I originally had other plans for this weekend, but I decided to go to Manchester and check out the book market at St Ann's Square. This was the 3rd year of it's running and I expected big things given the excited write-up on Lit Northwest and the Manchester Libraries website.
I was disappointed. In turned out that of the 16-ish stalls, about 8 were to do with books. The others were mainly food stalls and a tent selling prints. This was a bit of an anti climax. I had expected more. But this would have been ok, had I not been totally overwhelmed by one particular lady on one particular stall. I am not going to name names, but I was really given the hard sell by the editor of a journal who insisted on not letting me have what I wanted, but selling me her own personal volume of work and reading to me. This made me feel awkward for several reasons. Firstly, I had to give it/her my full attention and I wasn't that keen on the poem but then felt the need to gush to her about it for the following long minutes. Secondly, she was openly saying that if I wanted to submit to her journal I should feel obliged to buy her work. Ok, this was said with a smile on her face but she was thrusting the book in one hand and pulling the tenner out of my other. I walked away feeling slightly cheated and I am sure her book will sit on my shelf unread for a long while.
This being said, Interzone were interesting to speak to even though I don't read sci-fi or fantasy, and I did get one of the library's book bags. So not all was lost.
I was disappointed. In turned out that of the 16-ish stalls, about 8 were to do with books. The others were mainly food stalls and a tent selling prints. This was a bit of an anti climax. I had expected more. But this would have been ok, had I not been totally overwhelmed by one particular lady on one particular stall. I am not going to name names, but I was really given the hard sell by the editor of a journal who insisted on not letting me have what I wanted, but selling me her own personal volume of work and reading to me. This made me feel awkward for several reasons. Firstly, I had to give it/her my full attention and I wasn't that keen on the poem but then felt the need to gush to her about it for the following long minutes. Secondly, she was openly saying that if I wanted to submit to her journal I should feel obliged to buy her work. Ok, this was said with a smile on her face but she was thrusting the book in one hand and pulling the tenner out of my other. I walked away feeling slightly cheated and I am sure her book will sit on my shelf unread for a long while.
This being said, Interzone were interesting to speak to even though I don't read sci-fi or fantasy, and I did get one of the library's book bags. So not all was lost.
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