BEA 2015 Recap Part I

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

So after five days of Harry Potter fun, I headed to New York City and met up with Selina to enjoy a week of everything bookish. I took an Amtrak train from South Station late morning on Tuesday and arrived into the city around 3:20ish. The hotel was about 6 or so blocks from Penn Station and I met up with Selina at the hotel. We ended up going to a local market around the corner and made a nice pasta dinner with salad with bread and butter.

I was running a bit late for the Jenny Han's P.S. I Still Love You Release party but I did attend. I was fine navigating the subway but once I got off the subway, I was walking toward the wrong direction. It took me awhile to find where Powerhouse Arena is located but I made it! I purchased two copies of P.S. I Still Love You, one for me and one for Elizabeth from Book YAbber and Novelty Podcast. I met up with Emma from Miss Print upstairs along with my OTSPSecretSister aka Nicole from The Book Bandit. Can I say that Nicole is the best secret sister ever? I always look forward to her cute notes and well picked out surprises. I was super excited to meet Emma and Nicole since I've been talking to them on Twitter for quite some while. I met up with Melissa from Novelty Podcast who introduced me to Britt from Please Feed the Bookworm.

Jenny Han's Release Party!

The release party was quite epic. There was a makeover area, a nail area, photo shoot area where you can "sit" in Lara Jean's room and of course the signing with Jenny Han. Since I arrived late, I received an orange ticket. Groups were called up by ticket color in order to minimize the craziness. When my ticket was called, I went to stand in the signing line. I finally got to meet Jenny and it was pretty epic! Jenny said I looked familiar and then remembered my name. It totally made my day. I was able to get a picture with Jenny after she signed my copy of To All the Boys I've Loved Before, P.S. I Still Love You and My True Love Gave to Me. I had her personalize and sign a copy of P.S. I Still Love You for my friend Elizabeth as a super early birthday present. Let's say that Elizabeth was super happy about this!

Thanks Melissa for taking this photo!

Melissa and I were able to get our photos taken at the photo booth. Of course I blinked in my copy of the photo and Melissa half blinked in her copy. Emma, Nicole and I ended up walking back to get the train and I ended up planning Wednesday's schedule with Selina before heading to bed.

Melissa and I at release party's photo booth

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Let's say that Selina and I woke up around 9:00-10:00 since the Exhibit Hall at the Javits wasn't opening until 1:00. This is the only day we were able to sleep in and we took advantage of it. Selina and I had breakfast at the hotel before walking to the Javits. Let's just say that our hotel is less than a 15 minute walk and I already heard stories about the shuttle running late. Some people I knew on Twitter tweeted that they were waiting 30-60 minutes for the shuttle. Selina checked in her bag before we picked up the Publisher's Weekly Show Daily. I didn't bring a bag because it was a half day and I planned to share Selina's bag. There were so many things in the Show Daily that I had to revamp my Wednesday schedule. We didn't line up until 12:50ish. We didn't plan to line up for Truthwitch was a plus for us since we were able to hit more booths instead of waiting in the crazy line.

The Exhibit Hall in the morning

I thought Wednesday was going to be my calmest day. I only had two things on my list that I had to do. I wanted to make it to the drop for Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales and I wanted to meet Mike Curato for an in-booth signing of Little Elliot, Big Family. Meeting Mike was a must for me since I missed the chance to meet him last year at BEA. Little did I know that there were tons of drops on Wednesday. I picked up galley drop schedules at most of the publishers that I was interested in. These schedules were major lifesavers. I believe I picked up the most ARCs this day and it also freed up my schedule for Thursday and Friday. I wanted to spend more time in the Autographing Area on Thursday and Friday so I definitely took advantage of the scheduled drops, primarily HarperCollins drops and maybe one Penguin drop.

I believe I went to two ticketed signings in the Autographing Area but I caught the end tails of both lines in order to maximize my time on the floor. I was fortunate to pick up a galley of The Copper Gauntlet. Britt and I were asking Scholastic if they had more copies in the back. I am surprised there wasn't a line this year. I remember I had to wait at least 20 minutes for The Iron Trial drop last year. I picked up a copy of Illuminae for my friend Molly from Cherry Blossoms & Maple Syrup before attending more of the scheduled events. I was fortunate enough to meet Margie from Bumbles and Fairy-Tales very briefly when I was waiting in the Tonight the Streets Are Ours drop line. I love her little bee Moo business cards. They are so adorable! I also met Dana from Dana Square in the same drop line was well. It's so nice to meet people in person.

Meeting Mike Curato was pretty awesome. I got a ticket at Macmillan 30 minutes prior to the signing and of course I got number three! Elizabeth and I were able to take a picture with Elliot and his big family when we waited in the Mike Curato line. It was such a cute way to get fans excited about the new book while we waited. I was super excited when Mike recognized me. I usually chat with him on Twitter and I am constantly retweeting many of his tweets. Little Elliot is super special to me not only because Little Elliot is an elephant but he reminds me of Olivia the pig and Olivia is super important to me during my high school years.

Elizabeth and I joined Little Elliot's family. Photo credit: Elizabeth and Devin

My calmest day of the week became pretty hectic and probably the busiest. I don't recall all the times of the drops but I know I went to at least 3-4 drops which had more than one book being dropped at the same time. I am pretty sure I left the Javits after the Eterna Files signing and ended up meeting Selina back at the hotel. Four hours of craziness was pretty productive. Selina and I made grilled cheese sandwiches and pasta salad before we headed to check out Carlo's Bake Shop in Times Square. After we got back to the hotel, we ended up eating dessert and started planning for Thursday.

This is how I felt on Wednesday. Thank you Selina for picking this up!