I had a fantastic day at the Paperback and Pulp Book Fair on Sunday. The trek up to London began poorly with an extremely heavy bag to carry and a replacement bus service... but once I was on the train everything brightened up considerably.
I was carrying 15 copies of the Utopian book, 3 of the Badgers, 4 Hank Jansons and 1 Phantom for someone who had asked me to bring it to the Fair. I had intended weighing it, but we currently own the world's most sarcastic bathroom scales. When I stand on it, rather than a weight, it tells me I'm old. I'm not kidding... see the photo.
I made it all the way to Holborn, via Liverpool Street, without any problems. The plan was to switch to the Piccadilly line and go to Russell Square, but the Piccadilly line was shut down for engineering works, so I had to walk all the way up Southampton Row—where, of course, 'Hank Janson' (Steve Frances) had his office. I was expecting rain and had dressed appropriately, but it was still dry as I made my way towards Coram Street. I managed not to take a wrong turn, as I did at the last Fair, and arrived at the Holiday Inn at about 9:45.
It was already very busy, and remained so until about mid-day. I spent the first couple of minutes trying to find somewhere to park my bag. I spotted a gap under one of the tables and, with the OK of the dealer whose table it was, I pulled out a handful of books, dumped my coat and jumper on the bag and stood up. I sold three books without moving!
My treat this time—I'm usually after cheap bargains but I always pick up one book for which I pay a little more—was a copy of Sinister Forces by Alvin Westwood, an early Brown Watson SF novel that I didn't have. The cover was a bit worn, but I'm not complaining. I did find a few bargains, too, thanks to Maurice Flanagan's £1 bargain basement books. Some excellent titles and most not in bad shape... but if you have multiple copies of the same book, as dealers who buy in bulk often do, it's worth making space and earning a bit back to pay off your purchases by offering books at bargain prices.
It was great to see so many people: Jamie Sturgeon, Ashley Bowden (whose Female Detectives book I had a small hand in publishing), Graham Andrews (who also has a book out—American Rivals of James Bond—that's worth a look), Jules Burt (who interviewed me briefly about the new book), 'Dorset Bob' Wardzinski (who sold me Sinister Forces), Geoff West, my ex-boss Laurence Heyworth, Tom Lesser, over from the States.. too many people to list here.
One disappointment is that my photographic skills deserted me. I ran around with the camera quickly, snapping shots of tables and dealers, but the light levels were not great and everyone insisted on moving around in the foreground and pulling focus, so I ended up with a load of slightly blurry shots. I tried using the flash, but was stood too far back, hoping to get the whole of various dealer's tables in shot, so the flash made little impact. I did take a couple of shots of the room as people were packing up, so you can at least see what the room was like (see the header pic. The pic immediately above is the hall where the ephemera side of the fair was taking place). However, I know that Jules Burt was filming, and his video is now available on Youtube.
Heading home, the bag was much lighter. The gods of transport were smiling on me and there was a train waiting at Liverpool Street for me, and the bus that was taking me the last leg of my journey was also ready to go.
It was a good day, business wise, although I didn't make much. I think I took about £300, but the train fare was £50, I spent about £40 and restocks have just cost me £200. So I'm about a tenner up! I'll try not to spend it all at once.
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