Hello beautiful people! Oh boy...it's been such an exciting weekend and I have so much to tell you--namely, my BookCon experience. For those of you who don't know what BookCon is, it is basically a book convention for book lovers galore! Before I ramble on, let me make this clear: BookCon and BEA are two DIFFERENT events. They are similar, but they are separate events. Confused? Let me explain. Yes, both BookCon and BEA are held in the same building, however, BookCon is geared towards consumers--you know, your average ol' reader. BEA is geared towards publishers, librarians--the book industry people. Okay, now that's cleared up....onto my BookCon experience!
I arrived in NY state pretty late on Friday, May 30th. I checked into a hotel about an hour away from NYC and promptly conked out :-) Next morning, I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed (haha--okay not really. But I was excited) and after a quick breakfast, set out for the Javits Center. The convention started at 9:00, and I arrived at 9:15. It was already jam packed. Literally, there was a huge line for tickets.
After a good 20 minutes of waiting in line (I was lucky--I'd already ordered tickets online so the line was much faster), I stepped into the center and this is what I saw.
| Welcome to BookCon! |
And then....the booths...and people. Gosh--so many freaking people! It was so crowded I felt like I was inching along at 1/10 mile per hour!
| The center was already *this* crowded at 9:30 am. Unheard of. |
| Nat' Geographic was there! |
Anyways...I decided to browse around the booths and see if there was any interesting books. And yes, there were free books being passed out. However, supplies are limited so you better get in line! On average, you probably waited 30 minutes-1 1/2 hour to get a book (and yes, there were authors signing them there as well.) However, since I had some panel discussions to catch, I skipped the free book lines and went downstairs where the discussion rooms were located.
Making my way downstairs, I caught a pic of this grumpy special guest.
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| I wanted to grab a selfie with Grumpy, but alas, the line was too long and time too short! |
The first panel discussion I had planned on attending was at 11:15 featuring 3 debut authors: Courtney Collins, Yelena Akhtiorskaya, Celeste Ng. The title of the discussion was My First Novel: Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Writing, Publishing and Promoting a Book. I wanted to make sure I got a good seat, so I decided to get in line an hour early. Good thing I did because there was already a good sized crowd of about 50-70 people waiting in line for a seat! I would like the point out that the room capacity was probably 200 people max. Although I believe there was enough seats for everyone for this particular panel, some other panels were packed that some people actually couldn't get into the room!
| There were soo many panels I wanted to attend, but many of them overlapped each other so I had to pick & choose. |
The panel discussion was very enjoyable and I learned a lot about publishing and such. I actually taped the whole panel discussion, so check back soon and I will have the video posted along with a transcription on the blog!
About an hour and half later, I emerged from the depth of the Javits Center and worked my way back to the main exhibition hall/room. By this time, the crowd had thinned out by just a tad, since there were other panels, events and even trivia games going on, so the people were more dispersed. Also, the autographing section of BookCon was also up and running at this point. The entire backroom was dedicated to authors for autographing their fans' books. The line was downright scary.
| I talked with a woman who got in line to get a book signed. She waited for 1 1/2 hour. |
| How awesome would it be if instead of an icecream truck, a book truck rolled through the neighborhood? |
Also located near the cafeteria was this huge Mortal Instruments wall/poster/backdrop. So naturally I decided to snap a pic of it.
After a bit more browsing and picking up some swag, I decided to attend the Humans of New York talk at the Downtown stage, featuring David Karp, the founder of tumblr and Brandon Stanton, the photographer and owner of the HONY blog.
Here are some things I learned from the talk/interview:
1. Don't approach someone from behind if you want to take their pic!
2. Words don't matter. Okay, maybe they do, but it's how you act that really counts. If you seem nervous, then other people will feel nervous. If you act calm, then other people will be calmer around you. So, if you decide to ask a stranger for permission to photograph him/her, remember how you act will affect how they answer!
3. Don't be afraid of failure. It's the fear of failure that prevents many of us from reaching our true potential. Remember, without failures, you won't learn.
Here are some things I learned from the talk/interview:
1. Don't approach someone from behind if you want to take their pic!
2. Words don't matter. Okay, maybe they do, but it's how you act that really counts. If you seem nervous, then other people will feel nervous. If you act calm, then other people will be calmer around you. So, if you decide to ask a stranger for permission to photograph him/her, remember how you act will affect how they answer!
3. Don't be afraid of failure. It's the fear of failure that prevents many of us from reaching our true potential. Remember, without failures, you won't learn.
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| Brandon is on the left, in the yellow hat. David is the guy sitting on the right. The girl was a volunteer who Brandon demonstrated how he takes pics with |
After that, I basically spent the next 1-2 hours browsing for free books before heading down for the last panel I will be attending...the one I have been anticipating the most: Dystopian Futures: Are They Science-Fact-or-Fiction? featuring Alaya Dawn Johnson, Danielle Paige, Veronica Roth (as moderator) and OMGOMGOMG MARIE LU!!!!!! I think my life is now complete :-) Well, I definitely wanted to make sure I got a spot for this event since another panel earlier that day (featuring Holly Black and Cassandra Clare) already had a line of too many people 45 minutes before it actually got started, so unfortunately I didn't get to attend it. The Dystopian Futures panel didn't start until 4:15. I got down there and staked my spot at 2:30. And I wasn't the only there too--there was a small group of about 5 other people claiming a spot early on.
Well, I had a bit of while to wait. Fortunately, I had amassed some swag, books and samplers. So I pulled out a book and started reading. About 30 minutes later, I made some nice friends who were waiting in line behind me. We ended up playing 20 Q for a good 40-60 minutes, so that made time go by faster :-) Around 3:45, I took a peek behind me to see how long the line was. Here's what I saw:
| HOLY CRAP!!! |
And then, at last, they opened the doors!!!! Since I was near the front of the line, I managed to claim a decent seat. While waiting for everyone to find a seat, attendees were handed out samplers to Veronica Roth's upcoming novel, Four. So I basically read that while waiting for the authors to arrive. (Did I mention I will be giving away the Four sampler along with some BookCon swag in the giveaway below?)
And man, what a discussion it was! All four authors were very friendly and they had an awesome sense of humor. I also filmed this panel discussion and will posting the video and transcribing it soon. Seeing Marie Lu in person just made me fall in love with her and her books even more!
And then there was this happy surprise!
And man, what a discussion it was! All four authors were very friendly and they had an awesome sense of humor. I also filmed this panel discussion and will posting the video and transcribing it soon. Seeing Marie Lu in person just made me fall in love with her and her books even more!
And then there was this happy surprise!
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| OMG OMG OMG!!! |
The practically 2 hour waiting in line was definitely worth it! And so, that basically concludes my day at BookCon. I grabbed some book catalogs for my local library (I'm pretty familiar with the librarians there, considering how much I volunteer there, lol) and headed home.
| The swag I got! I'll be giving them away! |
So...some final thoughts:
If you want to see more than 2 panels, then prepare to spend most of your day waiting in line and don't plan on getting many freebie books. Photographing and video recording are allowed except at screenings. If you want to get a decent amount of freebies, plan to spend most of your time waiting in line as well. Like I said, average wait time is 45-60 minutes per book. Even more if the book is popular (ie. Stephen King books.) Plan to bring your own food and water.
If I were to attend BookCon next year, I am definitely getting VIP tickets (*slapping myself now for not doing that*) since it guarantees you spots to all panels so you don't have to wait in line. Plus it's only, like $30 more...though I have a feeling ticket prices will rise next year, considering how successful/crowded it was this year (and it's only the first BookCon!)
If you're waiting in line, don't be afraid to be friendly and start up a convo with the person next to you! I did that several times and I can guarantee you that both parties will be a lot more happier than before (assuming both are friendly, of course) and it makes waiting in line seem not-so-bad. Plus I get to learn about new books and I got to suggest Legend to several other readers :-D
If you're waiting in line, don't be afraid to be friendly and start up a convo with the person next to you! I did that several times and I can guarantee you that both parties will be a lot more happier than before (assuming both are friendly, of course) and it makes waiting in line seem not-so-bad. Plus I get to learn about new books and I got to suggest Legend to several other readers :-D
Alright, 'nuff talk and let's get to the goodies! One very lucky winner will receive all these awesome BookCon swag. Some of the books are signed with with a personalized message, fyi. Be sure to enter!
BookCon Swag Pack
***US Only***
What's in it:
Periodic Table of YA books, signed I Love You Forever (paperback), Percy Jackson poster, Deep Blue (hardcover + poster), necklace, three awesome bookish stickers, signed Dearest postcard, signed Lets Get Lost sampler, travel tag, tote bag, post cards, 50% off coupon for an ebook, NANOWRIMO calander and a sampler of Four by Veronica Roth
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