It’s been an incredible first day at YALC!
From kicking off the day with a 6:30am start, I quickly set up camp in the Inspiring Indies zone and arranged my stall.
This year, I had four books to sell – and I was shocked and thrilled to sell out of Venom and Blaze before the afternoon was over! Fable and Legend, City and Shadow and January are all still available at the Inspiring Indies zone – so if you’re at YALC tomorrow, come and grab one. I should be floating around in the general area to sign one for you.
I was thrilled to share my slot with Marie Voinson, author of Us Against The Likes. Marie is just the loveliest person and her story about sisterhood and finding your place in the world is simply beautiful.
It really felt like being reunited with family. Some of the original Inspiring Indies from last year came back for more – including Kiera Nixon, Sara Sultane and John Tarrow. We were joined by lovely new faces, like Luke O’Connor, S. J. Clarke, Emma Whitehall, Alex Darkfell and Kestral Gaian.
My slot ended at 1pm, and then it was immediately over to the panel to discuss Breaking The Rules – The Rise Of The Indie YA Rebel. The room was packed (which was lovely but did nothing to assuage my deep discomfort at speaking in public!) and the answers from my fellow authors were fabulous. I learned so much just from listening to them. The intelligent questions from the audience were deeply insightful and made us think too – so it was one of the most rewarding panels I’ve been part of.
I also met the amazing team behind UKYA spotlight. Their non-profit organisation does so much to publicise UK YA authors and it was great to put faces to the names. I also learned it’s surprisingly hard to sign a T-shirt with a Sharpie…
Do it all again tomorrow
Sunday Panel – Indie Author Life
Join us for Indie Author Life: What They Don’t Tell You About Going Solo.
It’s on from 4-5pm.
Come and see me and:
- Kiera Nixon
- SJ Clarke
- John Tarrow
From 1:30 until 6pm, you’ll get the chance to meet John Tarrow (who is also participating in a workshop at 1pm), S. J. Clarke and Kestral Gaian.
The authors taking over the bookseller stand will be:
- John Tarrow 11-12
- Kerry Williams 12-1
- Becky Jones 1-2
I’ll also be floating around in the general vicinity of the Inspiring Indies zone – as well as circulating around the other amazing stands I didn’t get the chance to see on the first day. You’ll probably see me – I do an excellent impression of a human disco ball.
Are you coming tomorrow? Let me know in the comments!
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