair can boost your business and put you on top to build more brand awareness.

This year’s Motto

This year’s motto of the London Book Fair is “Making words go further.”  With over 250 seminars and events held during the book fair, companies and publishers will surely help to achieve the motto for this year.

Statistics of the previous book fair

Being one of the largest book fairs in the world, London Book Fair witnessed:

• 2320 stand holders from 56 different countries
• 25,000 attendees from 135 different countries
• 13,000+ visitors from 118 countries
• Social media reach encompassed 2.3 Million
• LBF trended on Twitter for four days during the event
• Followers crossed 50,000 marks during the fair

Who visits?

London Book Fair is a large-scale event which can be attended by everyone, but mostly the following people come to witness the event

• Authors
• Buyers
• Booksellers
• Publishers
• Distributors
• Licensing and merchandising
• Literary agents
• Translators
• Investors
• Tourists

Conclusion

London book fair is a very large book fair which is held every year, and people from all over the world come to visit and experience the book fair. This year features a special objective for the event which is ‘making words go further,’ and all sorts of people would come which would help turn this motto into a reality.

The main objective of this year’s book fair is to make the readers, authors, publisher and the distributors come to the same level and increase their knowledge regarding the importance of book reading and the value that words bring in one’s life. This year’s book fair would be like no other book fair with loads of experiences and knowledge to gain from.