Book Expo Australia

Book Expo Australia

So I’m back from Book Expo Australia with a bag of swag and some fond memories.

I was initially very nervous, because it was the first time I ever put my hand up to be a volunteer at a bookish sort of festival and I figured that Sydney would be a good place to do it. Plus I put my hand up earlier in the year on a whim. I didn’t think that I’d actually end up being one of the volunteers. But there I was flying to Sydney and staying with a family friend for the weekend (thank you so very much, Elias!) where I had a weekend full of books, new friends and sight seeing. It was truly really fun.

I feel like I’ve grown as a person in such a short time. I had to conquer my fear of talking in front of people and was forced to make new friends helping make me bold, (I asked for a job with a Melbourne genre fiction press) and most of the fire to get my book into print and move it was relit. Like it wasn’t already, but I got the push I really needed to get going further.

One of the best sessions I got to sit in on (one of which was the smallest intake of people) was Cover Designs that Sell with Julia Kuris, graphic designer from designerbility*. And it was the best because she broke it down into simple terms just what you need to make a cover work. There was no fluffing and while some of them seemed really, really simple, they worked. Julia even managed to catch emails with the opportunity to get a document with genre specific, which is pretty good too. She was very approachable and genuinely seemed more than happy to answer questions, no matter if she had covered them slightly in her talk or not. It was really refreshing to have her be so nice about it all. Or perhaps I just think that everyone is a dick until proven otherwise.

I also seemed to get over my fear of talking in front of others. I got to MC the session on character development and that went pretty well. It was hard, though, it was a little unorganised about how the sessions went and I didn’t get a chance to really read over what I needed to say before it was said so I stumbled a little bit over some of the words and what not but all in all we managed pretty well and everyone in the crowd seemed to really get into it, which was nice.

I really hope that BEAus is held again next year. I’ve planned it already with the new friends I made over the weekend (or the span of a couple of days). I really hope to put those plans into fruition (I’m pretty sure the two of them thought I was joking – Ash, Suzi, totally not joking). It was a great first year, I think that it could have gone a little smoother, but it something that can be worked on for next year. Bring it on.

Ps. Be on the look out for some giveaways! I have books, I know you like books!

Mandi is a writer, reader, dreamer and is breaking procrastinating inner editors, one at a time.

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