Honestly, I am a little late. Rushing around the corner and checking on Google maps, if the blue dot on the map is actually getting closer to the tag. Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof. I got changed into a dress earlier, put on my patent leather shoes only for this event. Totally worth it! Wow, this is just glamorous. I am entering the red carpet and float softly beneath those luxurious chandeliers that make me think of the Royals. A connotation not too far off, considering whom I am about to meet tonight.
©Annalena Pabst
I follow the blue signs: London Book Fair, Oxford International Center for Publishing Studies. Slowly the room is filling up. Helen Clifford, Marketing manager of the London Book Fair, welcomes everybody. “Enjoy the time, meeting your colleagues from all over the world!” And this is what we do. I grab a glass of orange juice and mingle in. One hour of chatting about goals and aspirations, exchanging experiences and business cards, and discussing views on future publishing. For some Oxford students it’s their first time in Europe. They participate in the Masters Program in Publishing Studies in Oxford. “I keep telling them, in publishing it’s all about network“, Angus Phillips explains to me. And he is right. It’s so much more fun to produce books, if you know the people in your team. It is easy to start conversations and get to know each other.
“In Frankfurt it’s just – go, go, go!”, Helen says and off she goes to the next meet ’n greet, drinks ’n nibbles, who ’n who’s. Everyone is invited to meet again in London next March at the London Book Fair. Some of us young editors and publishers continue the night, bringing the networking to the next level. Nothing better for networking than roaming a city at night searching for food and real German beer. A perfect end to a great event. Many thanks to the Society of Young Publishers and the Junge Verlagsmenschen Germany for the organization. Cheers!
Annalena Pabst
