#bookcon14

After looking for a place to park for a half hour and almost getting hit twice, we finally parked about 10 blocks away from the Javitt's Center. By the time we got to the Javitt's Center, it was 8:45 AM, which is all well and good, since tickets for autographing started at 9:00. All we had to do was go pick up our badges, but when we got to the counter, they told us that we had never purchased tickets (even though the transaction had been completed online)! Fast forward through much frustration and bargaining, it's a little past 9:00 and I finally have my badge and am waiting in the incredibly short line for autographing tickets. [Cassandra Clare autographing was a ticketed event, so you had to pick up one of the limited tickets to get her signature.] When I got up to window, I was told that ALL TICKETS WERE GONE. Every single one of them, for every single author! I mean, that's impossible, since tickets were supposed to start at 9:00 and it was currently 9:05. (At least, the website said it started at 9.) 

What happened was that since people started waiting in line by 5:30, the staff just opened up the ticket booth at 7. IF ON THE WEBSITE IT SAID IT STARTED AT 9:00 THEN IT SHOULD HAVE STARTED AT 9:00! Fuming, I went to wait in line for the Veronica Roth panel, but I am not a patient person and I'm also claustrophobic, and that didn't work out well for me. There was no organization to the line, and people were cutting up ahead like it was their job. So, I decided to skip the panel (even though I love Veronica Roth) and head on up to the third floor. [This was where all the publishing houses and editors and book companies were.] I was hoping to get some great advice about the publishing industry, so that I would know what I was in for when I try to sell my manuscript, and maybe talk to someone from Scholastic or Simon&Schuester.  

And all the publishing companies were there, but there was little information to pick up and it was mostly to promote new and upcoming books (not that that's bad). There was a small silver lining though, since there were some not-quite-famous authors signing books and giving them away for free! They were really nice and I had a lot of fun. Eventually, I calmed down enough to venture back down to the panel area of the convention center. 

Originally, I was going down to see a panel on "How to Survive Publishing Your First Book" or something fancy like that, but we were stopped when we tried to get down to the 1E Hall [where every panel was except for big ones, like Veronica Roth and John Green-- they were in the Special Events Hall]. The security guard on duty told us 1E was at fire-level maximum compacity and there would be no one going down until it was cleared. Now everyone knows that clearing a massive hall DURING A CON when there's very little staff is pretty much saying, "You'll get down there when pigs fly." The panel that I wanted to go to was starting in 20 minutes, and there was no way we were getting down there, so we were told to wait in line until there were less people (luckily, we were first in line). BUT, the security guard kept letting people down into the Hall! Tell me this: How can you let more people into a place that's at fire-level compacity and still turn people that were there before them away? (Most of the people that were let through were exhibitors, but still, not all of them were.)

30 minutes later (11:20-ish) and after bonding with the people in front of us, we were finally able to go downstairs. My group combined with the group in front of us, and we all headed straight for Room 1E07, where the Maggie Stiefvater/ Cassandra Clare/ Holly Black panel was going to be at 2:00. [There was a rule at Bookcon that no one was allowed to wait in line prior to one hour before a panel or they would be kicked out, but no one followed that rule and no one enforced it.] While we were waiting in line (and we were line number 1 yay!!!) they saved my spot and I was able to pick up some really good booklets on self-publishing and talk to a representative from NaNoWriMo. The rest of the wait passed and we were finally let into the panel, where we got EXCELLENT seats! 

Maggie, Cassie, and Holly were all hilarious and amazingly entertaining! Holly and Cassie were there to talk about their upcoming collaborative, Magisterium Book 1: The Iron Trial, and Maggie for the continuation of her Wolves of Mercy Falls series, Sinner. [Everyone that attended the panel got free advanced copies of both books!!] I loved this panel so much, and it was probably my favorite thing of the day.

After that, we got in line for the John Green TFIOS panel. (I was wearing my "Okay? Okay." shirt and I was so ready for this panel, where I could finally meet John Green.) Well, turns out everyone else was ready for this panel, too. We were at about the halfway point in an extremely long line, but the staff said the Special Events Hall could hold 3,000 people. So we waited in line... and waited, and waited, and waited for an hour and a half before we finally started moving.

And then they told us the panel was closed and was at maximum compacity.

WHAT?! I really couldn't believe it. They should have known how many people were going to fit in the panel, and turned people away automatically instead of letting them get in line if they never had a chance of getting in. And then they gave us all a TFIOS special poster from the tour as a consolation prize. Cool, but it's not John Green.

At that time, it was 4:00 in the afternoon, and Bookcon was supposed to close at 6:00 PM. But already, people were taking everything down and packing up. And the worst part was that all the staff were already gone, leaving the security and the vendors to take everything down for them. Customer Service had already vacated the premises, so I couldn't complain even if I wanted to (and I did). The rest of the panels were already in progress, so I couldn't get into them, and the publishing floor had ended at 3:00. So I packed up my consolation poster and my advanced reading copies and headed home. (Gee, that sounds like a sappy end to a sappy story.)

So once I came back from BEA, of course I had to dump everything on the floor and see all the goodies that I got.  Well, after crashing on my bed for two hours of course.  Here's a list of most of the things I got from BEA!

7 bags 5 rolls of wrapping paper 2 packs of tissue paper 1 nail polish 36 books (not including comics and some children's books) 3 comics 1 pen 8 stickers 3 car USB's 2 nail files 4 matchboxes 4+ temporary tattoos 15 buttons

And that's not even all of it!  Here are photos of my beautiful new friends.

We got this book signed and the author, Eric Smith, was so nice. He is from Elizabeth, NJ so we bonded over the Ikea there lol.  

I picked up these four beautiful copies of children's classic novels. I was so excited getting them!

Beautiful find that I got. I really can't wait to have kids and share these books with them.

First of all, I want to completely apologize for my being MIA. In the past month and a half, I've traveled to Houston, TX and Quebec City, got promoted at my job, and moved in with my boyfriend.  It's been hectic with the traveling and working and packing and it got overwhelming for me for a little while.  I thrive on chaos, but it would leave me exhausted at the end of the day and all I wanted to do was go home, turn on the tv, and go to sleep.  Unfortunately, my being busy made me slack on my blog and instagram but I apologize and promise to be back on top of my game! And surprisingly I still read during this time too, but those book entries will come later!

Anyway, back to the main topic, the BEA is amazing!! Last year, my sisters both went and my eldest sister Kristine invited me but I wasn't able to go.  Completely regretted it later.  So this year, I made an effort to go and check it out and am so glad that I did.  There are a ton of authors and panels and book signings and bookswag and free books everywhere.  It's ridiculous but awesome! I included a few pictures from my amazing day.

(L-R) Author Melissa de la Cruz, Kristine, me and Kim! I've never read De la Cruz's books but now I definitely am! She wrote Witches of East End which is being made into a tv show and funnily enough, the cast of the TV show will be at ATX (Austin Television Experience Festival) which I will be going to next week! She was really nice and I can't wait to read her books!

We also saw a bunch of celebrities who were doing book signings/photo ops.  However, they had such long lines that we just walked by for a quick shot.  I regret not getting a quick pic of Grumpy Cat! 

Danielle Fishel (Topanga from Boy Meets World and soon Girl Meets World) 

Nicky Hilton

Cary Elwes! I was so tempted to wait in line for him because I absolutely love him from Robin Hood Men In Tights, The Princess Bride, Psych, and even Saw! "As You Wish"

Cider Hill Press took this great photo of us with Robb Pearlman, the author of Fun with Kirk and Spock.  Really nice guy and I'm not a huge Star Trek fan, but I know I'll enjoy this book.

So according to my sister, a lot of the people who come to BEA literally travel for the Expo and come straight from the airport or head straight to it.  This is where they put all of their luggage.  OR, these are people who are super brilliant and knew they would be getting a ton of books and brought luggage to hold all of their swag.  Regardless, I know what I'm doing next  year!

I waited about 10-15 minutes for this Stephen King book.  I literally jumped on a line while Kristine asked someone what it was for.  Once I found out it was for a Stephen King book, I was like "I'LL WAIT!" and her and Kim walked around.  What was crazy was they didnt have that many copies of the book.  Maybe fifty copies.  Maybe. The woman in front of me walked ahead to check out when it was moving and she said she saw people trying to cut into the line and we both hoped that the workers were preventing that from happening.  As you can see from the next photo, they did an amazing job and built a human barricade.  I love when people realize that waiting in line for free books is no easy business and do what they can to help us out. Book lovers unite!

Kristine, me and Kim!

There was a booth called Litographs where they print every single word of the entire book to create a picture.  It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.  This is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, my favorite book of all time.  I'm definitely going to order this and get it for the apartment! Check out their website for more than 100+ designs for posters, tshirts, and bags! Really beautiful and I want them all! 

Me and Kim Kung Fu Panda-ing Chewy! 

End of the day book haul with all of our stuff!! We were so tired but it was so worth it.  My back and arms were killing me but I love all the bookswag I got.  Plus all the new books I'm going to read and review!