So…I ended up going to BookCon!
I originally had hoped to go for both BEA and BookCon but unfortunately because of work, I couldn’t go to BEA. *cries forever* However, I don’t work Saturday so last minute I decided to take my 10 year old bookworm daughter on a surprise trip to Chicago for BookCon. It was a blast, tiring, but a blast!
The Lines:
Holy moly, the lines were rough but it was worth it in the end.
By the time I finally got my tickets, waiting in the lines for hours, they opened the Showroom at 10 AM. You had to get there early to get in line for the special “autographing wrist bands”. By the time I made it to that section the only authors I really wanted to see the wristbands were gone.
If I had known, I would have waited until 10 AM to head down there because once you’re on the showroom floor, it didn’t really matter that I spent the last 2 hours in line. Haha, oh well. Now I know!
Showroom Floor
Jenny Han had sprinkled donuts she was handing out.
Who I met!
The first people I met were Nori @ReadWriteLove28 and Mishma @chasingfaes but I realized once I left I never took my photo with them! Super sad. They were wonderful.
I was SO EXCITED to meet Brittany @bbookrambles!
Annalisse @Hopeful125 and Gemina!!! Annalisse is basically my hero!
Me and Stefani @StefaniSloma. Stefani is just as cool in person as she is online!
Me and Sajda @sajdao! Sajda was so sweet I would have liked to have spent more time with her!
Holly @skizzles22 and Me. I only spent about 5 minutes with Holly but hope to see her again soon!
Melanie @melanielost. Melanie is such a great friend and I was so glad to finally meet her!
Authors!
I wasn’t able to meet as many authors as I would have liked (I mean, is there ever a limit?) but it was fun running into a few of them!
Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman
Jay had mentioned on Twitter that he had 3 copies of his Nevernight ARCs that he’d pass out at BookCon. I just happen to find the little grouping of people waiting for it. In order to make it fair, because there were at least 10 of us and 3 arcs, he did a game. We had 3 poses to pick from (hands on head, hands on hips, 1 hand on hip and 1 on head) and hold it. Amie faced away from us and on the count of three struck a pose. If you had the same pose as she did, you were in, if not, you were out! Unfortunately I was out on the first turn. Haha, oh well. BUT…the awesome thing is that I quickly pulled out my Illuminae ARC and hardcover and they were gracious enough to quickly sign it. They had a booth signing later in the day but I didn’t know if I’d still be there for it.
We ran into Victoria Aveyard
We found Susan Dennard! She really is the sweetest.
The only panel I made it to was Truth or Dare with Leigh Bardugo and Marissa Meyer. It was the main panel I wanted to hit so I was glad it was on the stage right on the showroom floor so there was plenty of room. Leigh is so cool and Marissa is adorable. They shared stuff about their books and even role played a few of the scenes, such as when Cress and Thorn first meet and the whole eye thing with Kaz. If you’ve read Six of Crows, you know what scene I mean. They also discussed that is Sturmhond and Thorne ever met they’d both try to kick each other off the ship.
Overall
The highlight of my trip, and the reason I went, was to meet my blogger friends who I talk to every day. My daughter was blown away by the fact that so many people came because they love books. It’s always so great to see the world of a little one expand into something greater.
I wish either I could have stayed for BookCon or you could have come to BEA so we could have met! Jay & Amie were awesome! I also met them on the floor at BEA and they made my day!! Along with meeting Sooz also around the floor randomly! Book conventions are totally about the friends and the authors more than the books for me, for sure!!
I wish we could have met too!!!!! </3
One day Pili! Yes I only went to see people, nothing else. Even though it was a short visit it was still great.
BEA/Bookcon were the craziest experiences. I met a lot of people, but spent a lot of time detoxing with author friends I kind of clung too … I think since it was my first one, I was quite overwhelmed and needed a lot of coffee breaks with just a few people.
I hope to go again when I know what to expect!
Your photos are fantastic. I wish I’d taken more!
I’m bummed that I missed you. It was so crazy and so many people. I hope to do BEA eventually. BookCon was fun but also so short! Glad you were able to find some breaks from the crazy.
It looks like you and your daughter had a wonderful time! I believe I will be going to BEA and BookCon next year so I’m really excited!
You are?? Awesome!!! BEA looks so amazing!
Hey Sarah!
Happy you had a great time meeting so many people :-)! Hopefully I can go soon-ish, too, and I would love to meet you some day :-)!
Kim <3
I hope we definitely meet one day Kim!!!
YAY for having a great time 😀 Thank you for sharing about it Sarah. <3 So glad you got to go to BookCon 🙂 And YAY for getting Gemina. <3 So awesome. But ahhh. BookCon seems so crazy, haha 🙂 And looong lines. Gosh. I would not have been able to do it I don't think 🙂
It was kinda crazy to be honest. If I hadn’t gone to see bloggers, I’m not sure I would have gone otherwise. It was fun, but fast and crazy. And yay Gemina. Literally the only book I wanted! 😀
Yay for getting to go to BookCon!!! I hope you can go to BEA next year bc it’s so much more low key and easier (I would think) to meet more bloggers 🙂 I’ve never been to BookCon, but the lines scare me. I’m okay to wait in lines, but the ones I always see in pictures look scary!! Glad you had fun!
It sounds like you and your daughter had a great time! I’m sure it was positive for her to see so many people coming together to love on books. And it’s fantastic how many bloggers you were able to see. I would worry that I wouldn’t be able to recognize anyone haha
I’m so glad that we finally got to meet! But next time it has to be for longer!! It looks like you had a blast and that makes me so happy <3
xoxo,
~Brittany @ Brittany’s Book Rambles.
It needs to be longer next time for sure! 🙂
It looks like you had an absolutely wonderful time – I’m so jealous you got the opportunity to go! It’s so great that you got to meet so many blogger friends. I feel like BEA and BookCon are like the international meetup point for all bloggers – so many went! It looks like your daughter had an amazing time, too. Even if she didn’t know who lots of the authors were, it looks super fun for her! I live in the UK, so I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to go *cries* but at least I can read everyone’s recaps! 😀
Denise | The Bibliolater
Hopefully one day you’ll be able to go OR maybe one day they’ll have one of these in the UK. I think this was only the 3rd BEA/BookCon here so hopefully publishers will realize how popular they are and start more in different countries. 🙂
BookCon looks amazing, like a disney for book nerds! All of the picture with the other bloggers were so cute!!! I’m so glad that you had fun!