Home From BEA & BBC- The Top Ten Things That I Learned

I am sorry that I didn’t post sooner but we’ve only been home for a little bit. I had to rush to the potty, eat, look at all my wonderful books, bookmarks, totes and other goodies, download the pictures that we took, resize them, etc. You get the idea right?

I wanted to blog if only a short blog about how wonderful a time we had. This was my first year at both BEA and BBC but is for sure won’t be my last. My husband came along which made it even better. He blogs at TradingCardsRUS, he’s not a book blogger (duh) but he found the workshops helpful anyway.

Instead of writing a huge post about our time I figured since I am pooped and need to look at my goodies and drool some more I would do a list of what I learned. Ready?

The Top Ten Things That I Learned at My First BEA and BBC

10. Your feet will hurt no matter what kind of shoes you wear. Javits is pretty huge and at BEA you are walking and carrying. Yes, everyone warns you of this but of course I don’t listen!

9.  LISTEN to what your blogger friends try to tell you.  PAY the damn $3.00 to check your case and stash your new books instead of carrying FOUR bags full.  Well hubster carried two but still.  Why did I not listen???? 

8. Pick up the book catalogs.  This may be a no brainer but I am still fairly new to book blogging and I didn’t realize until the BBC today that those catalogs tell us what is coming out from the publishing house.  (Yes, laugh at me, it was a pretty large dork moment and I don’t know what I was thinking.)

7. There is no reason to be afraid to approach publishers.  They are really nice people and they like us, they really like us!
I read about contacting publishers, requesting ARC’s, asking questions, etc but I never had the nerve.  Being new I felt like they would think I was being pushy and rude and I sure don’t want to come off that way.  I let them contact me and they did but now I am not afraid to contact them.  I NEED THOSE CATALOGS.

6.  People really do walk up to you and hand you free books!

Just a small sampling

WOW

5.  Standing in line is not so bad.
People are really friendly and more than willing to chit chat.  I only wish I were better in social situations because I tend to clam up and hide because I don’t know what to say.

4.  Author Speed Dating is fun.
The Book Bloggers Con had a Author Speed Dating.  I had no clue what it was before we went.  I thought it would be an author panel and they would take questions.  Nope, you sat at a table and left a seat open for an author and they came to us!  They talked about their book and really were interested in getting to know us as well.  Every fifteen minutes or so they swapped out, one author left, another came!  It was a lot of fun.  I am amazed at how easy to talk to they are. 

3.  There is so much to learn and so many people who are willing to help you learn it.
I know I have a lot to learn but even if you have been blogging about books and reviewing for years there is always something new to learn about.  Bloggers are very helpful and willing to help as are the publishers which I mentioned before and learned today.  I felt very welcome and like I belong in the book blogging world even though I make mistakes and really don’t have a niche!

2.  Sandra Brannan is not only a great author she just may be my new best friend!
She was nice enough to sign her book Lot’s Return to Sodom for me and she was so much fun at the speed dating.  She is a very down to earth, funny person and someone that I would love to get to know better.

Line-Up (Like the criminals do.  Sandra’s idea LOL)

Buds now!  (Why can’t I ever look decent in pics?  blah)

1. You get to meet and talk to YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR!!!!

IT’S HER!!!  I look like crap but Val McDermid looks GREAT!

OMG, I was planning on getting an autograph copy from Val McDermid even if I had to stand in line on my head for hours but NEVER, NEVER did I think when I walked up the aisle where her publisher was that she would be standing there!!  Standing there, no one around just waiting for me!  (hush, in my mind, in my world she was waiting for me.  Don’t burst my bubble…thank you)

She was so nice, so down to earth.  She didn’t laugh at me when I saw her and gushed…”OMG, Can I tell you I love you?”  Geesh, how embarrassing now that I think about it.  She talked about her books with us, about Dr. Tony Hill, about the series Wire in the Blood AND she remembered me when we stood in line to get her book signed. 

That my friends was the highlight of my day!  I enjoyed every bit of both BEA and BBC but getting to truly meet my #1 favorite author was unbelievable.  I am still saying WOW.

More to come with swag pics, etc but I have to oogle my goodies again for awhile.  Yes, this turned out to be a little bit more than a short blog post but come on, you know you wanted to know.  Didn’t you?

Book Expo America, Book Bloggers Convention, Val McDermid, Sandra Brannan, Blogging, Books

Book Expo and Book Bloggers Con

Woo Hoo, I am so excited!  I just completed my registration for the BookExpo and the Book Bloggers Con! I can’t believe that I am actually going and I can’t wait.  Hubster is coming along with me so it will be nice couple time too.  
It will be fun to meet other bloggers, those that I know and those that I don’t know and the publishers new and old.  We also got tickets to the Author Breakfast for Thursday the 26th.  I am looking forward to that.  I am looking forward to everything!  It is helpful that we are only about thirty minutes from NYC.  Still, we will have to leave bright and early to beat traffic and not miss a thing!
Let me know if you will be there, maybe we will run into each other.  I’ll be the one with the wide eyes and the stupid smile on my face looking lost!