My Adventures at BookExpo America and BookCon 2015
I attended BEA for the first time and it was amazing. The Jacob Javits Center is a huge facility. The exhibit floor had many in-booth signings. The autographing area also had many popular signings. The lines at the autographing area were longer than the in-booth signing area. BEA is the “largest publishing event in North America” it is a great place open to authors, publishers, and bloggers.
I had the great opportunity to meet one of my favorite authors, Richelle Mead, and I got an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of her much anticipated standalone title, Soundless. Soundless will be published November 10, 2015. Soundless is the story of Fei a girl who lives in a village where no one can hear. Fei's village depends on food that comes via zipline from the mysterious far away kingdom of Beiguo. When villagers begin to lose their eye sight and the food from Beiguo becomes scarce Fei fears her family will die, until one day Fei wakes up with the ability to hear sound, which becomes her weapon. With her new found ability Feir travels to Beiguo in search she will a truth can change everything.
I got to meet Scott Westerfeld author of Uglies, which is one the first dystopian book I remember reading. He was signing copies of his upcoming book Zeros which was written with Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti. Zeros will be published September 29, 2015. In Zeros "six Californian teens have powers that set them apart. Take Ethan, a.k.a. Scam. He’s got a voice inside him that’ll say whatever you want to hear, whether it’s true or not. Which is handy, except when it isn’t—like when the voice starts gabbing in the middle of a bank robbery. The only people who can help are the other Zeroes, who aren’t exactly best friends these days. Enter Nate, a.k.a. Bellwether, the group’s “glorious leader.” After Scam’s SOS, he pulls the scattered Zeroes back together. But when the recue blows up in their faces, the Zeroes find themselves propelled into whirlwind encounters with ever more dangerous criminals. At the heart of the chaos they find Kelsie, who can take a crowd in the palm of her hand and tame it or let it loose as she pleases."
David Levithan was also there signing advance readers of Another Day which is the much anticipated companion to Every Day. Every Day is the story of a guy who wakes up in a different body every day and a different life but always in love with the same girl. Another Day will be published August 29, 2015. I also had the opportunity to meet Jennifer Niven, author of All the Bright Places and Margaret Stohl who was signing advance readers of Black Widow: Forever Red which will be published October 13, 2015. Author Rae Carson was signing her upcoming title Walk on Earth a Stranger which will be published September 22, 2015. The advance readers for Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo were very popular. Six of Crows is the first title in a new series that will come out September 29, 2015. In Six of Crows "Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction-if they don't kill each other first."
I left BEA with a haul of 30 books and got 13 of them signed by authors. BEA is a great experience for all book lovers. I saw many great authors there and had a great time.
The difference between BEA and BookCon is that BEA is only open to literary professionals, while BookCon is open to the general public.
“BookCon is the event where storytelling and pop culture collide.” Book Con is an amazing event for all book lovers. It was very exciting for me to see so many people excited about new book releases in one place. I had the opportunity to see another of my favorite authors there, Sarah J. Maas. She was very nice and humble.
I left BookCon with a haul of 16 books. I got a copy of Captivated by You signed by Sylvia Day, author of the Crossfire series, she was just lovely and I got a beautiful poster signed by Sarah J. Maas.
BEA and Book Con are great events to find out about upcoming titles, meet authors, publishers and bloggers. Also, there are many informative panels.
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