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Tuesday, May 17, 2016

BEA16 & BookCon Wrap-Up





Chicago

The drive from New York to Chicago was not an easy one. Both to and from Chicago had me driving in the darkness, and in the pouring rain! Driving through Pennsylvania, the roads were curvy with ditches all along the sides, and Ohio was just miles of cornfields with nothing in-between. It took forever to find a gas station, and I was starting to think I would suffer a death a la Children of the Corn...


Chicago itself was wonderful, despite all of the unpleasantly foggy and rainy weather. Sadly, I didn't get to see much of it, though I did try deep dish pizza! Judging solely by the first place we tried . . . school cafeteria pizza is better; I was so disappointed. However, my friend Michelle directed me and the rest of our friends to Giordano's, and that was much better. Either way, I still stand by the fact that NYC pizza is better XD



Blogger Friends

My #1 favorite thing about Book Expo American 2016/BookCon was hanging out with Michelle (Dreaming of Alba), Melanie (One Less Lonely Blog) Stefani (Caught Read Handed), and Annalisse (Hopeful Reads). These girls truly made my entire trip so wonderful, I can't remember the last time I laughed so much. Being with them felt like I was with family, and I hope they get their butts to New York City soon for a family reunion...


Also, I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked with these bloggers, but I'm grateful for the time that we did have:

Sarah K (The YA Book Traveler): Our multiple hugs were not enough!

Michella (YA Books Girl): Thankfully we get to hang out in NYC, and I'm so glad you got the books you wanted!

Ava (Bookishness and Tea): I'm so happy that we got to meet and hang out! Hopefully, we get to see each other again soon ^_^


Here are some of other bloggers I was fortunate enough to meet or see again. Hopefully, we'll be able to see more of each other in the future:

Fallon, MorganHannah, Patricia, AnashehBecca, Brittany S., Octavia, Shelly Z., Britt, Andye, Sajda, Stephanie, Mishma, Jen, Shannon, Anna, Nicole, Christina, and Monica!

Unfortunately, not all of the bloggers I met are listed here. In a setting such as BEA and BookCon, it's impossible to list everyone, so I'm sorry if I missed you!


Meeting the Authors


When it comes down to it, BEA and BookCon is all about the books. I got to see and meet some amazing authors in Chicago, and it made me so happy. Here are the authors I was lucky enough to hang out with, and be sure to check out all of their books!

Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha Trilogy, Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom), Adam Silvera (More Happy Than Not, History Is All You Left Me), Stephanie Garber (Caraval), Kendare Blake (Three Dark Crowns, Anna Series, Goddess War Series), Kristen Simmons (The Glass Arrow & Metaltown), Wendy Spinale (Everland), Kerri Maniscalco (Stalking Jack The Ripper), Amie Kaufman (These Broken Stars trilogy, The Illuminae Files), Jay Kristoff (The Illuminae Files, Nevernight, The Lotus War trilogy, & LIFEL1K3),  Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles & Heartless), Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures, Unbreakable, & The Lovely Reckless), Audrey Coulthurst (Of Fire and Stars), Maggie Stiefvater (The Raven Cycle, The Scorpio Races, The Anatomy of Curiosity, Sinner, The Shiver Trilogy, and many others)

Fierce Reads Party


It was SO much fun. Who wouldn't love hanging out with so many awesome and inspirational people? I didn't want it to end! Photos were taken, there were a lot of laughs, and I'm so thrilled to have been invited. 


Nevernight

Another wonderfully unexpected thing that happened . . . I won an ARC copy of Nevernight by Jay Kristoff!!! I was going crazy for a couple of days, thinking there was no way I would be able to snag one of the FIVE copies that he had with him, but I got it!  


The Books

At the end of the Fierce Reads/Macmillian Party, we were given this awesome bag that was full of goodies!


I have to say, I was most surprised to see George Orwell's 1984 in the goodie bag with this ominous message:


I have no idea what this means. I already searched the hashtag on Twitter, and have only found other confused people xD


The books above were the ones I was willing to maime someone for, but luckily, it didn't come down to that haha.


I didn't get a lot of swag this year, which is probably a good thing anyway because I don't really have the space for it. In general, there seemed to be a lot less of it than at past BEAs and BookCons, but either way, I was able to snag these beauties. The only one that confuses me is the sampler of Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth. Despite rumors of it being only 3 pages, it's a bit longer than that, but it's still really small AND it's not even the beginning of the book, it's chapter 7! I only grabbed it in passing, because my morbid curiosity was getting to me. I don't know if or when I'll get around to reading it though. 


And here is my final haul picture (minus the samplers I already showed above) It's significantly less than what I've previously gotten at conventions, but I was being very careful to limit myself to only the books I was dying to read. Last year, I was still a newbie blogger when it came to conventions and my eyes were as big as saucers when it came to all of the books. Either way, I'm really happy with my haul, and I can't wait to start reading! ^_^

Avid Reader Pass

I hate the changes made to the Avid Reader Pass. Last year, you would purchase the pass and be able to jump the 8 autograph lines of your choosing while at the convention center. I know that this caused a lot of problems, hence why they changed it, I suppose. However with this pass, you could guarantee yourself 10 tickets to autograph lines with 1 jump pass, though they didn't mention any changes from last year's pass, so I found that to be kind of shady. The problem was that there was a very short list of lines you could choose from, and so I only ended up using 2 of my tickets. Since the tickets weren't transferable, they just went to waste. On top of that, they sold/gave away more tickets than they had books, so I know people who paid for a ticket, and then didn't even get the book!

Disorganized Lines

In an ideal world, people would come to line up when they're told to. But since we do not live in this fantasy world, I wish that there was more planning and organization when it came to the lines for giveaways and autographs. The bottom line is, if people want to a certain book, they will camp out at the booth as early as humanly possible to guarantee getting it. 

Why? Because a person's desire to attain said book will directly correlate to how early they are willing to line up, and how long they're willing to wait!


It seemed to me that a lot of publishers were not prepared for this, which lead to complete chaos. The one booth I have to exclude from all of this is Penguin Random House's booth. They were more prepared for people standing in and around their booth all day, and handled it in a professional and organized manner. There were some issues when it came to the line for Gemina, but that was the only time. 

This conversation happened at least a dozen times:
Me: We don't want to be in your way.. where should we line up?
Booth Lady: No, no, no. Come 15 minutes before the giveaway starts.
Me: But.. it's a huge book.. there are already like 50 people waiti--
Booth Lady: But we don't want you to line up until 15 minutes before.
Me: But if you don't tell us where to line up, there will just be a mob of peop--
Booth Lady: COME BACK 15 MINUTES BEFORE THE DROP, EVERYONE!
Everyone: *has no plans of leaving*
Me: *sigh* ...
Everyone: *forms confused mob until Booth Lady relents to an "unofficial line"*


The Big One

Yes, there were some unethical people who took like, a bajillion copies of each book. It's already been discussed at length on Twitter, and it's horrible, it really is. However, I feel compelled to add that a couple bad apples do not represent the entirety (or even the majority) of the blogging community, which is mostly composed of wonderful, kind-hearted people who read and promote books because they love it. So let's try to focus on the book love and be kind to one another, shall we? <3


Aaaaand that's a wrap.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! I'm sorry I wasn't posting much while I was in Chicago, but I promise that I'll be getting back to my normal posting schedule soon ^_^

43 comments:

  1. i'm so glad we got to chat and hang out for a bit! can't wait to see you again soon!!!! <333

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    1. I'm so glad too! I hope we can do it again really soon ^_^

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  2. It sounds like you had such a blast! I half thought (in a completely not serious way) about going to this because it would be so awesome and Chicago is NOT that far away from me, but I was too chicken to drive there by myself! Maybe next year! :)

    You got some pretty sweet books! I can't wait for a lot of these! And that's super weird that the Carve the Mark sampler starts at chapter 7?! I'm really excited for that book because of the MC's name!! :') I've never seen my name anywhere before!!!

    I'm glad you had such a wonderful time and I hope that you love all of your new books! Happy reading!! :)

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    1. Aw, I wish you would have come! That would have been so great to meet you.

      You have a great name, it deserves to be in books! I'm really excited about all of the books I got though. Not sure I'm ready to read a Veronica Roth book after how her first trilogy ended but we'll see.

      I really did have a great time, thank you! Also thank you for stopping by!

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  3. Thanks for this wrap up! It's not as good as being there... but almost! I'm so glad you had a wonderful time.

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    1. Hopefully one year we'll both be able to go! Thank you, lovely <3

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  4. Thank you Brittany for including me, it was so great meeting you. I hope we get to spend more time together in the future. Your post is great and pretty accurate. We had Giordano's too, it is so thick and filling that 1 slice and I was full. ;)

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    1. It was great meeting you too ^_^ As long as we both love books, I think there is a high chance of us hanging out again! I'm glad you liked my post, I tried to be as accurate as possible. Giordano's was good and definitely filling but NYC pizza for the win!

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  5. Fabulous haul! I saw Jay Kristoff tweeting that there was some pushing and hair pulling going in in one of their lines. Unbelievable. I was so happy to hear that BEA is back at Javits next year. That means I am almost 75% sure I will be going. I have a question. From seeing all of the ARCs some oeoole got just from going to BookCon, what was the actual difference between the BookCon day and any of the BEA days this time? I love seeing everyone's photos. I am glad you made it there and back in one piece!

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    1. Thank you! I'm really excited about the books I got ^_^

      These things always tend to get a little bloody, unfortunately. But it's all in book love so it's okay.

      There are a couple of main differences between BookCon and BEA. First off, BEA is only open to people in the industry. You have to work in publishing, be a librarian, be a blogger, etc. to go. While BookCon, everyone can buy tickets and go. Also, BEA you don't have to buy the books to get signed, they are just given to you. A lot of the signings at BookCon you have to buy the books on site.

      Thank you for stopping by!

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    2. Thanks for the info. I was wondering because the people who only went to BookCon this year seemed to have gotten a lot more ARCs than in previous years. I was wondering if this was going to be the norm from now on.

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    3. There seemed to be more ARCs at BookCon this year in comparison to last year but it changes every year so it's hard to say.

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  6. Ah, sweeties, it looks like such an amazing experience! And how did your panel go?? I was following along with BEA tweets all week and I think one of my most exciting moments was seeing your face! To be honest, I had no idea what you looked like until then and it was so awesome to finally put a lovely face to all of our long chats :D ♥ Aaaa, you got so many amazing books, and were one of the lucky few to get Nevernight! That is so cool!! SO true what you said about the lines---that same thing happens all the time at ALA. You ask about a line and they say come back later and 30 seconds later you pass again and there's 70 people in line. :( I did hear about all the drama---but *sigh* it happens every year. I am so glad you had a great time, Brittany! Thanks for sharing this with us!!

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    1. It was! Though my panel hasn't happened yet ^_^ It's on June 12th here in New York

      You are absolutely the sweetest! I owe you a hug whenever it is we get to meet <3

      I was so happy to get Nevernight I literally declared it impossible in my head and then I got it, I was floored! Literally xD

      It's true that the drama happens every year, though it's still upsetting. I hope it blows over soon.

      Thank you for stopping by, lovely <333

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  7. I agree with your comment about Penguin Random House being the most organized...the others seemed to be in denial. It was good to meet you!

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    1. Right?! They knew how to handle the mob of people haha

      Nice meeting you too!

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  8. Fabulous wrap-up! I am so glad that you had such a good time, and got such amazing books. You are ALMOST smiling in several of those photos!! ;) Forever sad that I did not go, really. But it couldn't be helped. I have already lined up a roomie for NEXT year, though, so NYC here I come! We WILL meet up!! *hugs*

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    1. Thank you! I swear, I was smiling so much that my face hurt haha. I'm so glad we're going to meet next year!! *hugs*

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  9. Wow! thanks for sharing it all. What an amazing event. I'm so glad you got to go and took the time to tell us about it.

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    1. My pleasure! I'm glad you enjoyed this post. I hope you get to go someday!

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  10. Wow! You drove? But I guess that saved money for sure. I wish I could have gone this year, looks like so much fun! I've been twice, but never been invited to any of the publisher parties. :-( I plan to go next year when it is back in NYC, because my sister lives just a few blocks from the Javits Center. Awesome book haul! And I totally agree, NYC pizza is better than Chicago pizza. :-)

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    1. Yes! Though, I drive everywhere haha. I drive down to Florida a few times a year because my family has annual passes to Disney World and this drive wasn't as long as that.

      I'm definitely going when it's back in NYC, so I hope we get to meet! NYC PIZZA FTW!!

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  11. It looks like you had a really great time at BEA/Bookcon! This was my first time in four years not attending and I was so sad to miss it and miss seeing all of my blogger friends. I can't for it to be back in nyc again. I've never had pizza in Chicago before, but there is no changing my mind when it comes to NYC pizza.

    That is so exciting that you got an arc of Nevernight! I'm really looking forward to reading Caravel and The Sun is Also a Star. That is so odd though about the sampler of Carve the Mark. I was curious to see what the sampler included.

    Traci @ The Reading Geek

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    1. I really did, too bad you didn't go! And yes, you are right when it comes to NYC pizza. I hope to see you soon ^_^

      Carval is amazing and I'm excited for Nevernight and The Sun Is Also A Star. The Carve the Mark sampler is definitely weird.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  12. YAY for having such an awesome time at BEA and BookCon sweet girl :D So happy for you. <3 Hugs. YAY for meeting so many awesome people and getting so so so many gorgeous books :) So jealous, hih. But so happy for you. <3 I'm dying the most for Heartless. Sniffs. Since I won't have any chance of getting that ARC. Ugh. Sucks living in Norway :) Can't wait to see what you think of it. <3 YAY! Happy reading Brittany :D Thank you for sharing about your wonderful time. <3

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    1. Thank you, it was a lot of fun ^_^ I know a lot of bloggers living out of the US who like you, find it almost impossible ti get ARCs because of the expensive shipping, so I know it sucks.

      Thank you for stopping by, I'm glad you enjoyed my recap ^_^

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  13. Oh my goodness! I am glad that once your terrifying drive was out of the way, you had the most amazing time. I dream of one day having the opportunity to go to BEA or even something similar. It must be so surreal to turn book blogging into a real world, face-to-face experience! <3

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    1. Me too! I'm used to driving long distances but no street lamps, curvy roads, and rain is a horrible combination haha. I hope you get to go to BEA it's so much fun and it is definitely takes some adjusting when it comes to seeing the blogger world in person but it's a great experience ^_^

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  14. Oh Brittany, your posts are always the apples of my day! :)
    Such a lovely and insightful posts, the US residents are so lucky they have BEA and Bookcon, I hope I can go one day when it does not crash with my schedule *dreams of one day going* but I think I will refrain for maybe a few more years until I am ready for the set of the Hunger Games. Maybe I should start training already? :)

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    1. Aw, you're so sweet! Thank you!

      I hope that you get to go one day, too! There is no way to really prepare for the craziness of BEA/BookCon but once you are there and you get used to it, it's awesome!

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    2. I'm not the one who is sweet, I think that is you. Ever since I have seen your blog, I am truly amazed by you. You have become a source of inspiration for me in terms of blogging, interacting with authors and fellow bloggers, it is truly amazing. I hope one day I can become like you, in my eyes and the eyes of the others you have become a respected blogger who is deemed in the highest regards possible and I don't just mean by blogging, I mean as a reviewer and how you interact with the authors and spread the love. I have no idea how you do it but I can only dream of becoming like you. So thank you!

      Sorry, I just wanted to show my appreciation! :)

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  15. Awww! It was indeed wonderful. I hope to attend BEA someday and meet some book bloggers and you! <3

    Yani - Paper Boulevard

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    1. I hope you do, too! It's a lot of fun ^_^

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  16. I don't even know where to start being jelly for! Is it the ARCs, the pizza, the meeting authors/bloggers? hahaha although right now my tummy is going for the pizza because omg that looks good and I want pizza!
    But anyway, BEA and Bookcon seemed to be a blast and I'm so glad you had fun, Brittany. Totally worth the crazy to and from trip, right? ♥

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    1. Just come to NYC and I'll give you real pizza haha.

      The trip was definitely worth it since I got to meet/hang out with awesome people, plus all the books ^_^

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  17. BEA looked so fun and seems like you had an absolute blast! I am so happy for you. I love meeting bloggers in real life, and I am envious you guys have so many giant events where you can all congregate. Hope I will be able to make it there one year in the distant future!

    Aentee at Read at Midnight

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    1. I hope you can make it one year too! We have to meet. It's really great meeting bloggers in person, though I just end up missing them so much afterwards.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  18. Dude I had so much fun hangin out with you for the tiny bit of time that we did. I know you prob didnt know it at the time but i was having a homesick/panic attack so please dont think im creepy or weird. If i seemed normal to you then yay i did my job! BUT seriously me thinks we live semi close to each so hopefully ill see you around!
    <3 Britt
    ps do you know i practically stalked around the whole convention center looking for that arse. Where did you find him to win the precious and was being mobbed already?

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    1. I had so much fun hanging out with you too!! I didn't think you were weird at all, I had no idea that you were homesick/having a panic attack. I was thinking that we live really close together too. We should find some time to get together again.

      P.S. I was doing the same thing, I just got lucky ^_^

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