mood: disbelieving
pandora/ipod: "oh, what a night" by the dellsYes, there is a TEN giveaway in the post. At the end. :D
How can I sum up Book Expo America 2012 in just one word?
Let me start by saying that this is my second go round with BEA. I was there last year, in no official capacity, but as a soon to be published debut author and avid book fan, stumbling through signing queues, book displays and a Starbucks line that looked as if the baristas were giving away free bars of gold.
It was fun times - more of a meet up with writer friends than trade convention - and I wandered starry eyed, thinking perhaps, maybe next year, I'd get a signing of my own.
Cut to 2012.
I had my first ever signing at BEA last week. I was nervous. I thought - maybe 40 fan? 50 if I'm lucky? That would have been totally respectable, and not even close to my nightmare of having five people in line, three of whom don't know what they're lined up for.
But I was truly not prepared, not even in my wildest dreams, for the turn out.
For those of you who were cut of in line, I'm SO sorry. If it had been up to me, I'd have stayed there as long as was necessary to sign ALL THE THINGS. Clearly no one thought we'd get that kind of crowd, so thank you all. You have no idea how much that means to me.
But the TEN signing wasn't the only event that day, and I had to recover and head to the Meet the Apocalypsies reception almost immediately.
Can you believe that line up? We talked with fans and bloggers, and signed "dance cards" with all our book covers on them. It was amazing. I can take no credit for it since I was just a spectator who showed up when requested. But the ladies of the Apocalypsies who organized the event deserve a HUGE squishy thank you hug for the awesome!
Yeah, like my day ended there. Next up was Teen Author Carnival 2012! I moderated two panels: Is This The Real Life Or Is This Fantasy? and Kick Ass Characters. My panelists were awesome - and I tried desperately not to completely fan girl Barry Lyga - and we did a signing/meet and greet with fans afterward. Amazing. Exhausting and amazing.
Kick Ass Characters panel with Barry Lyga, Jeri Smith-Ready, Jackson Pearce, Eliot Schrefer,
Courtney Allison Moulton, Lauren Oliver, Siobhan Vivian, Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas
Posing with fans and bloggers
Yeah, like my night ended there. Appropriately, a group of us ended up at a werewolf-themed bar in the west village. Yes, it was jut as awesome as this picture shows.
Wednesday continued the insanity. First up, there was the Books of Wonder signing:
You'll recognize most of these names as former members of the YARebels. Oh, and Holly Black. Yes, THE Holly Black. Trust me, it was surreal.
Once again, this was not the end of my evening. There was a certain rooftop blogger/author party hosted my Andye from Reading Teen, Liza Wiemer and the West Brothers, Jeffery and Jeremy. The view was exquisite: a riverside building down near Wall Street with panoramas of the river, the Statue of Liberty and the contruction at One World Trade Center. Oh, and all the awesome people. :D
With Andye from Reading Teen
With Emilia Plater-Zyberk and Kody Keplinger
And on Thursday, I rested. Well, sort of. Scott Tracey and perved around MoMA all afternoon, then I huge out with some old buddies. A perfect nightcap to my trip!
Team Ginger Clark: Scott Tracey and me
So that's it.
Wait, what? Oh, you want a free signed copy of TEN, you say?
Heh heh heh.
So for those of you who got a numbered bookmark, all 150ish of you, I'll be pulling the winner in about 10 seconds. Random number generator, blah blah blah.
If you hold the winner ticket, take a photo and EMAIL IT TO ME. You have 72 hours to claim your prize or I'll pull a new winner. Capito? Fantastico!
Here were go. The winner is....
56
72 hours, starts....NOW!
wow. You had some really packed days! But they seemed fun. By the way, It was nice meeting you! Congrats to whoever got 56. They are mad lucky. =)
ReplyDeleteLovely meeting you as well! We'll see if #56 claims their prize, otherwise, another drawing!
DeleteLOL, that's my friend Jessica in one of your blogger pics. The one with the Team something shirt (cutoff so I can't tell). Regardless, it was great meeting you and getting a book signed. Oh, and, Holly Black. Yeah, she's a goddess. I am pretty confident I've read every novel, short story, graphic novel, etc that she's published. So, yeah, you could say I was a fan. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAfter I wrote my first book - adult chick lit - and was rejected by every agent under the sun, one or two of them took pity on me and suggested that my book sounded more like "YA." I had no idea what "YA" was, so I went to the bookstore and the first book I picked up was TITHE. I loved it and thought, "You know? It kinda does sound like my writing style."
DeleteBoom. That's all it took.
As someone who spent a lot of time with you at last year's BEA may I just say how sad I am that I had to cancel last minute, and how happy I am for you that your nightmares did not come true. : )
ReplyDeleteG.C.
I was wondering why I didn't see you!!!! :(
DeleteSounds like you had an awesome time! I'm gonna try and go there next year. I am only across the lake from New York so it wouldn't take long to drive there.
ReplyDeleteI'd LOVE a copy of TEN! It sounds so amazing! I will most definitely be getting it, that's for sure. Congrats to whoever does get that copy!
It's total insanity, in a good way.
DeleteUm, BEA. Not TEN. Although I suppose TEN is kind of insane too...
Gretchen, it was so incredibly awesome to meet you at the roof top party! I'm sooo glad we had a chance to chat about TEN and writing and opera singing. I received unlucky number 38 :).
ReplyDelete~ Jen @ A Book and a Latte
It was lovely to finally meet you as well! That party was one of my BEA 2012 highlights!
DeleteIt was so great to meet you! I did try to get into your signing line but it was HUGE (which I was happy about for your sake, and I knew I'd see you at TAC and the rooftop party) so I ended up getting into the Lauren Oliver line behind your line like 40 minutes early and was #6 or something.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm so glad I got to chat with you a little bit because I love both of your books. Yes, I finished Ten and no nightmares!! :) Working on a review now that'll be up later this month.
James, it was lovely meeting you as well! I'm glad your loss of TEN enabled your win with Lauren Oliver. :)
DeleteThanks for all the pics - I'm experiencing BEA through blogs :) Very cool to hear the author side of it. It sounds like you have some marketing muscle behind you to have all those events set up. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteIf by "marketing muscle" you mean "I did it all myself other than the BEA signing" then yes. :D
DeleteDude, what a dream come true!
ReplyDeleteIt was an awesome week.
DeleteI love hearing about all the details and seeing all the pics. It must have been so exciting. I'm so thrilled to find a female Horror writer -- you're my hero!
ReplyDelete