BEA 2014 - I Was There Part II! And another giveaway!

BEA 2014 - I came, I saw, I conquered. Sort of. To be honest, Saturday, BEA kinda conquered me. But, that's a story for later in the post. We left off at the beginning of BEA's official day 1, which happens to be my day 3.

DAY 3 - Thursday, May 28

The day dawned slightly chilly, but after a brisk walk and a pit stop at Dunkin' Donuts, we arrived at the Javits Center around 6:30 a.m. to get in line before the 9 a.m. proverbial bell rang. You may think 2.5 hours is a ridiculous amount of time to wait, but to be honest, the time goes by relatively quickly. We took lots of selfies, perused the PW Show Daily, went over our schedules and compared them to the map of the show floor, and we went over our strategies and potential meet-up times for the day.

Anna, Me, and Jen

Jen, Anna and Val getting familiar with the map

Thursday, Val and I went to the HarlequinTEEN breakfast before the show started. We had the opportunity to engage in a round table discussion with some of their super talented YA authors and some HarlequinTEEN publicists. It was really interesting and I loved that I had the chance to talk with these awesome people in such a small forum.

I made it back in line right before 9 a.m., and then we were off! The day went remarkably smoothly, with me getting to nearly all the signings I wanted to, and hitting the galleys I wanted the most. The book I was most excited to get was R.L. LaFevers' Mortal Heart. And the author I was most excited to meet for the first time was Amy Plum. She remembered my name! And, she was so sweet. (And, so was her French chocolate)!

Me chatting with Amy Plum

Annith!

The lines weren't too bad - nothing unexpected - and people were generally very chatty, patient and kind. There were a few snafus in the autograph area with attendees getting different messages from different volunteers about times when we could and couldn't start lining up. But, overall, it wasn't too bad at all.

After leaving BEA, we had a hankering for some real NY pizza, so Anna, Jen, Val and Rebekka from Endlessly Reading went to John's Pizzeria for dinner. That pizza was THE BOMB. And the building was gorgeous, too.

Anna, Rebekka, me and Val at John's

And, when it was all said and done, the books I got made me giddy with excitement.

DAY 4 - Friday, May 29

We realized we were establishing a routine when we all rose at the same time, left the hotel at the same time, stopped at the same Dunkin' Donuts (for the record, I got ICED coffee on Friday instead of hot coffee), and arrived at the Javits to take our place in line at 6:30 a.m. Why fix what isn't broken? While we were waiting, I saw Becca Fitzpatrick walk by. Then, she stopped underneath the big banner for her new book, Black Ice, and I had to get a picture of it. Here she is with her editor:

See? It pays to get there early! After the daily selfie and show daily perusal, we hit the show floor at 9 a.m. with a solid plan. Top priority - Sarah J. Maas' Heir of Fire. After waiting approximately 1.5 hours, I finally had that gorgeous book in my hands.

Me with Sarah Maas

On Friday I also had the chance to see Jennifer L. Armentrout and Cora Carmack. I've seen Jennifer a lot over the past few years since we don't live too far from one another. And, Cora and I have had a lot of opportunity lately to interact since I'm on her street team. It was so nice to see both of them again.

After another great day at BEA, we hit up the Blogger Picnic in Central Park where we had the chance to eat together and share our experiences from our first few days at BEA.

After dodging the rain in the subway and making our way back to our hotel, we had time to pet our books, which is the best way to end any day at BEA. Right?

DAY 5 - Saturday, May 30 - BookCon, a.k.a. "The Seventh Circle of Hell"

Up at 5 a.m., out the door at 6 a.m., a stop at Dunkin Donuts, and in line by 6:30 - again. But, despite us sticking to our regular routine, we could just tell as soon as we walked in the Javits that there was something different about today. There were already tons of people in line to get in to BookCon, and honestly, I think I could smell insanity in the air.

I'll spare you the bitching - I know you've already heard all about the fiasco that was BookCon. You know - Jen summed up Saturday pretty darn well.

"I went to BookCon. It was awful."

If it hadn't been for Jennifer Armentrout signing copies of The Return, I don't think I would've gone. But, she was. And I needed that book like I needed air. So, after waiting for a really long time (it was so worth it), I got my copy and escaped to the BEA side of the Javits. While I sat over there eating lunch, I could've sworn I saw tumbleweed blowing past me.

At the end of the day, I did go to the Bad Boys of Romance panel with Jennifer Armentrout, Cora Carmack, Jeaniene Frost and Sarah MacLean. It was one of the best parts of the day.


We headed for home after that, and I finally was able to unpack my books at 8:30 p.m. After reflecting a bit, I can say that, despite BookCon, I can say that BEA was amazingly awesome.

Giveaway

Speaking of amazingly awesome, I have another giveaway! Want to win an ARC of R.C. Lewis' STITCHING SNOW? This looks like an incredible new fractured fairy tale from Disney Publishing. If you're in the US, enter below to win yourself a copy!

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BEA 2014 - I was there Part I! Oh, and a giveaway.

BEA 2014 is now a thing of the past and I've come away with tons of blisters, memories and books. Ah - all of my goals were met. As I am a blogger and a lover of all things bookish, herein lies my obligatory recap post of all the awesomesauce.

I was in NYC for four-and-a-half days of BEA crazy times, and since I have so much to show and tell, I'm splitting it into two posts, EACH with a different giveaway from my BEA book stash. Keep reading to find out what today's giveaway book is!

DAY 1 - Tuesday, May 27

On Tuesday, Jen from At Random and I drove from our casas in Pennsylvania to Secaucus, NJ and took the train in to Penn Station.

After checking in to our hotel, meeting up with roomies, and totally awesome chicks, Anna from Annaberry Reads and Val from Stuck In Books, we took a very sensory-overloaded walk through Times Square to have dinner at Jekyll and Hyde. We met Tabitha from Not Yet Read there too, and despite three of us having some serious jet lag, we had a great time.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for some much needed rest and prep time for our first day at BEA.

Day 2 - Wednesday, May 28

Wednesday morning, we hoofed it down to the Javits Center to begin our BEA experience at the BEA Bloggers Conference. We ooed and ahed at the banners hung from the ceiling. I was particularly in love with this very large tribute to all things Cassie Clare.

After a hysterically inspiring kick-off speech from Maureen Johnson, we went our separate ways, depending on whether we chose the more "advanced" track or the "beginner" track.

Unfortunately, the tracks that were supposed to be more advanced either seemed more basic or not applicable. There was, oddly, a large amount of time in the afternoon dedicated to vlogging. Now, I have no problem with vlogging. But, when 99% of your audience has a BLOG, and the vloggers on the panels, by their own admission, do no blogging, it sort of makes you scratch your head, no? But, that's neither here nor there. I had lots of time to connect with other bloggers (I finally got to meet Danny from Bewitched Bookworms!), and of course, at the end there were... books. Yeeeeeesssss.

Following the party, Val and I hopped in a cab and went down to the GORGEOUS Woolworth building in the Financial District to visit the Harlequin offices for their Blogger High Tea. Let me tell you - Harlequin really knows how to show a girl a good time. After presenting us with a bag full of wonderful books, we were lead into a large room with delicious tea and snacks. I had the chance to meet several Harlequin authors like Maisey Yates, Tiffany Reisz and Lori Foster. They were so super nice to chat with (I found out that Maisey Yates' anniversary and mine are only two days apart and we have kids the same age!), and they even signed our books!

A funny thing happened as we were leaving. I was peeking in the offices on the way out, and had to stop outside the office of someone who obviously works at HarlequinTEEN because there were tons of books by authors like Kady Cross and Julie Kagawa all over the floor. I said out loud something like, "Wow! Look at all those books by Julie Kagawa! I just want to roll around in them." Our host, the lovely Anna Robinson, started laughing, and when I looked at her, she said that Julie Kagawa was right down the hall. I looked, and there she was! I think I actually fangirl squealed. I KNOW.

After we left Harlequin's offices, we headed back to Midtown to the Fox Sports Lounge in the NewsCorp building for the HarperCollins Blogger Bash. What a party! Val and I spent most of our time chatting with the lovely Cora Carmack. We had a chance to talk about her upcoming new Rusk University novel, All Broke Down, as well as how she feels now with four successful books under her belt. The time passed very quickly.

After all the excitement of the day, we well and truly crashed.

Giveaway

For my first post-BEA giveaway, I'm offering up to US peeps an ARC of THIS SHATTERED WORLD by Ami Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. This is the second book in their Starbound series (These Broken Stars was the first book in the series). Good luck!

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BEA - We're Almost There!

After months and months and MONTHS of anticipation, it's hard to believe that it's just about time to leave for my second trip to BEA. To be honest, I haven't obsessed about it as much this year as I did last year. I think that's because I'm not jumping into the wild unknown this time around. I know a bit more of what to expect. That's a comforting thought. I learned a lot from my BEA 2013 experience, and shared some of that earlier this year.

Only this past week have I started getting really excited. I've finalized my schedule and compiled a list of places I want to eat and see while in the city. I'm especially ready for some good quality girl time with my amazing friends Jen from At Random and Anna from Annaberry Reads.

So, now that I know (more or less) what I'm doing, here are the highlights:

Authors I Can't Wait To Meet For The First Time

Jeaniene Frost

Deborah Harkness

Amy Plum

Kiera Cass

Author Friends I Can't Wait to See Again 

 

Cora Carmack

Sylvia Day

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Julie Kagawa

Books I Can't Wait to Add to My Shelf

Food I Will Gorge Myself On

So, will I see you there? What are you most looking forward to?

Lessons I Learned from BEA 2013

Last year at this time, I was freaking out because I had just bought my entry into BEA for the first time ever. It kicked off four months of intense planning until finally I was there. My experience at BEA 2013 was exciting and overwhelming and completely awesome.

It was an experience I couldn't have just once. So... I'm going back. And, this time I'm hitting the BEA Bloggers Conference (BBC). After rumors of past BBCs not really hitting the mark, based on this post from the BEA News blog, I think I picked the right year to start attending. Because it sounds like it's going to be AWESOME. 

So, are you going? Is it your first time? I remember thinking about how hard it was to plan for something I had never been to before. One thing I will say - my first experience at BEA was definitely a learning one. And, now that we're almost exactly three months away from going back, I've been thinking about everything I learned and the things I intend to do differently.

 
1. The lines aren't as bad as you think they are. Oh, don't mistake me - you WILL wait in lines. Long ones. Besides the line to get in at the beginning of the day (2 hours), the longest line I waited in in 2013 was the line for the Harlequin Teen Hour where I met Julie Kagawa, Katie McGarry, Amanda Sun and Elizabeth Scott. I was 7th in line, and I waited for just over 1 hour. I learned early on that, if the author you want to see is really popular, an hour wait is about right. But, the thing is, the wait was never as bad as I thought it would be. I talked to the people around me. I read some of my new books. I texted my bestie Jen who was there with me (but not always WITH me). I studied my schedule and talk to others about theirs. For some reason, those hours seemed to pass quickly.

2. Don't get every autographed book personalized. I met a lot of authors I had never heard of before at BEA '13. I had them personalize books to me that sounded good, but upon further reflection, I knew I probably wouldn't read them. Since they have my name on the inside page, it will be much harder to donate them to the library or give them to someone else in a giveaway. This year, I plan to only have those books I am POSITIVE I will keep personalized.

3. Make love, not war. I know you immediately see red when someone in line in front of you "holds a spot" for a friend or three. But, before you get all huffy and start talking smack about the rude people butting in line and not doing the time like everyone else, I ask you to look at it from a different angle. Chances are, those friends were off snagging ARCs from galley drops. I'm sure they'd be willing to pick you up one, if you asked. Or, hold your spot in line next so that you can go grab the same books. Heck - they'll even tell you exactly where to go to get them. Instead of getting irritated, chat them up. Make new friends. You might see them in line another time, and this time YOU get to be the one they hold a spot for.  

4.Try to control yourself. When you walk onto that floor and see the stacks of FREE BOOKS just sitting on the floor and on the counters, trust me. You will be all, "Give me the books, NOW." And you'll take them, because, well, you can. But, I ask that perhaps you might want to show a modicum of restraint. Try to give consideration to a few things. First of all, you need to get the books you take home. If you're shipping, it will cost moola. If you're driving, it will cost you your car's shocks after you weigh down the trunk. You might also want to consider the fact that, there will likely be people on the floor who genuinely want that historical fiction book that you just picked up for speculation. If you don't know for sure that you will want to read it, leave it.

5. Only bring the important stuff. Bring a small tote with you to the convention center on day 1. You'll be handed totes like they're going out of style, so you'll only need one to help you hold those first few ARCs you pick up, plus your essentials. After that, you'll have plenty of totes to help you carry your loot. About those essentials - there aren't many. You should only need your schedule, business cards, money, a water bottle and some snacks.Oh - and you'll especially want to keep your phone handy. People will Tweet when they see galley drops of particular interest. And if you have a book posse, you'll need to keep in touch as you run here and there.

6. About those snacks... On day 1 last year, I ate breakfast at 5:30 a.m. I didn't eat another meal until 10 p.m. My schedule was so jam packed that first day, I couldn't find the time for lunch. Thank the stars for Luna Bars. Especially if this is your first year, the stars will be in your eyes as you bag all those galleys and meet all those amazing authors. Lunch? Pfftthht. Buying a meal in the Javits cafeteria (and, it's a very nice cafeteria, BTW) will be very far down on your to-do list. You'll do well to bring some energy bars or some other easily packable snacks for sustenance.

7. Pack it up. Last year, I averaged over 30 books per day. Trust me when I say, you can't carry all those around with you. It will kill your shoulders and back. I brought a large roller suitcase that got parked first thing in the morning in the suitcase check area. It only costs a few dollars, and it's well worth it. A few times during the day when I had a moment, I stopped by and unloaded my totes in the suitcase. Jen and I shared one suitcase, and Jen supplied a combination lock for it. Each day, we filled it to over flowing. Even with the suitcase, my back, shoulders and neck were killing me at the end of each day. I can't imagine what I would feel like if I didn't have my suitcase.

8. Ask the right questions at the right time. I REALLY wanted a copy of Reboot by Amy Tintera at least year's BEA. But, I had a scheduling conflict that prevented me from getting in her line. But, I learned the day before that, after a signing, if there are any books left, the publisher brings them back to their booth. An hour after the Reboot signing ended, I happened into the Harper booth, and asked if they had any copies left. Turns out, they had only one. And they gave it to me. I was So. Excited. So, if you can't get to a signing, let this be your plan B.