I grew up with the book fair. Reading is my thing, and the book fair is a way to get books cheaper. I visited almost all of them, except maybe a few when I was in the military. They used to happen twice a year – one for Christmas, and one for the 24th of May. Over the last few years, a third one has formed, called Alley of Books. It’s essentially the same book fair but in September.
It will start on September 7th and will be located on Vitosha Boulevard. The highlight of the event for me will be a book signing with Nicholas Eames on September 10th. He’ll be at Artline Studio’s tent and then will do a talk at Gramophon Club, starting at 19:00.
Book fairs give the chance to buy books directly from the publishers. Even if their discounts are not as high as what we can get online, the money, I think, goes to a better place. There are still writers, translators, illustrators, printers, and so on I can support this way. Even though I see AI slop entering the book market, the real thing still exists, despite some sloppy book covers and somewhat worse translations. Better pay the publishers than some big software company that resells their work with a large margin and zero risk.
It would be my favorite place!
Once when I was a teen I worked in a book shop that specialized in antique books. It was my heaven, an escape from a miserable life into beautiful worlds. I loved the way they smelled
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the books from the 80s and 90s
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really hating that print-on-demand thing Amazon is doing. It’s often combined with AI slop, but not always. I’m getting tired of buying a book with an attractive cover, decent looking fonts, and (for physical books) good binding—but when the book arrives it’s the cheapest thing imaginable full of typos….and ugly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The translator of one of the last books I read never figured out if one of the main characters was a man or a woman.
AI is slowly making books worse
LikeLiked by 1 person
Slowly?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some of the publishers keep the bar high but definitely not all. Even buying bestsellers doesn’t mean slop free
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember seeing a book fair in Sofia in June 1996. I even found a book or two in English. 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice, I was into writing at that time and these fairs were a chance to meet authors. I was at the 1996 fairs, keep a few signed game books from that era.
LikeLiked by 1 person