I had an ABSOLUTE bomb of a time at the UK Meet. Despite my worries, I didn’t wedge myself under the table and refuse to come out. Craic was had, food was enjoyed, a worldbuilding panel was delivered quite successfully! After a year – more or less – of planning it all seemed to be over in a heartbeat!
@tamoorewrites My table aet up at the UKMeet! Come and see me!
The clean up is taking a bit longer.
Being a cheap so-and-so I only took a carry-on for my EasyJet flight. So I was faced with the problem of getting excess stock, banners, swag, and…you know…clothes home without my poor little Marvel suitcase exploding. As it was the poor wee thing got a search at the airport.
Logistics! They are important and so many of us (me) don’t think about them.
Do you know how many t-shirts I have to iron? SO MANY!! And GRL is next month, so everything needs to be ship-shape and packed up again for that.
So here’s my list of things I SHOULD have, but didn’t, consider before the UK Meet:
Pre-orders. I never do them. I’m a: lazy and b: anxious about getting the timing wrong and ending up letting people down because the books don’t arrive. However, they do make a lot of sense. You at least have some idea what books people are going to want!
Swag (your own) – Throw it at people, sneak it into their pockets, bribe them to take them. Don’t over-order!
@tamoorewrites #UKMeet getting thenstock ready BY MYSELF! @Andi Lee Romance Author
Swag (other people’s) – It’s so cool. Just remember you are going to have to stick it somewhere in your suitcase without wrecking it. I didn’t have time to look through all the stories on the UK Meet USB and had the horrors about someone asking me ‘do you know what is on this USB?’ at the airport. To be fair, I was pretty anxious about travelling generally so that could have been entirely manufactured.
Books – Related to pre-orders. If you send a bunch of books to the hotel to save having to try and pack them in your suitcase? You’re going to need to bring any that don’t sell back home. OR, and this is my approach, hide them at your editors and do a special sale to try and clear them before she finds them. I don’t figure I have too long. Her cats saw me and they can be bought for a tinfoil ball! Check out tamoorewrites.com by the way. Paperbacks for a fiver, plus pp. UK only!
Clothes – The hotel was so hot! I sweated through like four t-shirts a day. Make sure you take enough for changes, even with the limited space in your luggage.
Oh and Covid. Flip! It looks like half the UK Meet got the ‘rona by Sunday. Luckily enough me, Andi Lee, and our editor made it through clear. Well, other than the memories of us all taking turns to do the PCR in the bathroom. I am always afraid I’ll touch my brain. I know it’s a fact of life these days, but still scary!
@tamoorewrites Sir Hugo PrettyPaws says hello. #tuxedocat #tuxiesoftiktok #cat (not my cat 🙂 staying with a friend for a few days!)
(Let’s hope Sir Hugo keeps his counsel a while longer :D)
On a more serious note, the committee of the UK Meet has all retired simultaneously. I’m not ‘in the know’ as to why, but I imagine the stress of navigating the last two years for the convention might have something to do with it. Hopefully, though, they will find someone to take up the reins and carry on the UK Meet tradition. I considered volunteering, but it wouldn’t be fair since I couldn’t be ‘on site’ for a lot of the planning. Fingers crossed that I’ll be hauling my over-stuffed case back onto the EasyJet plane in 2024.