Days Five and Six (Wednesday & Thursday)

Wednesday was the official opening of Book Expo America’s exhibitor hall.  Now, I have been to these types of shows before so I knew what to expect but have to admit that I was surprised at the long line waiting to get in the door.  Even more surprised that when the flood gates were opened people were running to certain publishers in some kind of marathon galley grab.

CRAAAAYYYY-ZY town I tell ya.  Hell, I don’t even run like that chasing celebrity crushes or rock stars (though ask me again if I ever run into Bono — I’d likely sprint for his sex-ay ass).

Let me back this bus up to say that even though I dutifully went through my BEA floor map and circled everywhere I wanted to visit I was a bit disconcerted when I walked into the hall.  So ultimately instead of trying to get my bearings I just went with the flow and visited booths as I walked up and down the aisle.  I hit up Candlewick and PeachTree Publishers first then made my way towards the center where the largest houses were.

This brought me face to face with my second foray into recognition of the genuine madness that the BEA show floor can become.  As I attempted to walk through the Disney/Hyperion booth I was faced with a giant sea of humanity.  HOLY salmon Batman!  We were packed in that booth, everyone trying to move this way and that, like a bunch of wriggling fish.  Oh how I wish I had the power to spring up and fly over the rest of the pack.  Sadly, I did not so had to push my way through with everyone else.  I couldn’t tell you what the hoards were grabbing for I just wanted to get out of there with my life.

I did make it to the Harper Collins, Hachette, Penguin, Random House and Simon and Schuster booths with only minor scuffs and scrapes.  Though, they too, were equally packed with rabid readers hoping to get a hold of the ARC du jour.  Thankfully no publisher disappointed in this regard.  There were books-a-plenty to be had.  Seriously, I’d heard about it but really, the generosity of publishers in how much they give to participants was quite astonishing.

After floating around the floor for awhile I made my way over to one of the strategically placed stages for my first panel opportunity.  I was fortunate enough to hang out with Amanda, Trisha, and Lenore to hear some great speakers wax poetic about one of my favorite genres — Dystopian literature.  I’m not even gonna try and recap the awesomeness because Lenore rocked the house with pages of notes and will do it all much better justice than any attempt I could make. Once she drops a post on her blog you best believe I’ll be pointing you all to it!

I could list off all the awesome publisher’s booths I visited after that panel (Sourcebooks, Egmont, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Bloomsbury, Harlequin) over the course of the rest of the day but  that would be name dropping.  Suffice it to say that all BEA participants cruised all of the booths several times and we all walked away loaded down with excellent contacts and piles and piles of books.

After a long day on the show floor Wednesday it was great to take some social time and head over to The Algonquin Hotel where Harper Collins threw a fabulous bash for book bloggers.  Seriously y’all they were so super generous the whole week long.  Really fantastic people that I so enjoyed spending time with.

They weren’t the only awesome people I met either, imagine a room filled with fabulous book bloggers.  Dude, it was chock full of awesomeness.  I could go down the path of name dropping (I finally met Alea! Hung out with Gail again, met the absolutely fabulous Book Smugglers) but really it would be an embarrassment of riches to even gloat about all the really fabulous people I got to spend time with.

Thursday on the show floor bought a repeat of Wednesday, though I admit to being a bit more tired and as such only really did a half day.  I snuck back to the hotel and hung out for a little while knowing that later in the afternoon I’d be working the door for the Book Blogger Convention Reception.

What a reception it was too!  The organizers of the BBC were super excited as all our hard work started to pay off with a very well attended event.  In the lower levels of the Javits we packed a room solid with fabulous industry peeps (book bloggers, publishers, publicity reps, authors, we even had a cute puppy named Lucy) for a couple of hours of schmoozing.  I don’t want to speak for all the organizers but I felt good seeing everyone making connections and having great conversation.  It was a fabulous way to kick off the BBC.

Of course, Thursday evening ended with us working into the wee hours preparing for the big event the next day.  But BBC recaps are for another day!