Friday, BEA Day 2

Friday, BEA Day 2

I got a slightly earlier start on Friday. The first thing I had on my schedule was right at 9:00. One thing that does work out well for BEA is the time of the year the conference is scheduled for. Since it is right after Memorial Day, the traffic is not as bad as it would normally be. I wanted to make sure I got in on time.

I got on the ferry and across the river without incident, but after drinking a large ice tea on the way over, had to go to the restroom before heading to Javits. So, I stopped in. I had my suitcase and all and was hoping to use the handicapped stall so I wouldn’t leave my stuff unattended. It was occupied, though. I went into one of the other stalls first and all the sudden I heard someone talking. The voice got a bit louder and I realized it was a man. Then he started talking about how he went to the bathroom to “take a dump.” The problem? He was in the ladies room. In the handicapped stall. At least, I thought it was the ladies room. I came out of my stall, hurriedly washed my hands, but refused to dry, took my suitcase outside and looked real good and hard at the wall. Nope, I was in the ladies room. Some guy came into the ladies room to go number 2! I was confused as the men’s room is right next door, but there you have it.

So it was going to be that kind of day.

And he seemed not embarrassed at all. He never came out while I was in there and had I realized there was a man using the bathroom I would have waited, but I didn’t on all counts.

I realized Thursday at some point that I did not go up the right escalator. If I wanted to be closer to Little Brow, I had to go to the escalator farther down. I got there early and actually had to get in line and wait. The doors opened and as soon as I was up the escalator, I hightailed it to Little Brown looking for the elusive James Patterson book, hoping to please my boss. No dice. So, I ran the galley gamut.

My friend Terri asked for a copy of Amy Zhang’s book, so I got on line for the 9:30 galley drop. I was going to get in line for Unhinged to be signed, but I already own it and the line was ridiculous. Actually, pretty much anything happening at Abram’s was ridiculous with the constant line. But I digress. I had wanted to go to the Romance Write’s booth for their 9:00 signing, but I decided to get Terri her book.

It wasn’t a horrific wait. The show had just opened. I got in line and I was told that it was not an “official” line for the galley drop. I’m so tired of hearing that. Allowing people to form a line prevents the bedlam that occurs when the books are just flung out and everyone has the grab hands. I got her book and three others, one I wanted, one I didn’t and one I didn’t but after reading the summary kind of do. They were all thrust at me. I had no choice but to take them.

I was going to get in line for Becca Fitzpatrick Black Ice, but I got the galley and knew the line would be crazy, so I got in line for my little friend, Tara who is an 8 year old Star Wars freak. She built the Star Wars trench scene out of legos for a school competition and won first place. Anyway, the author was singing a sample of The Adventures of Luke Skywalker and I got it autographed for her.

I had nothing else immediately, so I decided to go find a line for the 11:00 galley drop at HarperCollins for Rooms by Lauren Oliver. It was another book for my friend Terri. I went back to the booth and loitered for a bit until I realized people had set up camp next to the booth. I got in line where I was maybe 15 people back. Of course, I didn’t realize what time it was and how much time I had on my hands, but a HarperCollins employee came by and told us we had to disperse and come back closer to 11:00.

I needed to drop off books anyway, so I went to the baggage check. Since they condensed all the baggage check into the one corner, they were just cramming the suitcases in. I had the unhappy coincidence of my suitcase being all the way against the window. The rows in between were so narrow, I couldn’t get through with my red McGraw bag. Space was so tight, only one person could be in a row at a time and forget about pulling it out, laying the suitcase down flat and lining the books up neatly.

I didn’t want to keep pulling out my ticket and putting it away, so I stuck it inside the plastic cover of my binder and set that with the bags I was carrying on other people’s luggage. I barely got my suitcase opened and kind of just dropped the books inside, closed up the suitcase, picked up my now empty bags and my binder and made to head out of the baggage check. It was then that I looked down and realized my baggage check ticket was not in my binder any longer. I freaked! I looked all over the floor. I mean I was just standing right there when I stuffed in the cover. I turned around and it was gone! I was trying to pick up luggage to see if it fell underneath, but could not find it anywhere.

I finally had to call over an attendant and ask her for a new number. She told me if they gave me a new number they would have to charge me another $3.00. What she did do, though, was take a ticket already turned in, write my ticket number on the plain back and give me the half of the ticket still on my suitcase. It all worked out in the end, but by the time I got it all resolved it was 10:50 and I was a couple aisles back in line now. Then another HarperCollins person came by and said that there are three books available, but due to the number of people in line, we could each only have one. And I knew a lot of people wanted Lauren Oliver’s book. By the time I got to the corner of the booth, I could see they still had copies, but not on the display. There was a guy holding the copies behind the counter while the other two books were on display. There were many copies of the other two and not so many of Lauren Oliver’s book. I did manage to get one, though, so yay!

Everywhere I went, though, I would ask, “What are you in line for?” and the reply would always be this is the “unofficial” line for Blah. Another thing I noticed which I forgot to remark upon when writing about Thursday is that I did not see a lot of paper event schedules for probably about half the day. I saw big displays of the booth and table signings, but not so much about scheduled galley drops. Like we have to keep it on the down low. It also seemed like last year the booths had books out all the time. Now this may just be my perception, but it seemed to me that the booths put out their big guns first thing, but once those books were gone, there would not be any more titles out until the next schedule galley drop. It could be how it always is, but last year I spent more time on autograph lines. This year, I was looking for the galleys in order to free up my time and not have to stand in the long signing lines. Can’t say for sure really.

I had nothing to do. I had planned on getting on Amanda Palmer’s line, but I read a summary of her book. And while I would love to support her in her work, I wasn’t really interested in a book about her kickstarter marketing strategy. I have never been very much interested in gathering autographs. If I get a book signed, it is because I am interested in reading the book, not because I met someone famous.

But anyway. With nothing better to do, I jumped on the Jennifer L Armentrout line at the Romance Writer’s booth. My friend Terri also asked for a copy of Wait For You, so I figured why not. Cora Carmack was signing at the same time and the line didn’t look too bad. The line was wrapped around, a U shape, in the aisle so I was right next to the booth, but about 20-30 people away. I can be very nosy. I’ll admit it. People were asking for copies of the books on the shelves and they were being given to them. They were not necessarily recent books and I’m not sure what the purpose of the books was in the first place. They weren’t there to be signed. It’s a mystery. Sorry wrong booth. Anyway, they had several copies of Jennifer Echols’s the Biggest Flirts in hard copy. The book just came out in paperback and is on my list. I just kept wishing and hoping as I stood on line that I would be able to get a copy.

By the time I got up to the booth again there was only one copy left. The woman who had been giving out the books just left the booth. The other attendant just got into a conversation with another exhibitor that entered the booth. Cora Carmack had just run out of books. She had a handler, but the handler was busy helping her with organizing some stuff. Anyway, I screwed up my courage, interrupted the handler and asked if the display copies were being given away. The handler had to go over and ask the other woman in conversation, but she came back with the last copy of the book for me and the sun was shining in my world. Then I turned around and ran smack dab into the middle of a rain cloud.

JLA had just run out of copies of Wait For You, which apparently to be my theme for the week. JLA will have books to give away and I will not be getting any. She was also signing left over copies of her Lux series, vols 1 and 2 combined, so I got that one signed anyway. It was all worth it though when she asked me if she saw me yesterday on line and I told her yes just after she ran out of that book as well.

The afternoon was going to be a mess. There were too many things conflicting with one another, too many places to be all at once but the first thing wasn’t until 1:45, so I scoped out galleys again. I stopped by Little Brown again looking for the James Patterson book, but this time I asked. To no avail. The book was gone and my boss was not going to be a happy camper. I did, however, get a galley drop schedule and found that they were giving away galleys of The Darkest Part of the Forest at 3:00 with two or three other books. As there was a table signing at 2:00, I decided to skip the table signing and just get the ARCs.

I picked up a signed copy of Compulsion by Martina Boone and headed to Little Brown where I encountered yet another un-line. I had a bit to wait, so this time I sat down. Ever the nosy neighbor, though, one of the girls behind me was saying she just picked up Sway by Kat Spears at the MacMillan booth and they had lots of copies. This one is a Cyreno de Bergerac retelling. Of course I had to have it. I asked the girl in front of me to watch my stuff so I could pick up a copy thinking the booth was only a couple aisles away, but no. It was like 8 or 9. So, I kind of hopped ran to the booth and back. When I got back, the line had moved and I was so happy to see that the people around me had moved my bags up for me. Bloggers really are some of the best kind of people.

After many people in front of me getting irritated with the people they perceived to be trying to cut in line and the books finally being set out, I got my copies and headed back to the autograph tables. I wanted to get Rachel Harris’s book, The Fine Art of Pretending. The line wasn’t too bad, but while I was waiting on line, one of the editors from Spencer Hill came by with tickets to hand out to ensure everyone on line was able to get a book. The girl in front of me asked her about the tickets for the next day, if they were going to be given out in advance. The editor said at 9:01, but to keep it quiet as they did not want a mob scene. After the editor left, I asked what book they were discussing and she told me The Return. A light from heaven shone down on my head!! I was where I need to be! So with that information tucked away in my head, I began to formulate plans for the next day.

Michelle Madow got in line behind me for Rachel’s book. This was another thing as I kept being where she was throughout the conference. I was really happy to find out that she is a fan girl. Plus she was handing out these really cute diamond shaped bling stickers to promote her book.

But enough with the chit chat. I got Rachel’s book and had her personalize it. She seemed really nice. I am kind of embarrassed because I didn’t realize she was the author of My Super Sweet 16th Century or the fact that she is one of the writers for YA Bound. I participate, or at least was, in Swoon Thursday every week. I actually could have introduced myself and tell her that I jump on the meme. I could have handed out a business card for crying out loud! I can be so oblivious at times.

I jumped from there to SourceBooks for Breathe Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally and back to the tables for Starry Night by Isabel Gillies. The end of the day seemed to be timed perfectly. I did a lot of walking though and quite a bit of standing. At 4pm, I had to go back across the conference floor to Bloomsbury for their galley drop of The Fire Artist by Daisy Whitney. After that I was spent.

I went to the Workman booth as there was a scotch tasting and we got to keep the glass. I had a shot and a half and thought that would be a good time to head home. As I walked the floor on my way to the escalator, I saw that some of the vendors were already packing up. I guess they weren’t planning on sticking around for BookCon.

The walk from Javits to the ferry terminal while technically not a long walk seems like it has increased exponentially to the number of books you’re lugging. I got on the ferry, made it across the river and realized I had never locked my car that morning. Upon arriving home, I was greeted with more joy.

On Thursday, I picked up a promotional post card about a book about cats and there was a little bag of catnip attached. I had the postcard up and hidden, but Egg had managed to find it, rip the pouch off the postcard and basically demolish the little sachet. I immediately took a bath and tried to go to bed where my legs throbbed and I finally had to get to sleep by putting myself out with Lord of the Rings.

Thursday, BEA Day 1

So I got attacked in the leg by a brass unicorn the night before night. I was actually turning on a wall lamp and it fell off the shelf and hit me. I woke up with a headache and a bruise. It was the kind of headache that could escalate into a migraine. The kind of headache you need Migraine Excedrin for. Two tablets. Although I am disturbed to have found out that the max dosage is two tablets in 24 hours. Oops! Well, it hasn’t hurt me yet, so why start caring now. I popped two, but took extras just in case.

So that is how the day started. I overslept. Well, with a massive headache, you could understand. I was mostly set to go, but had to add finishing touches. I had planned to be out the door by 6:30 factoring in traffic time, but I didn’t leave until 7:30. After stopping at Dunkin Donuts for an ice tea and muffin (my morning ritual throughout the con) I headed in.

I did indeed hit a massive amount of traffic in Secaucus…again. You think I would learn. But I still couldn’t get up early. The ferry ride was uneventful. I decided to forgo the parking lot attempts at the terminal and went straight for the garage. I figured it would be smarter to buy 10 trip tickets because I could use them for Comic Con in October, so when I asked how long they were good for, I was told two months. Round trip please. There was no breeze snatching my ticket out of my hand and flinging it into the river. No mishaps at all for the ride over…for once.

I checked my luggage. BTW, there is now just one baggage check in the front right corner by the registration desks. They made the space bigger, but that just means it was a nightmare to try to find and actually get to your suitcase. Neither here nor there. There was no line to go up the escalator as the floor had already opened and I was late.

After having the spent the previous evening adding to my giveaway spreadsheet and printing out the floor map with sticky colored arrows saying you want to go here, I forgot to actually write the name of the booth so I had a plan. More importantly, I had forgotten to check what booths had the big books so I could look out for them first. I went in by registration which was a rookie move and I should have learned after last year, but it was the first escalator I saw, so it was a million miles away from Random House, Simon and Schuster, Hatchette, Disney, Little Brown. So, I got Penguin, MacMillan, Scholastic and HarperCollins first. I also found Source Books and Bloomsbury before I got to the other side of the floor.

Now keep in mind I had spreadsheets, I had a time table that was blocked off in 30 minute, but sometimes 15 minute increments so I could see where there was overlapping and so I could see easier when A finished what could I reasonably get to get to next. I had a spreadsheet of the giveaways including author, title, publisher and booth, but no times. I had to pick up the sheets for those at the booths. I had holes punched in the spreadsheets. I had the spreadsheets inserted in a protective sleeve. Everything was broken down by day. It was all in a three ring binder with extra pages for things I picked up at the show. I even brought my iPad because I could pull up the app on my iPad and see my event schedule if need be. I did not realize I was getting sent push notifications with sometimes important information until I was home the first night. Also, I will just say here and now that I probably didn’t look at that binder until around 1pm. So, I really didn’t know where the heck I was going.

I had a 10:00 signing at Sourcebooks, but along the way, I explored a bit and found Houghton Mifflin. I knew they were going to be giving away copies of Dearest by Alethea Kontis, so I just asked when they would be putting them out and the nice lady went into the wall and pulled out a copy for me. Awesome!!!

After Sourcebooks, I headed straight for Harlequin. I did not want to miss the YA giveaway. There were five books being signed. It was a pretty long line, but I expected it. My boss had a question about a document that had to be approved, so I actually had to call her while I was on line. Julie Kagawa also came out and was chatting to some people in line and posing for photo ops. When she walked by me, I waved and smiled and she waved back, so that was my squee moment.

The rest of the wait was uneventful. I wanted four of the 5 books, but I only wanted two photos. Julie was first, so I took her picture. Correction. I tried to take her picture. When I pulled up my camera, it was stuck on video mode. Ever since I upgraded to the new operating system something like this will happen where I don’t know how to make it work and this was not the time to have it not work. It was also at this moment that I realized my headache was not going away. Finally after standing there saying it no worky, the person behind me showed me that I just had to swipe the screen to change from video to phone. Oh for the love of all that is holy. Picture taken, I moved along, probably much to Julie’s relief. Next up was Adi Alsaid signing let’s get lost who I ended up blubbering to about how much my head was hurting aaand moving on. Another relieved victim, I mean author, to see me go. Next up was JLA. And nothing was going to be easy. She was signing copies of Stone Cold Touch and had run out perhaps a couple of people in front of me. But here is a consolation prize of these signed postcards! (Actually the post cards are nice and I got the book at Blogger Con, so it wasn’t that big a deal.) Last up was Alexandra Adornetto signing Ghost House. I was out of the line and given a tote bag.

As it turns out, I wasn’t at the autographing tables much. I was picking up the galleys and there were a lot of giveaways that were also books being signed. It is awesome to meet the author, but there isn’t really time to chat and form any kind of lasting friendship, so I figured if I got the galley, I would dispense with the autographing and free up some time for some other things on my list. Harlequin was the big one for Thursday.

I did want to get in line for Billy Idol, but the celebrity lines are always packed and I got off the Harlequin line too close to the start of his signing, so I skipped it. Instead, I headed over the Melissa Marr which would prove to be my second thwarting of the day. I was standing in line a while when a volunteer came by counting heads. She stopped the line two people in front of me. She said we might still be able to get a book, but there was no guarantee. I figured if I was like 10 back I’d leave, but not two because you just never know. Eventually we get moved up and the “start of the line” board was handed to someone behind me so I figure I’m in, but as we are crossing over the aisle to head for the chute, a more important volunteer, and apparently one better at counting told the lot of us, or the majority anyway, that they were out of books. So that was a bust. I wanted a copy and so did my friend Terri.

By this time I really need to take more Excedrin as the headache is not going away, but I realized since I missed Melissa Marr I could catch the signing at Spencer Hill. They were giving away a book called I Wish by Elizabeth Langston about a girl who found a genie and had to make a wish a day for a month.

Jane Lynch was also signing at that time, but I didn’t even look for her. I had passed the Neil Patrick Harris line earlier that was a beast and also the BJ Novak line which I couldn’t touch with a hundred foot pole. I have come to the realization that we love our celebrity signings and will stand in line for a long time in order to get it. My head hurt too much for that.

I got aspirin, had my sandwich, dumped books and headed back in. The next thing I had scheduled was Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini. Another popular line. I was really excited for this book as well. The author was really nice, but she asked that question that I hope never to be asked again. “Have you read any of my books?” I’d like to ask “Have you seen the size of my TBR piles?” I have read Goddess and loved it. I have the second and third books but haven’t gotten to them, so when she asked the question, I just blanked. I said yes, that I had read the Greek books and loved them and was really looking forward to this one. I mean, come on!! Could I not have given her a title of one of her books so I didn’t sound like a total pratt?

When I got my book, I noticed no one was in the Rebecca Serle line for Famous in Love which was the next table over so I jumped in that line. I asked her to personalize it for me, but as her arm was in a sling, her right arm, she was just stamping the books with a nice big R. She was very apologetic when there was no need to be and I liked her immediately. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the headache, the lack of sleep or maybe just the overall sensory overload, I forgot to ask her what she did to her arm or to wish her health, but I thought it as I moved to the next table over.

Melissa de la Cruz was signing copies of the Ring and the Crown. She was also very nice, but also asked if I had read her books. Here I could not lie. I told her no, but I have been wanting to and I thought this would be a good book to jump on with. I actually ended up buying books one and two of her Witches of East End series when I got book three at BEA, but have yet to read them.

To round out the day, I went back to MacMillan for a Craft Beer tasting where they were also promoting the book The Craft Beer Revolution. It was Brooklyn Brewery which is one of my favorite three labels. Perhaps not the wisest choice to end the day considering I had now downed four Migraine Excedrin and still had a headache, but I just couldn’t pass it up. There were lots of cocktail parties going on, but after the one sample, I knew I just had to get home.

My suitcase was considerably heavier coming back than going in. I couldn’t even put the suitcase in my car without emptying half of it out into totes. But no real issues. I hit traffic as I expected. Got home, had some pizza, took a long hot bath to soak and cranked up both the air conditioner and the fan. Sometimes that is the only way for me to get rid of the sinus headache. And as I didn’t have any more organizing to do other than figure out my first move for the morrow, I was able to fall asleep by midnight, but only after crossing off the titles I already picked up and crossing them out on the autographing time table as well.

In an amusing, little aside, I checked my iPad when I went to bed and saw that I had gotten push notifications. I never pulled it out all day and that is when I saw the announcement that James Patterson was being handed out at 10am at Little Brown. So, I missed it and now I have to tell my boss. I asked the next day and they said they were all out. I kept checking throughout the weekend just to make sure though. Sometimes you never know.