The very BEST thing about Book Expo America (BEA) and Book Blogger Con was absolutely the relationships.
- Meeting Carrie live and in person — I’ve followed Reading to Know for years. I love Carrie’s opinionated reviews and commentary on books. When I was putting together a team for 5 Minutes for Books, she was one of the first I thought to ask. Since we started 5 Minutes for Books, we’ve become friends, and it was a pure delight to meet her and share this experience together (her thoughts).
- Meeting up with some other publishing contacts and bloggers who I had a more casual relationship with (but a deep respect) at a delicious dinner on Thursday night at Tony’s DiNapoli.
- I didn’t look at the author signing schedule or plan to stand in line (although I’m bummed to have missed Mo Willems at the Hyperion booth Thursday morning). But when I arrived Thursday afternoon, and saw a fairly short line forming at Brilliance Audiobooks with Rick Riordan’s brand new book, The Red Pyramid, I was thrilled and hopped right in line. Amanda (11) and I are both huge audiobook fans, and I never got around to reading the Percy Jackson series, so I’m happy to get in on this one at the beginning. Also, continuing on the topic of relationships, I had a lovely conversation while we were waiting in line with a librarian and a CBS News reporter about tweens and reading (parent to parent and librarian to parents).
- Listening to a panel of YA authors read from their latest works, and finding out that one of them, Sophie Jordan, whose book Firelight releases soon, is from my hometown and attended my alma mater (Gig ‘Em Aggies!). We had a nice chat about fantasy as such a prevalent theme in YA. When she was reading the excerpt, I was wondering why fantasy and sci-fi are so popular (4 out of 5 of the books fit this genre). In her excerpt, she talks about the human boys looking up to the dragon girl and calling her “it,” because it’s all they can think of to call her. In that brief moment, I felt sorry for the dragon girl. I felt compassion for her, and I understood what it was like to be misunderstood, and then it hit me — that’s exactly what all tweens and teens feel like! A fantasy or sci-fi setting is perfect to depict that.
I also really enjoyed hearing about Ally Condie’s Matched, and her thoughts on writing YA (“What is new to a young person is old to an old person. They are still discovering new things, and we discover right along with them,” paraphrased).
I also joined the panel, green with envy, listening to Kody Keplinger’s story. She wrote The DUFF: (Designated Ugly Fat Friend)
- Meeting author Justin Kramon at the BookBloggerCon reception. He sent me his novel, Finny, which sounded like something I would enjoy, so although it doesn’t release until July, I had to read it when I found out he was going to be at the author reception. I had only read about 1/3 of it when I was able to talk with him, but it was a book that hooked me at page 1. It is a wonderful book, and if you like coming of age stories (like Finny, I’m still coming of age in my late 30’s), and wonderful character-driven fiction, you must check this book out. Full review to come at release, but trust me. If I were not an old respectable married lady, I might be toeing the line of fan/stalker, but I’m going to wear my reviewer/influencer hat, and say that I’m just doing my job.
- I didn’t make a whole lot of new publishing or PR contacts, but I enjoyed putting names and faces together (and letting them do the same). Carrie and I had a great respite with Audrey at Sleeping Bear Press in her plushly carpeted booth, where she invited/made us to sit down in the chairs and take a load off while she told us all about their collection. We love Sleeping Bear Press, and now we love Audrey.
in a month and a half when she was 17. She’s almost 19 now and her book is due out in September! The book is definitely too edgy for me (i.e. explicit), but I think it will be a hit with YA readers who like that sort of thing.
Rebecca Maizel and Erin Bow (Plain Kate) rounded out the panel and were fascinating as well. Though I’m not really “into” Vampire lit, I think I would love to read Maizel’s Infinite Days, because it’s about a vampire who becomes human and ends up as a 16-year-old girl, tortured by her past (“We all have things in our past we wish we could undo,” Maizel said).
The WORST? Really nothing was that bad, but a few things that I heard (and thought and said) over and over:
- “It’s wonderful to be surrounded by books and booklovers, but I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had any time to just read.” There was a bit of withdrawal going on at Javits convention center.
- I had really hoped to meet more book bloggers at Book Blogger Con. I met some wonderful people at breakfast, lunch, the receptions etc., and I guess it’s my responsibility to take the relationship to the next level, but I probably didn’t do my best at networking with the limited time available. I’m okay with that, but I would have liked to find more kindred spirits and also share 5 Minutes for Books with others. But there’s always next year, right?
I’m blessed to be semi-local to NYC, and enjoy going into “The City” for events and whatnot, so BEA and hopefully Book Blogger Con will be on my agenda for May 2011 as well.
I’d love to read about your BEA and BookBloggerCon experiences to hear more about what I’ve missed. Link up your posts. Feel free to link more than one (just give them a different title or number them or something)
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GREAT idea to offer us a place to link up our posts and visit around! I’ve been enjoying hearing how everyone else experienced the week in NYC and just linked up my own memories.
P.S. I look exhausted in your photo from dinner.
Oh wait. I was.
Luckily that’s a small picture of me and you can’t tell that I’m completely soaked from the rain. But it was GREAT finally meeting you!!
Great post, I also wish I had had the time to meet more bloggers. And was definitely suffering from reading withdrawal 😉
You looked great, Deborah!
And yes, Carrie, I think that we were all exhausted! Walking NYC, standing all day, etc etc.
Amy–now that I check out your blog, I did see you. I’ll be able to connect next year. So many people!
you forgot to mention that you met me too! 🙂
did you have any idea that when you started your blog, you would be jetting to NYC for a conference to learn more about book blogging?!? It amazes me how blogging has morphed into what it is; I’m so glad to be part of the book blogging community.
No Monica, I never would have dreamed that!! And yes, I loved meeting you. You look just like I thought you would, but all that scouring for you never paid off until you saw me stand up and ask a question.
Unfortunately, we only were able to talk for a moment. I think that everyone I listed here I got to spend at least 10 minutes with, LOL.
I know what you mean about not networking as much as possible. My first time at BEA, so I was a little mesmerized by the books to pay enough attention to the people. As you said, there’s always next year to get it right.
Oh, I’m happy you guys got to meet Audrey- she’s been so wonderful with generous giveaway offers, and SBP truly has an amazing catalog! Oh… next year, next year… *fingers crossed*
I know! I’m so glad you asked that question bec/ that’s how I found you girls. I looked for you and Carrie again, I wanted to chat more. 🙁 next year!
Yes. I wish we had had more time to talk with you, Monica! But I’m also glad WE FOUND YOU! =D (Seriously, I had been looking high and low!)
My fingers are crossed tightly for Dawn to go next year also. I KNOW you’d absolutely love it!!
Ah yes, Skip — “next year” is my mantra!
I’m so glad to have met you and discovered your blog. Let me know when you read Keeping Faith (my favorite Picoult). I love it!
Agreed! The relationships were wonderful, I got to meet some great bloggers. I was the one who asked the question about positive vs. negative reviews, citing Forever Young Adult as one of my favorite blogs, and little did I know that Sarah (aka Poshdeluxe) OF Forever Young Adult was in the chair right in front of me! That was cool. =) Hope to see you all next year!
I sat beside Sarah at breakfast that morning. She was fun.
I asked a question as well (about plot summary in reviews), and am so glad I did, because several people who I had been looking for and had been looking for me found me at the break. Otherwise I never would have found them. The place was SO full!
What a great idea for all of us to share our thoughts about BEA/BBC via one blog post, rather than hop around to visit one another from the BBC website. Thank you for doing this, and I’m so glad you invited me to join you via Twitter.
I was very sad that I didn’t get to spend much quality time with other bloggers as well. I did get to meet a few bloggers, and it was great putting a face to the author writing the blog. But, since I was staying an hour (which turned into two and a half hours due to horrid traffic) away in New Jersey with a non-book blogger, I had to rush off once events ended. I wish I could have stayed in the city and went out to dinner with some of you afterwards. I feel like I missed out on the most important part of BBC.
I really want the BBC moved up next year so it is before the BEA, so we will all have more time (and energy) to bond a bit more. That last day at Javits I was late to breakfast, had to ship books home or run to the bathroom during breaks, and was frozen, exhausted, and losing my voice. I didn’t have it in me to mingle much at all.
I decided to come to BEA/BBC about 10 days before the event, and didn’t have a chance to map out an author list for BEA, nor did I get to visit all of the other attendees blogs. I only knew I wanted to meet Rob Sheffield. Everyone else I met was pure luck. I was thrilled to bump into a few authors whose books I had just reviewed.
I agree — BBC before BEA would be great — especially because it backs up into Memorial Day weekend.
I planned to come way in advance, but still didn’t plan 🙂 I’ll do better next year.
Having a great time reading about everyone’s BEA experiences! Thanks so much for providing the links! Was sorry to miss BBC, but couldn’t afford another day off. Maybe next year?
It IS fun to read about it even if you weren’t there. I WAS there and my experience seems a lot different from those who were. So much to do!!
How much fun!
Sounds very, very fun! Speaking of Mo Willems, my 4-year-old is obsessed w/ his Elephant and Piggie books and reads them ALL the time. I never would have heard about them if it weren’t for you, so thank you!
It was great to meet you and Carrie, albeit briefly! 🙂
I’m glad to have gotten a chance to meet you, just wish we would’ve had time to talk more. Glad to see you had such a good time.