Reading with Tequila Does BEA 2011! Part 3

Part 3 covers Thursday, the last official day of BookExpo America 2011. Check out Part 1 for pre-BEA goodness, Part 2 for my Tuesday and Wednesday experiences and my BEA edition of Week in Review for all the books.

Thursday
I took more than 1 picture at BEA this year!

Danielle, Lexie, Emily, Tegan, Nikki, Taschima & Amelia

Briana, Danielle, Amelia, Lexie, Tegan, Emily & Taschima

Thursday was my super calm day at BEA. Everything was very laid back and there seemed to be less people on the floor. There were minimal author signings and I used most of the day to wander the booths. I waited in line for a few authors, but nothing took too long as I wasn't attempting to see anyone huge. I heard rumor that the Maureen Johnson line got a little out of hand, as it incorporated everything I bitched about in Part 2 (blogger drama and big name authors in booths when they should be tabled and ticketed), but I wasn't anywhere near it and am very thankful for that.

The highlight of Thursday was meeting Eric from Quirk Books. I've worked with Quirk for a while now, love their books, and always look forward to Eric's emails and updates. He's as genuinely awesome in person as he is online. The lowpoint of Thursday was the Chuck Palahniuk signing. I had high hopes of meeting him, but knew there was little chance with it being a half-hour booth signing. Ugh. I headed over to line up an hour early and was told to come back in a half hour. I did as directed only to be told by the same man I had originally spoken to that he actually worked for another publisher and this wasn't the correct line. Yeah, thanks for that. I searched out the correct line only to find it was approximately 73 miles long. I gave up on Chuck. Had to. It was the end of the day and I wanted to drop my books off at the hotel before heading to the BBC reception. Mr. Palahniuk has now been added to my "James Patterson list of authors that I will totally meet someday, probably, if the fates align, and the lines aren't atrocious, but I'm going to keep trying anyway". It's a long title for a list. I'm working on it.

Now, the BBC reception. I sorta pimped this thing out. See, I went last year and had a blast. I met lots of authors, PR people and other bloggers - all while being stuck in a chair in the back of the room due to severely injuring my foot. I told everyone I met - go to the reception, it'll be awesome. Then we arrived, and I felt bad. Embarrassed. People were sort of not thrilled with the way things were done this year. Last year - snacks and sodas. This year, a bar! Yay! Except it was a cash bar. But that's okay. No problem. Except, you needed actual cash. On your person. That minute. Yeah, no one mentioned that previously. I checked the website. So, there we all are, no cash, no drinks - alcoholic or otherwise, and absolutely no snacks. Hmmm.

I ran into a couple of people at the reception that I had missed at BEA itself and met a few authors, but the vibe was completely different than last year. As friendly as the authors I met were, most were going to tell you everything about their book, even after you told them it wasn't the type of book you blog about. I was open to it at first, but after the 5th or 6th time, I seriously felt that we were all wasting each other's time. I tried sending the authors in the direction of other bloggers that did review their book genres, but got the full spiel anyway. It was awkward.

I had planned on heading out to one final event after the BBC reception, but by this point I was feeling a bit burnt out and ready to head home. I went back to the hotel, grabbed some sushi take out from across the street (it's way too dangerous to have sushi so readily available - I could eat it for every meal), and meant to pack. I figured there would be more traffic heading into the city from Jersey. I was wrong. My husband texted to say he was 10 minutes away and I flung everything I had into my suitcases. It was miraculous I didn't leave anything behind. I said a sad and super quick good bye to my awesome roommates and other friends that were watching my frantic packing and was quickly on my way back to the Jersey Shore.

Final Thoughts
I love BEA. I know I bitch about a lot of stuff, but BEA is mostly awesome. It's a bookish experience that everyone even remotely associated with the industry should experience at least once. I had an amazing time reconnecting with friends from last year (Lexie, Taschima, Emily, Eleni, Heather, Sandy) and meeting new friends this year (Amelia, Briana, Tegan, Danielle, Nikki, Steph, Darla, Midnyte Reader (I don't think I ever actually caught your real name), Steph, Tania, and all those that I am completely blanking on as I type this - sorry, I suck.)

Reading with Tequila Does BEA 2011! Part 2

Part 2 covers the first two official days of BookExpo America 2011. Part 3 to come soon. Check out Part 1 for pre-BEA goodness and my BEA edition of Week in Review for all the books.

Tuesday
Tuesday was the day I had the most author signings on my list of things to do at BEA. None of them were ticketed, so my roommates and I headed over to Javits around 7:30, after stopping at the conveniently located BP gas station Dunkin Donuts. I made it to both my must-see author signings - Ilsa Bick for Ashes and Leigh Fallon for Carrier of the Mark. Yay!

The lines at BEA were super crazy this year with people lining up very early, sometimes over an hour ahead of time. Unless it was can't-miss author, I passed on the waiting and chose to wander around the show floor. I tend to be a loner at BEA, wandering by myself most of the time and only meeting up with my roommates and other friends accidentally throughout the day. I'm a little weird that way, but it works for me.

I had planned on attending the Bookrageous event, but was way too tired to dress up and head all the way over there after a full day at BEA. Instead, Amelia and I went to a deli in Port Authority for dinner and had one of those amazing conversations that went from The Hunger Games to gentlemanly manners to strong women to mean girls and everything in between and had a blast. Different aspects of The Hunger Games popped up in almost every other conversation I had at BEA this year and it was awesome to be surrounded by so many people who had strong opinions about something so specific and bookish. That doesn't happen in my life outside of the constant Twilight ravings I endure from my old high school friends on Facebook.

Wednesday
Wednesday was the day o' ridiculous blogger drama at BEA. We headed over to Javitz at 6:15 to get our tickets for Rick Riordan and other authors and then promptly sat in line to enter the show floor when 9am came around. I headed off to the bathroom and to get more coffee at Starbucks. 45 minutes later, I finally got back to my spot in line where my friends and stuff was. And was accused of just arriving at Javits and cutting in front of a huge bunch of people. Lame. Apparently people are supposed to pee in bottles and never get a second coffee in the morning without being accused of wrongdoing. Especially lame since even the people at the very end of the entry line get onto the floor within a minute or two.

My major, must meet author of the day was Ally Condie, so I headed over to where she would be signing at 10 and the lovely people at St. Martin's/Dutton were handing out tickets that guaranteed you a book when you returned after 10am. Awesome. I wandered around for a while and headed back about a half hour before the Crossed signing began. Amelia and I got in line about 75 people back or so and were content with our place in line. We spent at least 45 minutes talking to a woman in front of us. Now, I was a little upset that Glow was supposed to be dropped at 9:30 Tuesday morning, but when I got there at 9:25 there weren't any left. I may have mentioned that I wondered if it was even worth it to attempt heading back for the supposed 2pm drop of Glow on Wednesday. I may have been outspoken about this. (Sidenote: those who met me will attest to this - I'm a little outspoken at times, I'm chock full of um... less than appropriate language, and I don't care a wit about what people think of me. My personality doesn't appeal to everyone and I like it that way. It keeps the less fun people away) Anywho, turns out, this woman in front of us who has spent the last huge amount of minutes talking to us about The Hunger Games (obviously) and other topics that were less than um... professional, reveals that she works for the publisher that is putting out Glow. Ha! Yeah, so she tells me that she's got a copy of it on her desk and that she'll send it to me as soon as she gets back to her office. And goes on to say that some bloggers can be kind of, well, let's just say they try to hard. I, on the other hand, was obviously real and that's what really counts. So that was completely awesome.  Anyway, the line moved quickly once it got going and I got to meet Ally! She said she liked my shirt, that it matched my eyes, which were her favorite color - green. How sweet is she? I don't think my husband even noticed the color of my eyes for the first couple months. Actually, I'm sure of it since he once sang Brown-Eyed Girl to me.

By 10:15am, I was loving BEA. Crossed in hand, Ally Condie is awesome, Glow publisher lady also awesome. Best day ever. Of course, I made the mistake of checking Twitter. How sad is it that some bloggers have to constantly embarrass the entire group? Tweeting about how bloggers are running and screaming? Yeah, I didn't see that, but why would you publicly embarrass everyone? Bloggers cutting lines? Didn't see that either. Saw a lot of older (ages about 60 and up) librarians and booksellers do it though and nobody was tweeting about them. I was embarrassed for bloggers in general. How petty. Way to make us all look like whiny jerks who throw each other under the bus to make ourselves look better.

So I was kind of pissed off. Because seriously, who does that? Obviously, I know who does that as I was following some of them on Twitter which is how I saw the drama-mongering. They have since been unfollowed. I like drama probably a little bit more than the next person, but tweeting about it when you claim it's happening right in front of you? Yeah, that's the equivalent of writing about someone in a high school bathroom stall, where everyone knows about it, but you never have to man up and face the person you're accusing. Grow some balls and confront the offender or keep your whining to yourself. Rant over.

I also got to meet Sara Shepard!! But missed Kate White, which was unfortunate since I'm a HUGE fan of her Bailey Weggins novels and desperately wanted to ask her if there was any chance she would continue the series in the future. I couldn't make myself wait in the Rick Riordan line since it was huge. I met him last year, so I was okay with missing him this time. And I walked passed the James Patterson line, never contemplating getting into it. I really, really wanted to meet him and missed him due to the huge line last year, but yeah. Something seems to be happening more and more at BEA: Big name authors in booths. This is dangerous. The lines wrap around many aisles on the show floor. They block booths other publishers have paid for and now no one can see. It just doesn't seem right. I wish BEA would somehow force publishers to put their big name authors in the autographing area, preferably ticketed. The publishers do their best to keep things in order, but the sheer amount of people just makes things chaotic.

I didn't make it to either after event on Wednesday. The dressing up and traveling was again just way too much for me. Of course, once dinner time came around, a group of us went in search of food - only to walk like 18 blocks through Times Square to get to Mars 2112 - the alien Chuck E. Cheese. The walk sucked, but the dinner was hilarious. We ate, we laughed, someone may have snorted. Aliens danced, our waitress may have mocked a few of us, and we were seated far away from any children - which was an inspired idea from the restaurant staff as none of us were very kid safe by that point. And yeah, not a drop of alcohol. That's right, my BEA was dry again.

Reading with Tequila Does BEA 2011! Part 1

BEA this year was an amazing and eye-opening experience. I thought I knew what I was getting into having gone last year, but with everything in life, surprises abound. This post contained all of the pre-BEA fun. Part 2 will cover the actual BEA experience.

Sunday
I arrived in NYC around 1pm Sunday afternoon. I live at the Jersey Shore, so my husband drove me and my luggage in. Took us about an hour to get up there and no lugging luggage around the city = awesome. Lexie met me at the hotel right after I arrived and we hung out with some other bloggers who were staying at the same hotel.

Briana arrived next and the three of us grabbed some dinner at a pizza place in Port Authority. Later that night Taschima arrived and we all stayed up late comparing potential schedules for our days at BEA.

Monday
We got up early and headed over to Javits to get our badges, where we met Emily. We were all registered as press, and since many bloggers seemed to enjoy claiming we'd be turned away for not paying, we wanted to make sure we could have to opportunity to clear up any misunderstandings if they arose. Of course, there was no problems. Book bloggers are press at BEA. Bloggers from BlogWorld were the ones supposed to register as bloggers. So, thanks to all those who said awesome things like "I'm going to laugh when the people who registered as press aren't allowed into BEA this year." You suck for many reasons, but mostly because you were being super bitchy, ended up being completely wrong, made many people worry for no good reason and even convinced some people not to attend at all since they weren't going to be able to afford the registration.

After registering, we all headed up into the press room, where we found computers, printers, juices and breakfast foods. For those who worried about being allowed to hang out up there, the lady manning the door was helpful and super nice once she learned we were bloggers. We wandered around a bit and then headed over to Discovery Time Square for the Harry Potter exhibit.

My lone picture of the Harry Potter exhibit. No cameras were allowed, which was disappointing. Nikki and Danielle met us for the tour and then we all headed to John's Pizzeria. We ate pizza in a church! Well, a renovated former cathedral, but close enough.

Our growing group navigated the subway (I survived!) and made our way to Strand Bookstore. I was good and only picked up one book - The Quarters Dead by Richard Peck. I wandered the huge store and even got a little lost in their sweltering basement.

From Strand we went directly to the Teen Author Carnival. I sat in on the Kick Ass Females in YA panel and the Teen Angst panel. In between the two panels, I finally met up with Amelia, who we'd missed all day long. The panels and authors were awesome, but it would have been nice had they been on a stage of some sort. Sitting down, we had to try to tell who was talking by the sound of their voices, which was difficult at times.

After TAC, we headed back to the hotel to wait until Tegan arrived and then went to Dave & Busters for dinner. Wonderful food, horrendous service. Thoroughly exhausted, we went back to the hotel fully intending to sleep, yet managed to stay up until 2.

Advice for Bloggers Attending BookExpo America #BEA11

Attending BookExpo America 2011? Yes? Super fantastic! Then it is definitely time to start planning. And if this is your first time, it's well past time to start obsessing over all those minor concerns that are starting to seem major as the event draws near.

I attended my first BEA last year. It was amazing. The weeks before though - those were nerve wracking. I'm a planner. And a researcher. If I don't know the answer, I Google the hell out of the question until satisfied. My pre-BEA weeks were filled with both planning and almost frantic Googling. If this year is anything like the last, you'll see hundreds of posts about planning for BEA and what to expect. They will all tell you the same basic things: wear comfortable shoes, look and act professional and always ask before taking anything. All sound advice. But for those of us that drive ourselves mad with seemingly random concerns, this will not be enough to placate. To aid like-minded crazies, I've pulled together the things that were of most concern to me pre-BEA as well as a couple of things I never thought to worry about.

What to Wear?
You'll hear everything from business attire to jeans and a t-shirt. Honestly, it so doesn't matter. I didn't notice anything anyone was wearing and I sincerely doubt most others did either. We're bloggers. Sure you'll want to make a good impression on the industry professionals you speak with, but this isn't a job interview. You'll be on your feet all day long, walking for miles and standing in lines for what seems like days. You need to be comfortable. Wear whatever that means to you. A nice skirt, a business suit or jeans and a tank top. You may want to leave the thigh-high hooker boots at home though. Javits convention floor is not completely flat and your feet will be crying even in sneakers. And nothing says comfort like limping in hooker boots.

How to Plan?
Obsess, obsess, obsess. No, I am not kidding. Stalk the BEA website. Make lists of all of the authors you want to see, their dates, times and locations. Make a list of all the publisher's booths you want to visit and their locations. Make yet another list of all the panels you want to see, their dates, times and locations. Make a list of the things you can't miss, the things you hope not to miss and the things you'll only do if you've got some time to kill. Keep these lists on your person at all times. And be willing to deviate from the plan when something surprisingly cool occurs. Understand that you will miss out on awesome things, no matter how well you plan. The only way I could have done everything I hoped to do would have been to clone myself. Twice. There really is that much awesome packed into Javits during BEA.

What to Bring?
A rolling suitcase. This is non-negotiable. There is a baggage check. It costs about $3 a day. You'll need to put your books in your suitcase about every 2 hours. I brought a duffle bag. I checked it. It was great, until it was time to carry 50 pounds of books on my shoulder at the end of each day. Wheels are worth every penny. And money. No one is policing it, but you really should through some money into the collection boxes in the autograph area. Food is expensive at Javits. The hot dog cart outside is not. And well, Starbucks prices are Starbucks prices. You know how that goes. Your cell phone. You will need to gather the phone numbers of those you want to meet up with beforehand. Text messaging will be you're lifeline as it's easy to wander Javits for days and not run into your friends. If you're phone has Twitter on it, all the better. And you'll want business cards. They don't have to be fancy, but it'll make life much easier when you need to give your contact info to publishers and other bloggers.

How to Act?
The basic answer: Just don't be a douche. Don't run to get to things first. Don't push people out of the way. Don't elbow people in crowds. Don't cut in lines. Don't complain, loudly, about how slow the lines are moving. Don't be rude to the authors. And for the love of god, don't act all entitled. This is exactly how bloggers get a bad rap and why we constantly have to defend ourselves. I love you guys and the whole book blogging community, but I truly fear for us all. I know that this year some (most?) bloggers are paying to attend BEA. That doesn't make the bad behavior more acceptable than when it was free last year. Every other person at BEA pays to attend (with the exception of press) and they manage to behave like adults. With all the bad blogger business stirred up in the past year, if you act poorly, odds are you will be called out by name. Bloggers are sick of being bashed and I have no doubt that if you are caught tripping a librarian to get the last ARC of something, your head will be on the internet's version of a pike. Fair warning.

For the majority that don't need that type of warning, here's what you need to realize: We love books. Every single one of us. That's why we're at BEA. Talk to everyone. You have a common love. It will be easy. These are your people. If you're terminally shy, fake it. If you don't, you'll be missing out.

And most importantly, Where's the Booze?
BEA was dry for me last year with the horrendous commuting. This year, I'm prepared with a hotel room and ready to indulge in my dual love of booze and books. Javits sells beer in its food court, but with all the walking, you may want to skip it. Last year, Penguin held a champagne toast to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the release of To Kill a Mockingbird. It's possible something along those lines may happen again. The Book Blogger Convention Reception, held Thursday after BEA will be sporting a bar this year, and I guarantee you'll see me there. There are many parties held at night after BEA. I have no real insider knowledge of them as I sadly had to ignore all the invites last year. But they are there. And this year, I will be in attendance.

The Rest:
Don't be offended if someone that should know who you are doesn't. I will tell you right now, I suck with names. Real names, blog names, twitter names, etc. I may totally know who you are, but I may never realize it until I get home and actually see your blog. It's the same for a lot of us. Since we don't know each other's faces well, there's a good chance this will happen at least once to every single one of us. If you do it to me, I'll still love you. Also, I'd suggest posting a recent, relatively accurate picture of yourself on both your blog and as your Twitter avatar for the month leading up to BEA. This will infinitely improve your chances of being recognized by your internet friends.

This is me. I am easily identified by searching for 3 key characteristics. I'm blond. I wear too much eye makeup for daytime events. And I'm always displaying far too much cleavage, no matter the occasion.

If you see me, come say hello. I'm serious. I want to hang out with you, even if I totally don't grasp who you are until the week after. I don't bite, even after the booze. If you want to make some solid plans to meet up, exchange phone numbers, make after BEA party plans, etc. email me at tantrumsandtequila@hotmail.com.

I Do BEA, Sadly Without Tequila (Damn Commuting)

BEA was amazing. My fears proved to be crazy and my obsessive planning left me less prepared than the more seasoned attendees. Apparently, it's impossible to over-plan for BEA.

Some of the fantastic bloggers I got to spend time with

Lexie (Poisoned Rationality), Taschima (Bloody Bookaholic), Emily (Red House Books) Sherry (Flipping Pages For All Ages) and Eleni (La Femme Readers).

Yup, that's my lone picture from BEA. I carry a camera for 4 days and take just one picture.

In the course of my travels, I also had the pleasure of meeting

April (Good Books & Good Wine)

Sheila (Book Journey)

Amy (Amy Reads)

Sarah and Jenny (Forever Young Adult)

Heather (Age 30+)

Lyra (Lyra Rose)

Heather (Darkly Reading)

Jenn (Crazy for Books)

and many more. . . 

. . . sorry to all that I didn't mention, my memory is atrocious. This also includes remembering to ask for your business card for situations such as these.

I also got to meet a great many authors. It was a great experience, especially for someone like me who had never met a real, live author in person before. I stalked Jonathan Maberry (I went to all 3 of his signings) and managed be one of the lucky people who got up at the crack of 3:45am to get a ticket to meet Rick Riordan. Since I didn't line up a gazillion hours in advance, I missed my chance at meeting James Patterson. Don't worry, James, I'll find you one day.

I snagged some very exciting books, including Emma and the Vampires and Thin, Rich, Pretty (I think I may have squealed when it was offered to me at the BBC Reception). You can see all of my new, wonderful books on yesterday's In My Mailbox post.

I spent the first 2 hours on Wednesday racing around to my favorite publishers. Having a list of must visit booths was key, as it saved me a huge amount of time wandering aimlessly. Although, I did do a lot of that too.

I considered not going back on Thursday. I was so sore and tired, I didn't think I could make it. I soldiered on, sat down ever chance I got and survived. My right foot is still swollen and sore. I think it may be permanently damaged. Still totally worth it.

I think I did very well for my first time, but next year I will not be taking the ferry. Dealing with the traffic and the walk to Javits (which looks deceptively close on a map) was too much to deal with. I really hope to get a hotel room with some other bloggers, but the train is another viable option. Either way, I can't wait for next year.

A Conference Virgin Plans for BookExpo America and Book Blogger Con

I'll admit it. I'm a conference virgin. I've often drooled over conference websites and entertained the thoughts of possibly attending. Nothing ever came of it. I've become something of a homebody. I don't venture far from my comfort zone. I shy away from crowds. I never, ever travel alone. It was a safe (albeit somewhat boring) lifestyle.

BookExpo America popped up on my radar a few months back. I toyed with the idea, but ultimately set it aside. When I learned I could attend for free as Press, I registered. It remained a fanciful thought I never thought would come into being. My husband demanded I go. He took off from work and told me I need to do more things just for me. I scoffed. We can't afford for me to stay in New York for days. Um, what? I live in New Jersey. I can drive and take the ferry. The ferry drops you off basically across the street from Javits. I ran out of excuses.

Having saved all that money by registering as Press and commuting, I could afford to attend Book Blogger Con as well. In some ways, it's even more intimidating than BEA. (I'll get to those fears in a minute.) I've registered. I've paid. I'm totally going. I'm both hugely excited and very nervous.

Donna at Bites answered a majority of my BEA questions with this fabulous post. I can bring a large bag and check it. Stupendous. You would not believe how much time I spent worrying about lugging things around. I now know where to get my badge. Google did not know the answer. I looked for HOURS.

Seemingly silly concerns still remain. Do I need to bring my own lanyard to attach to the badge or is one provided? I've never actually spoken to an author in person before, so that's a little nerve-wracking. (Yup. It's true. I've never even been to a book signing before. I'm like a book loving fraud.) Can I take pictures when getting books signed or annoy those behind me in line? I won't know anyone, will I wander alone all day? There's more, but I'm going to tuck my crazy back in before I scare you all.

My (probably very optimistic) signing attack plan is as follows:

Wednesday
10am - Carolyn Mackler - Tangled
11am - Sue Ann Jaffarian - Murder in Vein
11:30 - Alexandra Sokoloff - Book of Shadows
12pm - Kate Douglas - Demonfire
12pm - Gena Showalter - Intertwined
12pm - Rachel Vincent - My Soul to Keep
1:30 - Charlie Higson - The Enemy
2pm - James Patterson - Witch & Wizard: The Gift
2:30 - Lauren Oliver - Delirium, AND Before I Fall
3:30 - Inara Scott - Delcroix Academy, Book One: The Candidates
3:30 - Jonathan Maberry - Rot & Ruin
3:30 - Peter Moore - Red Moon Rising
4pm - Cecily von Ziegesar - Cum Laude

Thursday
10am - Adam Rex - Fat Vampire
10am - Roger Ma - The Zombie Combat Manual
10:30 - Gena Showalter - Unraveled
11am - Nancy Kilpatrick - Evolve
1pm - Tricia Rayburn - Siren
1pm - Jonathan Maberry - Patient Zero
2pm - David Beck - The Extinction Event
3pm - Amy Brecourt White - Forget-Her-Nots
3pm - Jeri Smith-Ready - Shade

There are a ton of booths I want to visit and somehow I'm also going to have to find time to eat. Um, yeah. Even my impressive time management skills can't solve this conundrum.

Book Blogger Con will officially start for me with the reception on Thursday. I'll then return to New York on Friday for a full day of learning from the best. Seriously. Authors are intimidating, but these are a large group of people who've been doing this blogging thing quite successfully. I know them in my head from reading their blogs, but I don't "know" them, you know? I am a large Twitter fail and am not the best about leaving blog comments, so they don't "know" me. That would be my horrendous lurker tendencies coming back to bite me. Plus there will be authors, publishers, publicists and many other amazing bookish types, all in a setting much more intimate than BEA. Awesome and scary.

Some of my ridiculous questions concerning BBC include: I should totally take notes, right? Is there anything I should be bringing, other than a notebook, that I'll regret forgetting? I used to be a people person, what am I so freaked out about?

So, there you have it. I've officially become neurotic. Feel free to avoid me for your own safety. I plan on having a great time, leaving my laundry list of worries at home and faking confidence, if need be. Of course, when I inevitably spill coffee down the front of my shirt on the drive up, I may just lose my mind. Note to self: bring extra shirt.

Are you going to be at BEA or BBC? Do you have any irrational fears I might take solace in? Want to take pity on me and sit with me in the cafeteria? Or hang out in author lines? Why does this feel like the first day at a new school?