BEA was a lot of fun this year! I really enjoyed meeting new people (both bloggers and publicists I’ve worked with and ever authors!) and tried really hard to be more social. I fear that part of this post is going to come across as name dropping or bragging, but I really don’t want it to. It was just so incredibly humbling and also re-energizing to realize so many people do know who I am and do remember me when I say “I’m Miss Print.” (In that vein I’d also add my biggest advice to anyone who has a Twitter and is going to a book event is have a picture of yourself. It helps people find you and say hi!) For a while it felt like I was talking into a void but BEA was a nice reminder that even when it feels that way I’m really not.
Anyway, BEA 2015 was the absolute best–maybe the best one I’ve had since I started attending with Nicole in 2010.
Here’s what happened:
Pre-BEA
BEA started a little early with Jenny Han’s launch party for P. S. I Still Love You at the Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn. Luckily I was able to get the day off from work which made it a lot easier to attend. Even luckier, Nicole (my constant and forever BEA buddy) was finally convinced to stay with me and Mom during BEA instead of commuting from NJ or paying a fortune for a hotel. Which meant that Nicole was able to arrive that afternoon and attend the launch as well. Yay!
We decided to head over to the venue early because it was in Brooklyn and a place I’d never been so I wasn’t sure how long the commute would take (spoiler: it was super fast and navigable with HopStop).
It turns out the Powerhouse Arena is super close to the Brooklyn Bridge so I also got some neat pictures of that before we went inside.
We weren’t sure how quickly seats would fill up and we both wanted to meet some people there so we decided to arrive an hour early. That was good because we got early tickets for the signing line but it also meant a lot of waiting.
While Nicole headed over to Starbucks I secured out seats and gave everyone a heads up on what I was wearing in case any Twitter friends decided to say hi.
(Warning this post has a lot of pictures of me of which this is only the first. It happens. Even with trying to take more pictures I only realized later that I didn’t take pictures with ANY of the new blogger friends I met!)
Since Nicole and I always forget to take pictures together despite hanging out all the time, we decided to start BEA week off with a photo:
After that we waited for the event to start. Britt from Please Feed the Bookworm also came early so we finally got to meet in real life (and I got to hand off a Little Elliot tote which is now in a very good home!) Happily this was the first of several quick meetings we had during BEA.
Soon enough it was time for Jenny Han to come out. She talked a bit about the book, read an excerpt, and answered some questions. This part of the event was really short because it turned out in addition to a signing the launch also had some cool activities including custom accent nails by an expert nail artist, quick makeovers and a photo booth designed to look like Lara Jean’s room. Plus, of course, Jenny was signing books!
After getting our books signed (yay early tickets!) it was time to explore.
Before heading off I got to say hi to Allison from Good Books and Good Wine after knowing each other twitter for a while. Then Nicole and I headed upstairs. We decided it was only right to get a makeover so we waited in line for that. While that happened Nicole from Nicole’s Novel Reads came up to say hi. And after tweeting with her for months it was great to see her in person. After that I got to play a rousing game of twitter tag with Jamie from Perpetual Page Turner as we tried to find each other in the crowd (we found each other eventually just later!).
Then it was time for a quick makeover! The makeup artist was super nice and she loved my eyeshadow (purple, courtesy of Nicole). She touched up my makeup, added mascara because according to her my eyes were screaming for mascara, and gave me a really bright lipstick.
Here’s how that worked out with glasses:
And without:
Nicole also got a makeover which included matching lipstick. Here she is:
I was really pleased and have been trying to wear brighter lipstick (or any lipstick) since.
After that it was time for the photo booth with Nicole!
On our way down and out we got a chance to say hi to Jamie and Allison again before heading out with Nicole and her friend Melissa.
Although it was a late night, it was a great start to BEA week.
BEA: Day One (Wednesday)
Since the exhibit floor opened at 1:00pm on Wednesday Nicole and I decided to arrive a little early around noon to head to the Press Office to register (we totally needed the extra time because the office was slammed).
As some of you may know, I have the scheduling thing down. This is a sample of what my Wednesday schedule looked like:
So as you can see, I had BEA slotted out in my phone calendar (this is actually not even the updated schedule because Nicole and I spent two hours chatting online to hammer it out after I posted this pic BUT you get the idea).
I also had a list of galleys to look for with input from SLJ/Publisher’s Weekly buzz posts. While we waited in line to enter the show floor, I checked out booth numbers and we looked at the map of the floor. While waiting in line I also got to say hi to the ever delightful Alex and a Janet for whom sadly I have no contact info. We all compared notes on plans for the day.
I also finally got to meet Kaye! Finally!
After that it was back to waiting in line with Nicole. We also caught Cecelia briefly before she headed into a new panel. Cecelia is of course a long time BEA buddy and let me just say now I am super pumped we got to see a lot of her during BEA.
Now you might have heard of this book called Truthwitch–I think it got some buzz during BEA? Nicole and I knew that was going to be crazy town so we decided to skip it when we heard people were arriving early in the morning to get ready to run to the Macmillan booth.
Instead we stopped at Disney where Nicole snagged me an arc of A Thousand Nights (one of the books I was most excited to get going into BEA!) before exploring the floor. Since today was, by far, the quietest day of the three, we knew this was the best time to explore the floor and see about drop schedules and books available.
Since our first “official” event wasn’t until 2, we spent a lot of time running around from booth to booth.
Everyone who works or volunteers at BEA is fantastic. The show floor is insane and it’s really stressful and everyone makes it look easy. That said, this year the people at Scholastic and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt went absolutely above and beyond and we so helpful the entire time. Thanks to some very kind publicists, I was able to get a few highly anticipated books without trying to track down a drop. Thank you! (The books, if you were wondering, were Vengeance Road, A Little in Love and The Lightning Queen).
I also tried to grab a couple of MG and Adult titles this year because I want to branch out. I was super, super excited to catch Girl Waits With Gun while wandering the floor as it was one of the only adult titles that caught my eye immediately when I started researching what would be available at BEA.
After exploring, it was time to head to the autographing area to see Emily Franklin signing Last Night at the Circle Cinema. I don’t know a lot about this book yet but the synopsis is great and I love Carolrhoda Lab as a publisher. While we waited for Emily Franklin to arrive I also got to say hi to Gail from Ticket To Anywhere while she waited ahead of use in line.
After that signing it was back to the show floor (the exact opposite side of the floor!) to head over to the Abrams booth where Courtney Sheinmel was signing Edgewater which had been on Nicole’s radar.
We both got to take a picture with Courtney during the signing too.
Then we caught up with Cecelia again. So, you know how I said everyone at BEA is awesome? Abrams was extra awesome because they had a PHOTO BOOTH. Obviously we made use of this.
As you can see from these pictures, I don’t have a lot of “photo booth experience” as it were so I didn’t do any silly faces. I’m sorry! It was fun and silly though. Trust me! Also my mom was really happy to see some not ridiculous faces. So.
Photos in hand, Nicole and I said bye for now to Cecelia and had plenty of time to head over to HarperCollins for their galley drop at 2:30 to get copies of Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy.
From there we headed to the giant Penguin Random House booth to get tickets for Jennifer Donnelly’s signing. Which was not as stressful as I expected because they had a huge stack of tickets.
I think everyone knows this by now: I’m a huge fan of Mike Curato’s Little Elliot. HUGE. Of course it was very important to see Mike at BEA when he was signing copies of Little Elliot, Big Family. Because of some confusion at the Macmillan booth, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to do both Mike and Jennifer Donnelly’s signing. Then lo Britt comes over to Jennifer Donnelly’s line and tells me to run over to Macmillan because they still had tickets! With Nicole holding my place I rushed over and got the precious ticket!
Then it was back to waiting in line for Jennifer Donnelly while Nicole headed to Mac. Jennifer Donnelly is amazing and I am SO very excited about These Shallow Graves!
After gushing at Jennifer Donnelly about how much I loved Revolution (spoiler: so much) and saying how excited I am for her new book it was time to head over to Macmillan.
Mike Curato’s line was super chill and I got to see one of my favorite Macmillan publicists, Mary–bonus! Mary even remembered way back when I worked with her on Mike’s first blog tour–double bonus!
So Macmillan is a fan of Mike Curato as well SO they had a pretty cool frame set up so you could pose for a pic with Elliot, Mouse and Mouse’s extended family. OBVIOUSLY this photo opp was a must for me and Nicole!
True story: My mom says this is one of the cutest pictures ever. Well played Macmillan!
After that it was time to say hi to Mike (he doesn’t think I’m a crazy person yet and he remembered me from Twitter, yay!) and get my book signed. Mike even had Little Elliot pose in the picture.
After that I was totally elated from actually making it to see Mike Curato. (THANK YOU BRITT!) And really, there could be no better way to end the day.
Our last stop was HarperCollins for one last book drop to get ARCs of Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson and Newt’s Emerald. I love Westerns and I am VERY excited for Walk on Earth a Stranger. Newt’s Emerald is Garth Nix, so my interest requires no further explanation. Like a lot of other books we got today, making this drop also meant that Nicole and I could skip what we anticipated to be some crazy signing lines later in the week.
The drop was super chill and quite quick which meant we could leave Javits a bit early. Unfortunately that meant missing Krystal from Books are My Thing who I really wanted to meet during BEA. But we still had time so I wasn’t worried.
Now, if you don’t know, the Javits Center is near nothing. It is in the equivalent of transportation black hole on the west side of midtown Manhattan. Generally that isn’t a big deal because there are taxis. On Wednesday when Nicole and I left, it was a big deal. After striking out with attempts to get a taxi we decided to wait for the Ninth Avenue bus. I cannot tell you how much I dislike the Ninth Avenue bus. It lived up to my low expectations Wednesday and took us nearly an hour to get back to my apartment.
After a very rushed (too rushed) dinner at home with Mom it was time to head to Times Square for a special preview Scholastic was hosting for The Marvels by Brian Selznick.
Getting uptown was a disaster thanks to numerous subway delays. After hopping off the subway, Nicole and I jetted to the Hudson Theater.
We missed the “pre” event mingling but we made it for most of Brian Selznick’s presentation where he talked about the inspiration for his new book and his creative process. We also got a super secret preview of his book trailer and it is awesome.
After the presentation we were very surprised (amazed even) to find out that Brian Selznick was signing after. While the theater was very beautiful, it was not a great venue for an author signing and the “line” was more like an amorphous mob. But it was worth it!
All in all, Wednesday was a great start to BEA. Nicole and I headed back the apartment more than excited for our first full day, even if it was a super early start.
Also, here is a picture of my suitcase:
BEA: Day Two (Thursday)
Day two of BEA was book-ended by two publisher events. The first was Harlequin’s Teen Author Breakfast at the Javits.
We arrived bright and early for the breakfast at 7:30. It was great to see some of the Harlequin team in person and hear about titles they were excited about in the upcoming season. Harlequin also had authors Jennifer Armentrout, Adi Alsaid, Eleanor Forman and Katie McGarry at the breakfast to chat with and to talk about their newest titles.
The breakfast was set up like speed dating with Harlequin staffers and authors rotating tables every five minutes. It was great for us (no running around) but I fear it got a little hectic for the Harlequin people trying to enjoy their own breakfast. It was super fun to meet other bloggers here and to have a chance to talk a bit more informally with some of the authors.
I’ve talked previously about my love for Alex Bracken and her Darkest Minds trilogy. A fun fact is that a lot of my previous BEAs have involved seeing Alex at a signing. So OBVIOUSLY her Passenger signing was a huge priority.
Nicole and I dashed from the Harlequin breakfast to quickly drop some stuff off at coat check before waiting on line to enter the show floor. We were not the only ones who arrived early.
As crazy as that looks it was totally doable! We had already found an entrance as close as possible to Disney so from there it was a brisk walk to the signing line. On the way I even got to say finally meet Krystal! Yay for serendipitous lines!
There was a lot of waiting.
And many photo opps.
But soon we started creeping closer and found out we were in fact among the lucky 200 who would get books.
If you ever get a chance to catch Alexandra Bracken at a signing event, do it. She is the absolute nicest. It was fun to say hi to her and comment (briefly because tons of people were still waiting) about how fun it is to see her on BEA.
And with one last photo it was time to move on.
After this epic start to the morning Nicole and I meandered toward the Hachette booth to acquire ARCs of Jennifer E. Smith’s newest Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between. Which was again super chill because Hachette/Little Brown were locking down the ARCs. While we both wanted to catch Jen E. Smith’s signing later, we also knew that Libba Bray was a higher priority (and likely to take a lot longer) so we took the ARC while we could (an excellent idea as it turns out).
Next it was back to the autographing area. Nicole and I split up for a bit. While she pursued other books I waited to see Susane Colansanti who was signing City Love. I haven’t read it yet but I’m pretty eager to see what Susane comes up with in this start to the series.
Thanks to her Super Teacher Brain (technical term) Susane remembered me from previous events/twitter/etc. so we chatted a little bit. (She liked my new glasses.) Before I snapped a picture and headed off to reconnect with Nicole.
And of course, Susane even had a sweet reply on Twitter:
I still can’t believe this even happened but after Susane’s signing, Nicole and I grabbed a quick lunch and then headed back to the Autographing Area to see Carolyn Mackler. I am not sure I can explain how iconic Carolyn Mackler is in terms of YA for me. She just *IS* YA. When I first discovered YA when I was shelving the section as a Page in high school, it included her books.
How surreal then to see Carolyn Mackler at BEA signing her newest book.
After that it was time to meet another YA icon. Libba Bray. Luckily while I had my calendar schedule, Nicole continued to check the BEA Show Planner so we knew that Libba’s signing had been moved to earlier in the day and were ready.
It was touch and go for a bit in trying to procure tickets but after only a little bit of flailing we made it!
Now, dear readers, we come to an embarrassing part of my BEA adventure. While Nicole held my place in line, I made a bad decision.
First I headed to Autographing (literally the complete opposite end of the show floor) to see Laura Amy Schlitz signing The Hired Girl.
That part went super smoothly. I’m quite excited for this new historical fiction title and I’m sure it will be fantastic.
Then came my blunder. In thinking about how long Libba Bray’s line was, I thought I could also catch Margo Rabb’s signing.
For a while it was going really well and seemed quite promising. Somewhere in here I also got to quickly meet Jess from Gone with the Words and say hi again to Jamie. It’s all a hazy blur though as I remember what came next.
Then I started getting texts from Nicole (who is a SAINT and held my place the entire time!) that the line was moving. Then I got texts saying I should come back.
Then I got texts saying I should hurry back.
Keeping in mind that I was on the exact opposite end of the floor, imagine me running between aisles, diving around dawdlers and running when I could. All while text Nicole updates on what booth number I was near with her replying each time to hurry.
After much weaving and a few hip checks, I made it back just in time!
Luckily I had some time to compose myself before seeing Libba because it was a stressful run back to the line! Needless to say the line moved quite swiftly from there until Nicole got her book signed and I was next in line.
I always joke that one of my greatest accomplishments is being able to say that Libba Bray follows me on Twitter. I don’t think much of it because a lot of people follow a lot of other people. But sometimes Libba would reply to my tweets and that was definitely enough for me to feel cool.
But guess what?! Libba actually recognized me from Twitter (and asked when I had cut my hair!)! I keep waiting for it to not be exciting when that happens with an author I love. Hasn’t happened yet. Anyway, Libba is always the nicest ever at her signings. After writing “It’s done!” in my copy I asked to take a picture of her with her book as I do with most authors.
Libba, much (I think) to her publicist’s dismay, suggested we take a selfie instead. OBVIOUSLY I couldn’t say no!
I never, as a rule, share pictures where I look bad but I make an exception for this one because OMG SELFIE WITH LIBBA BRAY.
That was, of course, a BEA high point. There was nowhere else to go.
Also Nicole and I were getting quite tired having started our day at 7:30. So we made a wise decision to head home before the evening’s events. Happily the bad transit karma did not follow us into Thursday.
On the way Nicole even spotted this restaurant with a name that is personally significant to me ;)
After a quick trip home and a leisurely dinner with my mom (can we talk about how much of a trooper my mom is for putting up with both me and Nicole running around like mad for three days over books? She’s the best) it was time to head out again for Macmillan’s party.
Macmillan’s Happy Hour/Fierce Reads/Insert Name Here party was held at the Strand’s Rare Book Room.
After a rocky start with a rather ominously blocked off entry, we were ready to go.
We even went up a side entrance that I didn’t know existed!
Despite living near the Strand I had never been to the Rare Books Room before. It was really amazing!
I also got to meet so many people here most of whom I did NOT take pictures with because I’m an idiot. In addition to saying hi to the lovely Andi from Andi’s ABCs, I got to meet Nicole from YA Interrobang, Sarah from What Sarah Read, Hannah from The Irish Banana, Alexa from Alexa Loves Books and Rachel from hello, chelly and probably others I don’t remember too. I also got to chat again with Gail! So many missed photo opps!
Macmillan is one of my favorite publishers in that they publish some of my favorite books (like The Winner’s Curse and Little Elliot, Big City!) but more because they are such great people to work with. I was so excited for this party because I got to meet publicists like Gina and Brittany who I email all the time as well as some new faces. It was the best!
As if the night couldn’t get better, Macmillan also had authors Josephine Angelini, Leigh Bardugo, Sandy Hall, Marissa Meyer and Leila Sales. So many amazing people in but one room!
They also had a photo booth.
After a commemorative shot with Nicole it was time to mingle.
Also to take some pictures of the super cool rare books room decor.
And pose with it of course.
Nicole and I also took another picture together but I have to say it is quite dark.
When Cecelia arrived it was, of course, time for even more photo booth pictures.
After that we got to chat for a bit with Sandy Hall who had the most amazing tie-dyed shoes. Then we headed back to the photo booth to say hi to Leila Sales where we talked donuts for a bit. I told her to check out The Donut Pub and I will tell you all to do the same. You won’t regret it.
What could we do after that? If you guessed a photo with Leila Sales and dapper hats, you would be right.
We rounded out the party with more mingling. (I’m not really the type who needs to hide in a room after talking to people but it was a lot of talking. I wore myself out just being social because there were so many people I wanted to talk to!) Cecelia introduced me and Nicole to her friend Sajda from Across the Words. Sajda is really nice and I am really happy to have found her blog now. Yay!
By this point in the night, Nicole and I were wiped out. The Macmillan party was an absolute blast but it was definitely time to say our goodbyes and head home.
Macmillan gave everyone an amazing bag of books on the way out. I am so excited to get to all of them.
After that it was time to head to Wendy’s to pick up some snacks for ourselves and my mom before packing it in to get ready for the final day of BEA.
Also, here is a picture of my suitcase:
BEA: Day Three (Friday)
When Nicole and I started scheduling for BEA, we knew Friday was going to be crazy. In my initial schedule, before we saw how the day would shake out, we weren’t even sure if there would be time for lunch. But, being the intrepid book people that we are, we were still ready for day three.
Since the exhibit floor opened at 9 again we decided to arrive around 8:30. A lot of other people had that idea forcing us to move to a different coat check (where I did get to meet Brianna from Wunderkind Publicity though so really it all worked out!) and ensuring a somewhat long line to get to the floor even with an early arrival.
I made good use of my time waiting to get in by coaching Nicole on selfie techniques.
Once the line started moving, Nicole and I knew we were heading to Lerner for Tessa Gratton, Maggie Stiefvater and Brenna Yovanoff’s signing of The Anatomy of Curiosity. Both of us were BIG fans of their first collection The Curiosities and it even inspired us to write more short stories ourselves at Little Women Stories.
Tessa, Maggie and Brenna are three of my favorite authors ever so I always get a little starstruck around them, so sadly I don’t have any pictures. It was great talking to them about how inspiring their stories are. Regular readers will also know that I’ve interviewed Tessa Gratton several times on the blog and hosted a few of her guest posts so it was especially nice to meet her this year!
Here’s their new beautiful book:
Here’s a picture of them from the Carolrhoda Lab twitter looking super cool for an inteview:
Next we headed over to the Autographing Area once again where MarcyKate Connolly was signing Monstrous.
Confession: I saw the cover for the book and fell in love. After reading the synopsis and staring at the cover a little more, I knew I had to read it.
From there it was but a quick hop to see Sarah Beth Durst signing her new middle grade The Girl Who Could Not Dream. I love Sarah and have interviewed her about every book she’s published since Enchanted Ivy. So obviously, I was super excited to see her.
Sarah’s husband buys her a new piece of jewelry for every book so it was also fun to see her new piece (a necklace which doesn’t show in our photo).
After that Nicole had a BIG priority. She had to see Oliver Jeffers. So back to the Penguin Random House booth we went.
Tickets in hand, we waited for a good long time on the line. Oliver was signing posters for his new picture book The Day the Crayons Came Home and, not going to lie, I was getting a little testy from lack of food to be on such a long line. A fun bonus? Everyone at the signing also got a Crayons tote bag which was only given out at that day’s Children’s Author Breakfast.
Needless to say, the line here was too long for an “official” pic. But here’s a candid one of Oliver Jeffers while he was signing.
After seeing Oliver we moved back across the floor to catch Michael Buckley signing Undertow.
I made Nicole wait with me on the surprisingly not massive line for Kevin Henkes who was signing posters for Waiting.
(I love this artwork so much and plan on getting it framed soon.)
Finally we were back at the autographing area to see Maggie Lehrman signing The Cost of All Things. (You might notice that her book barely shows. That is because a man was behind her unloading books and he wouldn’t/couldn’t move so I was forced to resort to cropping.)
Thanks to severely cutting and prioritizing our schedule, we had time for lunch! We also got to sit for a bit with Cecelia who in true rock star fashion found an ARC of Zeroes that was about to be abandoned and saved it for me.
After lunch we returned to the autographing areas where Jennifer Walkup was signing This Ordinary Life. This book is another one that won me over with the cover. Even better, Jennifer Walkup was absolutely the nicest. I can’t wait to get to her book!
Amazingly, after Jennifer, Nicole and I realized that Leila Sales was still signing Tonight the Streets Are Ours. The choice was obvious.
Since I also had a duplicate ARC of this from the night before, I also made plans to re-home it ASAP (this turned into a big twitter project but I’m happy to report all ARCs have been distributed!).
Still more wondrous, Corey Ann Haydu’s signing for her new middle grade novel Rules for Stealing Stars was also in reach. I believe I gushed to her about Life by Committee. It’s all a bit of a blur.
For the afternoon I knew a priority signing was going to be Erin Bow’s The Scorpion Rules. Erin Bow is one of the best fantasy writers out there. Her debut Plain Kate left me sobbing. Of course I had to meet her.
Cecelia felt the same way so we banded together to line up well ahead of time for her 2:30 signing. It was nice to have some time to sit down. I got to say goodbye to Britt while milling and also got to re-meet Melissa (she was behind Nicole and me during the Libba Bray line) while we waited and talked fantasy.
Nicole then roped me in to become a folk hero for a friend’s son and her best friend when we realized Tui T. Sutherland was signing. It was a good moment.
Then it was time for Erin Bow!
Can I just say that Erin Bow is absolutely the nicest? She stood at the start of her signing and posed for pictures with everyone. I’ve been catching up on review/obligatory reading but this is definitely my first BEA read.
Thanks to the magic that is BEA, we also realized that Richelle Mead was still signing Soundless–a book that I totally wanted to check out at BEA but totally thought would be out of reach.
But no!
It worked out!
Even with Richelle Mead, there was still plenty of time before Lynn Weingarten’s signing (another priority for me).
Enough time, in fact, to catch up with Andi and Alex and to finally meet Estelle from Rather Be Reading in real life! I definitely should have taken a picture of this momentous occasion but luckily Estelle and Alex are both New Yorkers so hopefully we’ll have another live meetup soon.
Cecelia also decided to head off early but since we have twitter, I know we’ll be in touch (and we actually took tons of pictures together this year!).
While I waited to meet Lynn, Nicole went to Lexa Hillyer’s signing.
I read The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers as an ARC and I’ve interviewed Lynn about it here on the blog. I’ve also read all of her other novels. And we’re twitter friends!
It was very exciting to finally be meeting in real life!
While waiting on line I also got to chat with Kiersten from We Live and Breathe Books. This was great because I’m really enjoying her blog and also because I got a tip about a signing I hadn’t heard about previously.
But first. Lynn!
After chatting with Lynn, I went to the end of the line where I got to talk with Kaye for a little bit. Then Nicole also returned to that line so I hung out with her until she made it to the front and I told her about my hot tip from Kiersten: Moira Fowley-Doyle was signing The Accident Season at the Penguin Random House booth.
Every year it feels like there is one book that eludes me at BEA no matter how hard I try to find it. This year that book was The Accident Season.
In fact, even as we tried to get to the signing it seemed like I would be foiled. I love Penguin Random House but as of right now the publishers are merged in name only which created some confusion about what was happening where in their booth. After a couple of false starts with several publicists, Nicole and I made it to the right spot.
My thoughts immediately after this signing? VICTORY!
All in all, BEA 2015 was an absolute success. I’m not sure if I’ll make it to Chicago next year but I think this year I definitely did everything right and I’m sure Nicole agrees!
Yes to everything Nicole said!
So that’s my BEA recap. Thanks for reading!
Also, here is a picture of my suitcase:
Miss Print 
You have a lovely recap of your BEA festivities! It was so nice to finally meet you and Nicole in person as well.
Yes! I’m glad we got to see each other a few times!
AHH this was awesome! I loved all your little details and pictures :D
What a recap! You are so dedicated – I love how much you were able to document. I had such a great time hanging with you and Nicole this year (and every year)! You guys are the best to stand in line with/talk about books with. Also, we DID get some great photos! I didn’t realize how many. What fun!
Yes! I’m so glad we got to see each other a bit this year!
Aw, this is fabulous! First, I am SO impressed that you got so many great pictures! That is my goal next year for sure. Also, the parties! Listen, I am not even going to pretend to not be jealous ;) It looks like you guys had an absolutely wonderful time! It is amazing that you and Nicole have been attending for so many years, too! It is so nice that you live relatively close, too. (I think the worst part of BEA being over was saying goodbye to my roommates, who live VERY far away!)
Also, I adore your planning! It is seriously impressive. I did a pretty decent job, for a newbie I suppose ;) I love all the pictures of you guys in the photo booths and with the fun props! I do not know HOW I missed the ones that were at BEA! Anyway, I am so glad that you guys had such an amazing time, and hopefully you DO end up getting to go to Chicago next year! Chicago is so lovely, I think BEA will be fun there (fingers crossed)!
Thanks Shannon! Since I go as Press it’s a good reminder to take pics and between that and my schedule it helps me remember what happened every day too.
I’ll keep you posted on the Chicago front next year!