BEA 2013 in Pictures

What is BEA? 

(From the BEA website) BookExpo America (BEA) is the #1 event in North American publishing and the ideal place for content creators and consumers to discover new books/titles, meet favorite and new authors, learn about trends shaping the book industry, and network with those have a passion for books and reading.

During BEA I met authors, agents, editors and publicists - both independent and from large publishing houses, picked up lots of books and hung out with many bloggers. It was incredible to spend 4 days with people who like to read as much as I do! 
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BEA in Pictures 

It could have been a big mistake to include all of these pictures in one post! I hope they load. Also, I got a lot of pictures of the venue, but very few of all the amazing bloggers and publishing professionals that I met. Alexa @ Alexa Loves Books did a great post with more words and pictures of authors and bloggers, if you want to see some faces and find out more about BEA and the events surrounding it.

If you're like me before this year, and have never been to BEA before, these pictures will give you a glimpse as to what it's all about. 

And YES, I got a LOT of free books. More than 50 of them. 

At South Station in Boston about to head to NYC

BEA isn't actually scary! 

The Javits center where the expo was held. It was beautiful and HOT during the event. 

Registration in the beautiful glass enclosure

Outer section with registration and large book ad posters   

Inside the event: each publisher's booth and giveaway schedule was different. 

I did a lot of planning and organizing book schedules before BEA, and it helped me so much!

Long lines for author autographing

Lots of sitting around for author signatures

Fake Steph, me and Jen waiting in line for Find Me

This was the last day so we all had smaller bags to carry

You never know who you might meet. Above L-R, top to bottom. Diana Peterfreund, Laurie Boyle Crompton, Jim Carrey and Diana Gabaldon (sorry some of these pics are terrible!)

Little, Brown (Hatchette) giveaway for Roomies. Sometimes giveaways got to be insane!

Lots of fun in the madness! (Yes, I came across that book and glove randomly lying on the ground somewhere - creepers!)

Penguin bus! 

Baggage check - to store heavy books during the day.

The enormous post office, open all the time.

 Mailing books home (I sent 3 boxes and carried favorites with me, but some had 4 or more!)

This photo was a settings oops, but it pretty much describes the heat outside the Javits center. 

I'll be back for sure!

A few highlights

1) Meeting Emma McLaughlin who's written a new book with Nicola Kraus called The First Affair and asking her if she's written anything else. PS. They also wrote The Nanny Diaries. 

2) Putting a face and voice to all the bloggers I'd previously only 'met' online, and getting to know a few new ones. Now I'm reading Mandee's reviews to myself with an Australian accent. I also loved finding out about bloggers' other lives - I met a former NASA employee who used to train astronauts and another blogger who's a doctor of anthropology. 

3) Stalking Tahereh Mafi with Asheley, and her telling us "I know you!" (What she really meant was, you girls are CRAZY, stop harassing me about Adam!).

4) Discussing trends with other bloggers and industry professionals. Dystopian is going out, but duologies are in (as opposed to trilogies). 

5) Surprisingly, I learned a lot about co-writing books, as a lot of authors are doing that right now as well. I may post on it, because I found it to be interesting. But sometimes co-writers plot, and sometimes they don't, but usually books are written by splitting chapters. 

6) Spending WAY too much to ride through NYC on the back of a pedicab, because I couldn't grab a taxi during rush-hour - but it was fun!