
BEA - Day One (Tuesday) | Alexia's Books and Such: BEA - Day One (Tuesday)

“Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.” ~ Mark Twain

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

BEA - Day One (Tuesday)


I survived the first day of BEA 2011!

Exhausted, starving, and in pain, but I survived! And what a day it was! My plan was to get there early enough to snag some tickets for the autographings, but I forgot about the traffic on 495, so made it to the ferry much later than planned. By the time I arrived, all but one of the authors I wanted were sold out. That was the first of many disappointments for the day.

Much to my relief, getting into the exhibit floor was orderly and calm. No pushing or shoving or being trampled like the horror stories I heard last year. As I made my way to my first stop, I swung by several booths. Apparently, publishers put out all the really good stuff first thing in the morning. Huge piles of ARCs just sitting there for the taking, and publishers handing out tote bags like there was no tomorrow! Book lovers heaven!

My first stop was the Romance Writers of America booth, to get autographed books from Jana Oliver and Jeri Smith-Ready. I was number six in line! Woot! I adore Jeri and will read anything she writes, and have heard nothing but good things about Jana!

Next stop was the autographing chutes, where I spent most of my day. Seems like the crowds were heavier this year, as almost every line I waited in was HUGE. Huge as in wrapped around and down and never-ending. So huge, that I had to make gut-wrenching decisions on who to skip as no way could I make it to them all. Dear Authors, please do not chat with the fans when there are huge lines, but keep the freaking line moving! Where are the publicists? Isn't it their job to keep things moving? Grrrr!

Okay. Deep breath. I'm calmer now....

Ran from huge line in the autographing area to the Harlequin booth for their paranormal signings. Okay, I walked briskly since I can't run, whatever...  :p Another huge line. For some reason, they decided to have one line for over a half dozen authors, so you can imagine how long that line was! You would think they would know better as their signings were chaos last year, but guess not.

So I finally get up within sight of the authors, only to hear one of the publicists announce that they are ALL OUT OF BOOKS! Excuse me? Seeing the huge line, don't you think one of you could have taken a count of remaining copies, then a headcount of fans and let us know so we didn't waste our time standing there for nothing? Not even an apology, just sorry guys you're SOL. I am NOT a big fan of Harlequin right now... They didn't even offer to mail us copies to make up for waiting so long for nothing. :(

Having learned my lesson, I decided to get to my next autographing early. Made it to Tahereh Mafi's autographing 15 minutes early! Very proud of myself....until they closed the line 7 minutes after she started signing. Someone took a headcount and realized they hadn't brought enough books with them. WHAT? Denied again! Somehow, I must have generated some bad book karma, as I'm beginning to feel like the book gods are out to get me.

Am exhausted by now, so go to my first panel of the day: the YA Book Buzz. Standing room only, and I snagged one of the last seats. Felt sooooo good to finally sit down! The host was awesome. The editors were all awesome. The books sounded super awesome. But I had to leave during the Q&A period as I had to go to the bathroom really, really bad. Came back in time for the ending, but was disappointed that they weren't handing out ARCs the way they did for the Editor's Buzz panel for adult books. What? YA fans have to hunt down the ARCs? Denied again! I'm sensing a theme here.... *paranoia sets in*

Head to the Penguin booth, where apparently they know how to present an author signing. Kudos to Penguin! They had a very nice lady at the end of the humongous line, handing out tickets to ensure that they had enough books for everyone. And Richelle Mead couldn't have been nicer! She posed for pictures and made polite chit chat, but kept her line moving. And BTW....what a gorgeous woman!

Winding down, I made it to a few more signings before calling it quits. BTW, guess who ran out of books? Leigh Fallon, one of the YA Book Buzz authors. Hello? Your book is being hyped and the publisher doesn't make sure there are enough copies? Major fail!

Freed my suitcase from the suitcase corral, repacked, then limped my way to the ferry for the journey home. Very glad that I had worn my knee brace today, as all that standing around is a killer! I had knee surgery last November and my knee is still wonky. Iced it as soon as I got home, so I should be fine for another round of BEA tomorrow!

Totally forgot I had my camera with me, so didn't take any pictures. Will try to take some tomorrow. I did tweet throughout the day, both intentionally and unintentionally. I sent a few pocket tweets, as I didn't know I shouldn't put the Blackberry in my front pocket, then sit down! Oops! Lesson learned. ;)

****﻿

I adore tote bags, and managed to snap up﻿ 10 altogether. These are my favorites so far...Capstone, Chronicle, and netGalley. The netGalley one is too cute, as it's a mini bag about big enough for a roll of lifesavers!



And here are the books I brought home....tried to be good, but I got a little carried away *blush*

Am embarrassed now that I was complaining about all the books I didn't get, as I didn't realize I had 27 titles. And yes, there are two copies of Trial by Fire. I stood in line again in order to get that second copy, after everyone else had their copy, so no yelling that I have two! Will do a special BEA edition IMM this weekend, but I'm too tired right now to list them all. 

As tired and grumpy as I am, I am still incredibly grateful that I have the opportunity to attend BEA! I know that they don't have to admit book bloggers, so am very, very happy that the publishing world allows us to attend their trade show.

Sorry this is so long....I'll try to do more pictures, less talk tomorrow.  :)



8 comments:

  1. Oh jealous, I want Glow, and I didn't know Brightly Woven was out in paperback. The Netgalley tote is adorable! :)

    As for your experience, I'm sorry that there were so many let downs, and hopefully your feet and your author signings will have a better day tomorrow. Looking forward to reading more updates!

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  2. I hope you have more fun tomorrow!

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  3. Wow, that sounds like quite an adventure. Sorry you had some disappointments, but what a gorgeous stack of lovely books you got!! Glow!! The Taker!! Two that I'm definitely dying for!
    If it's any comfort, after just finishing Girl in the Steel Corset, I'm not very happy with Harlequin right now either. Guess they disappointed us both today! :

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  4. Carried away doesn't even begin to cover it. What a great selection of books. I'm so jealous that you have such a wonderful event - how I'd love to see something similar here in the UK.

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  5. That SUCKS that you waited so many times and there wasn't enough books! But it looks like you still got a buttload of amazing ones (The Scorpio Races!!!!!!!!!) so that's good! Still sounds like a long day though.
    And yes, Richelle is beautiful isn't she?

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  6. I am impressed with all the posts you put up from BEA! I am going to do mine throughout this next week... I was too tired to post most nights :)

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  7. I so HAVE TO GO next year!

    Living it all via you :)

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  8. Cool!! i wish i could have been there, maybe next year...

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