#book con

Now if you didn’t know, the folks that run BookExpo/BookCon have an enormous social outreach. Besides all the standard platforms they have accounts on, they always make it a point to update their app through the respectable stores (in our case, on the Apple App Store) where they seem to have EVERYTHING. It lets you plan your schedule, check out who will be attending, what sort of events are happening, and even lets you connect with other people who will be attending in the community. 

Okay, so I knew that BookCon would be a place where I go to really check out how exhibitors shift their focuses between the industry-targeted BookExpo and the standard community-targeted BookCon. And I knew that people were more excited since there were some heavy hitters that would be in attendance (I feel like it was really about all the celebrity authors this year).

So Saturday morning, I knew I was going to come early just because I love seeing the show floor right when it opens and what exhibitors are offering in their programming and materials to hand-out in the first wave of attendees. When I woke up and on my way to the city, I couldn’t help but peek in on the official Facebook group to see if people were really out and about for the conference already (I was up by 6am) and of course, there WERE people who had been talking about how attendees had been there since practically 4am! There were some really big book lovers out there, which I am totally on board for, but definitely not as big myself. 

Saturday seemed like a wild day and honestly, the busiest that I had seen the 4.5 days between Book Expo and Book Con. And according to a few articles (particularly on PW), it was the busiest and most-crowded. I’m not surprised since Saturdays seem to always be the biggest when it comes to conferences and conventions. There were people EVERYWHERE and not enough freebies to spread amongst the increased con-goers (which I know a lot of people were disgruntled about) according to most attendees chief complaints that I read about. 

To be honest, writing this a week later, the events are all a blur. So I’ll stick to the highlights. 

Back to Saturday! To be honest, the biggest thing that happened that I was really hoping to score was THE TOLL from Neal Shusterman. When the cover was revealed a few weeks ago, I hadn’t thought in my wildest dreams that they would be creating advanced galleys (no matter how limited) for the ARC OF THE SCYTHE trilogy, let alone dropping them during BookCon. From conversations that I had with publishers over the duration of Book Expo, it seemed like they were holding back a lot of their promotional materials until Book Con, which I found pretty surprising. So when RivetedLit announced that there were scythes walking around the floor with envelopes that told you if you were “the chosen one” or not, you bet your tush that I bolted in search of them. I have no idea how many times I asked if they had something for me and how many enamel pins I ended up with and honestly, that was the biggest hardship I faced the entire weekend. With their tote bags full of envelopes, I was convinced that that these galleys didn’t exist. Apparently, there were 25 of them but I sadly, did not get my grubby hands on them. 

September isn’t too long from now, right? (-sobs-) 

(Also, I can’t deny that I waited until the end of Book Con on Saturday in hopes that S&S would do a drop of it since that was what happened with AN ENCHANTMENT OF RAVENS during Book Con 2017. It was my biggest regret leaving early.)

I feel like I tried to steer clear of the bigger booths that had the more ‘coveted’ giveaways happening (like HarperCollins and Penguin Random House) because there always seemed to be an endless stream of people, but I definitely didn’t stray from Simon & Schuster and Hachette. While they were buzzing with people, they had more opportunities for attendees to interface. RivetedLit had a fun lollipop (though people seemed to line up HOURS in advance with no promise of a free book) wall where you picked one at random and the color on the bottom fo the stick indicated which of their most-talked about titles you would receive. And if you got a blank one, you still got a lollipop out of it (which I certainly approve of). 

Between the two of us, we got WINTERWOOD by Shea Ernshaw, SLAY by Brittney Morris, and PERMANENT RECORD by Mary H.K. Choi (I only got a lollipop on Sunday!). I gotta say, those were great choices. I had hoped to get THE LADY ROGUE by Jenna Bennett since it sounded so EPIC and I loved the premise, but again...September isn’t too far away...right? (-anguished sob-). 

My two other highlights of Saturday was meeting Claire Legrand, author of so many delightful young adult novels, but she was there at SourceBooks to promote her latest release, KINGSBANE, the second in the Empirium Trilogy (aka one of my favorites in recent years). The first fifty in line received a complimentary finished copy of KINGSBANE while anyone thereafter got a copy at a discounted price. And let me say that there were A LOT of copies. 

I only got a few seconds with Claire Legrand when it was my turn to meet her and I always feel like I’m taking too long by chatting with them (and I always love getting a photo of them signing their book), so I just tend to be awkward and always keep in mind to tell them to have a great time while they’re there since I know how insanely exhausting it can get. She is always a delight to meet and always decked out in a lovely outfit. 

She was also giving away her preorder enamel pins which I’d missed out on since I procrastinated, so I was so glad I was able to snatch one for my pin board! 

My other signing that day was with Joan He - again, a fleeting moment because I knew there were many people in line who wanted a chance to talk to her and I really would rather have that time devoted for those who want a real moment with her. I was so excited to meet the author of DESCENDANTS OF THE CRANE since it is a jaw-dropping, edge-of-table-gripping story. And honestly, how am I supposed to resist a diverse spellbinding story??? 

I spent the better part of the weekend on the show floor and saw a lot. It’s really no surprise that there were lines everywhere you turned. I can’t exactly figure out the best way for exhibitors to eliminate their lines other than dropping tickets in the morning or reserving them through an online system (like autographing area tickets), but I can say that if there weren’t lines, I think it would be such a great opportunity to network and get to know publishers more. I feel like a lot of the times, bloggers and people from the media (at least small-press media) get a terrible reputation at Book Con and other bookish conferences is because there’s very little room to develop that relationship between publisher and media. 99% of the time, people in both roles are behind the screen and working for corporations that do not allow for much face time. 

Sunday was pretty much the same, but I still enjoyed walking around all day despite having been through the show floor MULTIPLE times in the week I’d been there. It’s just always fun to see what new things exhibitors are doing and to see the demographics of the attendees. According to PW, it was majority white women in their 30s-40s. While that doesn’t surprise me in the slightest and I did see a number of POCs on the floor, I was disappointed that there was not more catered to bringing in those bigger numbers. It was definitely startling to see the sea of “whiteness” when there were plenty of authors/illustrators with culturally diverse backgrounds in attendance and being promoted. 

Truth time, I really wanted to devote my mornings on the weekend to finding totes. If you’ve ever been to one of these conferences before, you know there always seems to be totes flying everywhere from every booth, but it didn’t seem like the case this year. I’d sadly missed out on this AMAZING tote giveaway supporting Karin Slaughter at Blackstone Publishing during Book Expo, but I made up for it by claiming one of their really cute ‘Crazy Book Lady’ totes which is now in my collection of totes to use as my casket lining when I die :).

The only things we had to attend were our autograph signings. We had Sandhya Menon, Cora Carmack, and Tasmyn Muir/Kel Kade. 

Cora Carmack went pretty smoothly. We’d met her earlier that week during her signing for RAGE and we’d wanted to get some of her backlist titles signed, so it was pretty delightful to see her. We’d decided to skip Sandhya because we were disappointed in the rule of having to purchase a book at full price, especially when her books were being sold at the Simon & Schuster for half price. 

Tasmyn Mui and Kel Kade were signing on Sunday and it was our lightest day when it came to a schedule. We were pretty excited for GIDEON THE NINTH which boasts a cast of lesbian necromancers, so what is not to love? Especially when V.E. Schwab blurbs it, amirite? Also, Tasmyn and Kel were TERRIBLY delightful.

 While we were waiting in line for the signing to start, there was a kerfuffle behind us and it seemed as though they’d run out of books for one of the authors which was pretty shocking to me. These autographing sessions are booked WEEKS in advance and while I know there is some negligence on part of the Book Con staff (people who just let other people without tickets in), I just couldn’t believe how short the number of books had been and it didn’t seem like it was a one-time mishap. There were multiple complaints across the Book Con official group in the days following Book Con and I dunno if I would have been okay with it had I been waiting a while for books that I thought I was going to get and ended up not geting (and believe me, there is a lot of waiting).

Two things that jumped out at me on the floor were the very family-oriented activities happening on the other side of the show floor hall. While the right side was condensed with all of the publishers, the left side was left quite empty and most of it dedicated to the queue hall for attendees to line up in the morning. But when you looked around that section, you might have noticed that there were many more merch booths and an area dedicated to a Family Headquarters where families had their own activities and programming. While I don’t have my own family, I thought it was really nice for Reedpop and Book Con to parter with the Children’s Book Council to cater to families that would be attending. 

Not only was the event committee catering to them but also a few of the exhibitors They had tables and little (what I assume were workshops or activitiy time) tables where kids and parents could sit and do a variety of things like color and decorate activity sheets. This has got my 100% approval stamp all over it and of the kids that I saw there, they seemed like they were definitely having a lot of fun! 

The other thing that jumped out at me that I briefly mentioned above and was probably my favorite part of the whole Book Con experience was the section that had exhibitors selling bookish merch. You don’t know this, but I am an avid collector of bookish merch like prints and enamel pins. Anything that is artfully done and for a fandom of mine, I will throw my money and bank account at without a second thought. I was actually really excited to explore it and while I’d browsed through it at Book Expo, it seemed to definitely bump up with a few more vendors during Book Con. 

Sadly, I don’t have photos documenting that part, but I will definitely link anything I bought below that has a buy page or product look for you in case you want to check it out! 

ChickLit Designs had a booth where you could spin a wheel and win a prize! Between the two of us, we won a lovely Rifle Paper Co.-esque Oscar Wilde quote print and a $10 off one of their products! Since they did have inventory there, we naturally had to buy something to avoid shipping costs. 

"The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Phone Case

I was delighted to see Wick & Fable there since I am an enormous fan of their products! They had a really cute booth setup and there was no shortage of people looking to buy their stuff! I’m not too familiar with their store, but I understand that their website is pretty much their candles and subscription boxes. While they were selling their candles, they were also selling (what I assume to be) exclusive products from their monthly boxes which typically cannot be found online outside those boxes (which means $$$). While I desperately wanted to purchase their gorgeous Grisha/Six of Crows shadowbox frames, I just didn’t have $35 to shell out for them as much as I wanted to. I didn’t walk away empty handed though. I’m a sucker for THE CRUEL PRINCE and again, if I see anything that catches my eye, I will buy it. So I had to score the below pin! 

The Cruel Prince Enamel Pin 

Speaking of Cassandra Clare (no, I know that Holly Black wrote THE CRUEL PRINCE, but I always feel like I see Cassie and Holly together), I also couldn’t help but pick up the gorgeous tarot deck from the Topatco booth. Once again, gotta love any chance to save on shipping costs (though I had hoped for a discount, no matter how small). 

Shadowhunters Tarot Cards

The only other thing I bought was from a booth I’d been eyeing all week and debating on buying from. If you aren’t familiar with Pinch Me Therapy Dough, it’s basically like a stress ball or kinetic sand - something meant to help you if you’re feeling anxiety, stress, anger, etc. I hadn’t known about this brand until I saw it in an Instastory of Tahereh Mafi’s. What is special about these ‘doughs’ is that they have a really soft, cool texture and are infused with the NICEST SMELLING essential oils. It’s really hard to find a product where the aromatherapy doesn’t go overboard and I couldn’t help myself. The woman there was selling them in large and small sizes as well as sample size packs. After some good smelling time, I settled on the very first one that I’d smelled and really loved. 

Pinch Me Therapy Dough - Holistic Aromatherapy Stress Relieving Putty - 10 Ounce Relief Scent

They are a little pricey and I only got a small size (it was $15), but I really think it was worth it and it has me wanting to get more of them (Chill and Sun were two other scents I loved) but I think I’ll wait until I see the company at another conference and save the shipping fee! 

I was surprised to see a lot of subscription box companies there, but were really only there to promote their boxes as a whole. Had they been like Wick & Fable and sold more of their separate pieces from their boxes, I think that would have made a HUGE difference. I understand that maybe there wasn’t inventory or they didn’t want to break away from their “subscribe to our box” branding and slashing prices, but I just don’t get how you wouldn’t want to make a bit more profit with such a good opportunity! 

What my wishlist for Book Con 2020 is to have more of these vendors AND an Artist Alley. I know it’s odd to think of one outside of comic con conventions, but I’ve seen so many amazing pieces of artwork for books that I think it’s such a missed opportunity for there not to be at this sort of event where people are so willing to put down a few dollars to be able to visualize their favorite stories. And it would give conference attendees an opportunity to get away from the crowded lines of the main show floor and people who are just waiting on loved ones or need time to kill! 

Until next year, Book Con. :)