BEA 2014: The Recap

After BEA and a brief hiatus, I'm opening up my blog again with a recap of my whirlwind trip to NYC. Basically, it was a blast, though as always, I was completely exhausted when I returned and sad about all the people who were there that I missed seeing. 

Here is my BEA in 5 points: 

1) Parties/publisher events 

I attended several extra events during my 4 day trip to BEA that were hosted by various publishers. Some of them were more mingling/cocktail based and some were focused on authors and the publishers' upcoming catalogs. 

**I'm sorry for the distinct lack of photos in this section. I was having too much fun to think of snapping them!**

Jenny and I in our nifty NOVL sunglasses. 

A) I attended a lovely brunch at the NOVL headquarters of Little Brown, Books for Young Readers where bloggers were given a preview of their fall catalog and a tour of their offices. What I loved about this event was getting to hear from the staff - editors, publicists, designers about what upcoming books excite them. Their enthusiasm was contagious. We also learned more about NOVL, which is their new brand/site dedicated to readers who want a place to hang out, read and discuss YA books together. 

A slide from LB's powerpoint presentation on upcoming releases. Did you know The Walled City is based on a real place, and the author asked someone who used to live there to read her book to verify authenticity? 
I love tidbits like that! 

B) Epic Reads hosted a cocktail party, featuring Harper Teen staff, authors and a trivia game. My group managed to get second place in the trivia, although I contributed very little. Epic Reads always has exciting YA related activities. I enjoyed interacting with publishers and other bloggers in a more relaxed atmosphere and even playing a game with them. 

C) Harlequin Teen hosted their annual book blogger's breakfast, featuring five authors and a Round Robin. It was set up a lot like speed dating: authors and other HQ staff visited each of the blogger tables for 5 minutes, before moving to the next one. I really liked this method, because it gave bloggers a chance to actually talk with authors and staff. It was quick but much more intimate and less chaotic than navigating the BEA floor. 

Authors at the Harlequin Teen breakfast who came down from the podium to chat with bloggers. 

L-R Jennifer Armentrout, Alexandra Adornetto, Robin Talley, Julie Kagawa, Adi Alsaid

D) Macmillan also hosted a cocktail party for its bloggers, and I enjoyed getting to chat with friends, including the lovely Ksenia, who does an amazing job at managing all the bloggers and ARCS. 

2) Walking/taxying/subwaying around NYC 

I took a few taxis and the subway once. But mostly I walked NYC. Despite the constant crush of people, I love the idea of living in a place where you can walk everywhere and pretty much see everything while you do. I wish I'd had a fitbit because I'm sure that I walked at least 6 miles just on the first day. I also wish I'd taken a picture of all the crazy people and sights. 

Busy NYC street. Outdoor Reading Room in Bryant Park. Spiderman. Chelsea Garden Center, which I passed to and from BEA daily. Love the mix of chaotic, wacky and green.

3) Bloggers 

Awesome hosts and yummy cake at the Book Bloggers Picnic 

BEA is essentially a huge conference filled with social introverts who read as much or more than I do. I love it. I met and hung out with a lot more bloggers than I took pictures with, but it was truly amazing to have people I know online become real life. And to be able to fangirl about books and authors in person. I wish we all lived closer to each other! The Book Blogger Picnic held in central park was a great event where we all got to hang out and chat together. 

 With Aly. Katelyn and Betty. Danielle, Jen and Steph. 
(I wish I had pictures with all the amazing people I hung out with!)

Of course there's also the actual three day Book Expo America event at the Javits Center, which includes publisher booths, lots of walking and bloggers, as well as the following two points:

 Lots of huge publisher posters in the Javits atrium

4) Lines

I stood in a lot of lines at BEA. To get onto the exhibit floor. For book drops and signings. For Starbucks. There were a lot more lines than last year. For the most part, I appreciated these lines because they meant more order and less chaos. Plus I had a lot of bloggers and newly made friends around me to chat with in those lines. The only time lines got out of hand was on the last day durning Blogger Con, which is a whole different issue entirely that I won't attempt to discuss here, except to say it was CRAZY. Check HERE for Bookswarm Mary's great post on Book Con.

Becca Fitzpatrick's signing line for Black Ice included four of these guys in their hiking gear.  Danny, Allison and I couldn't resist the photo op.

Lines to get into the Javits center, and lines around the exhibit booths. 

The photo two above is the Autographing area at Book Con, the bottom shows a Starbucks in the distance. Lots of people, lots of waiting. But it was all worth it! 

5) Books

Yes, I also went to BEA for the books I would get. There's definitely no denying that. Each new find made me giddy and now that they have arrived safely, I can breathe a sigh of relief.  As I said in my previous post, I made two book related goals this year 1) be more targeted about the books I pick up (i.e. only ones I'm interested in reading). Researching ahead helped with this, and I think I succeeded fairly well in this endeavor. But it's hard to resist when free books are staring you in the face! 2) Pick up a few more adult books than last year. I definitely grabbed more adult books, though my focus was still YA. 

I only mailed 1 box of books home this year, and I was so paranoid that I used that entire role of tape on it. Thankfully it arrived safely! The rest of my books I rolled home in my suitcase.

The books I brought home from BEA in a completely random order. Not pictured are the Little Brown BYR books that were shipped separately. Oh and Every Breath, which I'm reading now and forgot to put on the pile. 

Maybe I'll go crazy and actually post a book review next week!