BookCon 2026

I haven't' blogged in such a long time. I know the book community has shifted the over the years but I am excited to say that I will be attending BookCon this month in NYC! I can't wait for this awesome event despite BookExpo not being around anymore. I am going more for the vibes compared having a set schedule to meet a bunch of authors or to obtain a bunch of books or galleys. 

BookCon is a book lover's dream! BookCon is two-day convention where storytelling and pop culture collide. There are panels, author signings, an indie alley, and a show room with publishing companies and vendors selling bookish things. There are book swaps, a place to meet new people and also space to reunite with old friends, book related demonstrations, etc. and more! The con is a space for folks to celebrate their love for books and reading. BookCon will take place a the Javits Center in Hudson Yards in NYC.

It's going to be a shift from late May to having the con in April but I am excited to visit NYC again. I haven't been there since 2017ish and I can't wait to go back. BookCon sold out fast both rounds when it was on sale and no surprise. After the pandemic, it seems like a lot of bookish cons have popped up and have become extremely popular. I am fortunate that my friend Ellie was able to snag us tickets for BookCon in December for both Saturday and Sunday. 

The whole reservations situation to select author signings and panels that required reservations was pretty chaotic. Folks were given a random number in the queue and were allowed to select up to 4 signings and 2 panels per day for general admission. But we all found out that you can only book things if you have a good queue number. Many people were not able to book reservations because by the time they got into website for their turn, nothing was left over. Some people were fortunate to grab at least 1-2 things if they were not in front of the line. 

I get that people mention that there are always standby lines for things for no reservations but you definitely need to queue up at least an hour beforehand for a panel or signing to hopefully get in. There will be standby lines for panels and signings that have reservations but definitely line up for those super early. I believe for panels and signings with reservations, you need to hop into the panel line at least 15 minutes before the start of the panel or you will forfeit your spot even though you have a reservation. And for the author signing, you need to be in line for the reserved signing at least 30 minutes before the start of the signing. BookCon will pull people from the standby line if there are spots available.

BookCon Plans

Personally I am going to wing most of the con since I don't want my experience to be mainly line con. I want to do things unless I know I definitely can get into something I really want to attend. Only time will tell. I plan to spend a good chunk of the time on the show floor checking out vendors, indie authors, publishers, etc. I want to learn about a lot of upcoming titles for the rest of the year and maybe discover some artists and authors and that I don't know about. I am excited about some vendors that I have been following for years. Oddment and Tweak, Sunset Road Co., The Colorful Geek and Laserbrain Patch Co. will all be at BookCon and I am so excited to visit their booths.

I can say that there are some authors I hope to see during the con but we'll see if I can even make their signing line in time before the lines are closed. Some of the authors I hope I get to see include Dustin Thao and Adalyn Grace.

I was not successful in obtaining a reservation for Saturday's Adalyn Grace ARC signing of The Wretched Divine but hopefully I can make it to one of her other signings during the con. I know she has a pre-panel signing on Sunday that has a standby line and she has another one at the Steamy Lit booth on the show floor.

For indie authors, I am definitely swinging by Olivia Boothe's and K.Sinko's tables. I was able to read The Frost in the Flame before publication date and BookCon exclusives of the book will be available at Olivia's table. I pre-ordered that edition for pickup and also pre-ordered several of K.Sinko's titles.

For panels, I hope I get lucky to get into Classic Retellings with a Modern Twist on Saturday morning. The show floor opens at 10:00 am and this panel starts at 11:00 am so not sure how early I can queue up to get into the line for the panel if I want to hit the show floor first thing in the morning. The Classic Retellings panel feature Kalynn Bayron, Ryan Douglass, Jesmeen Kaur Deo, Elizabeth Lim, and Danielle Paige. The panel will be moderated by Aurora Dominguez. There will be a post-panel signing as well. The panel I really want to attend is Then/Now: The Evolution of Your Career Since That 1st Book with Meg Cabot, Melissa de La Cruz, Kami Garcia, Ann M. Martin, and moderator Libba Bray. I am not sure if I will be able to get into the panel since this one of the Main Stage panels with no reservations and I feel like this panel is going to be hard to get into unless I queue up over an hour early for.

On Sunday, I plan to check out the show floor in the morning and relax a bit until the afternoon. So many good things are happening in a short period of time and Sunday is the shorter day for the con. One of Adalyn's signings is at noon so we'll see how long the line is for that signing since there are no reservations. I got lucky to snag a reservation to meet Julie Murphy, who will be signing ARCs of The Undergrads: Student Union at the Macmillan booth. So I am definitely going to that signing in the afternoon.

Both days have a fore-edge painting demonstration by Gillisi Art (@gillisiart) and if I have time, I might check one of the demonstrations out. There is a Page to Screen panel at the end of the day that I was able to secure a reservation that sounds very intriguing. Authors Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven), Robinne Lee (The Idea of You), May Cobb (The Hunting Wives), Andy Weir (Project Hail Mary) will discuss their books and the movie and TV adaptations.

If for some chance I cannot get into the Page to Screen panel, I plan to check out Into the World of Romantasy: Exploring the Marriage Between Genres. Stacia Stark, Elise Kova, and Adalyn Grace will discsus why the pairing of romance and fantasy works so well and how they balance the elements integral to each genre. The panel will be moderated by John Jacobson.

Are you planning to attend BookCon? Who will I see in a couple of weeks?

BookExpo 2017: Where to Find Me

BookExpo is around the corner and I still keep calling it BEA. Maybe it's because it's been BEA for many years and it's easier to say. For those who plan to be in New York during the last week of May going into the first week of June, I hope I can meet you somewhere at the Javits Center or somewhere in New York City for a bite to eat or for a coffee break. Below you can find a outline of some of the places I may be at during the week. I'm only planning to stay in the city from Wednesday, May 31 to Friday, June 2. Due to my previous trip in May, MISTI-Con, I can't stay in the city too long.

Check out some of my BookExpo tips from a previous BEA.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

I will be taking the Amtrak from South Station located in Boston late morning to arrive at Penn Station in NYC mid-afternoon. My friend Selina and I will be checking into out Airbnb before venturing the city. Most likely we will pick up our badges that day but we don't mind picking them early Thursday morning. This year the floor is not open until Thursday.

I am not sure what we have planned but most likely a place to eat and maybe I can see if she wants to visit places like Books of Wonder, The Strand or maybe even stopping by the Jefferson Market Library for BlogBound Con.

Thursday, June 1, 2017  

Selina and I plan to wake up early this day but we'll see how things go. I am hoping that I can meet Katherine Applegate this year since I was not able to meet her in 2015. Her upcoming novel, Wishtree, is definitely on my TBR list. Obtaining All the Way to Havana by Margarita Engle and Mike Curato is a must! Not only have I heard great things about the book but I love anything Mike Curato writes or illustrates! I would love to meet Alice Hoffman when she signs the prequel to Practical Magic called The Rules of Magic. The Twelve-Mile Straight by Eleanor Henderson sounds like a fantastic novel and I would love to meet the author. Amy Tan will be signing Where The Past Begins samplers at the end of the day and I definitely want to meet her. I have been reading her books since 2001 and she's one of the authors that I want to meet in my lifetime. Meg Kassel will be signing her book Black Bird of the Gallows. The book has been on my TBR for awhile and I would love to meet Meg! The last thing on my list is to hopefully obtain a copy of

So the above are musts but there are a couple other things you might find me doing during the day depending on timing. I would love to obtain a galley of Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire, Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust and seeing Adam Silvera again when he is signing They Both Die at the End. I've met Lauren Oliver a couple of times and she's super nice. She is signing Ringer, which is the next book in the Replica series. Of course it would be nice to meet Rossella Rago who wrote the cookbook, Cooking with Nonna. There are also a few other cookbooks being highlighted on Thursday afternoon which I would love to chat with publicists about.

Friday, June 2, 2017

At the start of the day at 9:30, Celeste Ng will be signing Little Fires Everywhere. I have a feeling the line will be long for this one but it doesn't hurt to try to see if I can meet Celeste. Marie Lu will be signing Warcross around 11:00 and I have a feeling that the line will be super long but I will try my chances in trying to meet her. Jan Brett is signing The Mermaid and hopefully I will be lucky in the morning to obtain a ticket for this signing. I MUST obtain MarcyKate Connolly's upcoming novel, Shadow Weaver! I will have to make sure that I make this a priority and I plan to line up very early to make sure I get to say hi to MarcyKate again. Kerri Maniscalco is someone who I have been dying to meet ever since I heard about Stalking Jack the Ripper. Although I was lucky to get sent a copy of Hunting Prince Dracula, I would love to finally meet the lovely Kerri. I am excited that she will be visiting the Boston area in the fall for the Boston Teen Author Festival. To end the day, I would love to see if I can score a copy of Julie Dao's debut novel, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns and to meet Julie. There is much buzz about this novel so we'll see how crazy it gets for the signing. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert during a galley drop! This novel has been hyped a lot online and the synopsis sounds fantastic. I probably won't be able to get Hazelwood because I need to leave the Javits by 3:45.

Some of the other things I would like to do but aren't musts include meeting Kamilla Benko who wrote The Whisper in the Stone. The middle grade novel sounds like a fantastic read. Amanda Foody who wrote Daughter of the Burning City would be awesome to meet but I know Harlequin does the multi-author signings and it requires at least a 1.5 hour line up before meeting authors. Anna-Marie McLemore will be signing her upcoming book, Wild Beauty, which sounds fabulous!

Selina and I are leaving NYC around 4:45ish from Penn Station. This day will be a long one since we will be waking up early in the morning for BookExpo and we will be leaving the Javits early enough to head to Penn Station in order to get some food before departing to Boston. Estimated arrival time at South Station is a little bit after 9:00.

Are you going to BookExpo? If so, what are you excited for? Are there certain authors you hope to meet and titles you want to check out? Follow me on social media via the has tag #NicoleAtBookExpo.