book expo 2017 recap (+ a GIVEAWAY)

I went to BookExpo (for those not in the know, the biggest book conference in North America)(aka “BEA”) last week. I’ve been going every year since… oh… 2012? I’m insanely lucky and predictably nerdy, yes. I go for blogging, obvi, but I also manage the digital presence at my nonprofit, so this year I registered through work. I wasn’t sure how the “we’re cutting down on bloggers” direction the show was going would relate to me, an inconsistent small-timer, so I didn’t bother to try registering as press or as a blogger. If you saw me at the show, I was wearing a badge that said “Cecelia, Digital Content Strategist, [nonprofit name], NON-PROFIT.” Pretty VIP (but only on opposite day).

Let me recap: somehow I manage to attend a huge BOOK CONFERENCE every year and hang out with BOOK PEOPLE all day. It’s basically heaven!!!

Here’s what I saw and did, and also there’s a giveaway at the end if you’re into that kind of thing (yay!).

On Wednesday I worked a half-day and then took the bus up to NYC. I checked in to my friend Liza’s hotel room (thanks, dude!) and headed over to Blogbound Con for the evening. I attended Blogbound in July last year and had a fantastic time – it was free, had great programming, and a diverse audience. This time around it seemed a little less fabulous, but I definitely enjoyed the two panels I stayed for (Writing for 3rd Party Outlets & Tackling Problematic Books in Our Current Political Climate). Afterward, a non-blogging friend and I hit up Buvette, a tiny French cafe that I can’t recommend enough. Like, the food KILLED, they had a pop-up menu, and it was adorbs. Also $$$, but I like to splurge on good food once in a (long) while, so. And then I went back to the hotel and crashed, b/c I had to be up v. v. early the next morning.

Thursday morning started SO EARLY I CAN’T EVEN believe it in retrospect. I was out of the hotel room by 6:50am because…. I had a hair appointment! No, really, for real. When I checked out the hotel amenities online I noticed that they had a blow dry bar on site. And I’ve never been to one, but every time I get my hair done for anything (weddings) I request a braid, so I was like, why not? AND CAN I JUST TELL YOU, the braid was a *great* decision. Everyone complimented it and it still looked fabulous late that evening. Solid choices, past me.

I arrived at the Javits (the conference location) a little after 7:30 and lined up for a Maggie Stiefvater autograph ticket (which I got!) for her upcoming standalone All the Crooked Saints. And then I lined up for the show floor, which opened at 9, and met some lovely people and had a tote bag and ARC (advanced review copy) handed to me by an enthusiastic bride as promotion for a book that released today (the book is The People We Hate at the Wedding). When the show floor opened I wandered around a bit and ended up at the Macmillan booth, where the author of said book was hanging out with the Flatiron Books staff and the bride. The bride serenaded me, author Grant Ginder signed my book on the spot, and the whole thing basically made my morning.

And then… it was book after signing after panel after book, all in a big rush until lunch (with Emma & Nicole in the food court). My friend Sajda ended up with a last minute attendee badge, so we spent the rest of the day palling around together and taking ridiculous photos. And then after a healthy dinner at The Little Beet (veggie-friendly fast casual!) Liza and I met Sajda at the Big Honcho Media Stay Golden party, b/c of course. Afterward we headed home and fell into bed after having the same Uber driver on the way to AND from the party. Felix dropped some dating advice on us and we were like… o.O

Friday seemed crazier. Was it crazier in reality? Dunno. BUT. I didn’t really stop at all that day (minus a few fun photo opps). I met Leigh Bardugo and she told me my hair was so cute she wanted to punch it. She also signed a copy of Warbringer (the Wonder Woman YA novel!) for me. For a bit I was a booktubing group’s unofficial photographer. I also snagged Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince with some creative planning and line watching. It… was a lot. At the end of the show I shipped my books via UPS onsite, and then I sat down for like a half minute before heading off to the Fierce Reads author-blogger party. WHICH WAS GREAT. I chatted with Tomi Adeyemi (I added her book to Goodreads!) & Tillie Walden (comic artist I supported on Patreon!), some ladies from Forever Young Adult, and hugged author Emmy Laybourne twice (may have been tipsy by then). Publicist Gina from First Second gave me an amazing MCU fanfic rec. So, a successful party all-around.

AND THEN I TOOK THE BUS HOME.

Whew, I got tired writing that all out! I hope you can tell that it was the most fun. B/c it totes was.

And! To celebrate, I’m currently hosting my first ever Instagram book giveaway! Check it out. To enter you need to like & comment over on insta. Giveaway includes the items shown and ends tomorrow, June 7 at 11:59pm EST. Winner will be selected randomly and notified via the ‘gram.  Good luck!

book expo america 2015

Book Expo America.  Attendance is practically mandatory if you work in the publishing industry, and it’s definitely THE place to be if you’re a YA blogger.  I’m starting to see BEA recaps everywhere I turn (on the interwebs), so here, have mine too.  After all, I went this year, after declaring that I wouldn’t!

i don't think i'm going to BEA this year. 1) i committed to a comic con with a friend in early may (cont.)

— Cecelia Larsen (@ceceliabedelia) March 23, 2015

2) there aren't any books/authors i can't stand to miss this year, and 3) my book/hobby-related budget is not that large. NYC = expensive.

— Cecelia Larsen (@ceceliabedelia) March 23, 2015

Why (and how!) I went

Last year I shared how book blogging helped me get a new job.  My company created the position from scratch and hired a newbie (me).  Now that I’ve settled into the role, I recognize that I’ll need to learn new skills to really maximize this opportunity.  Also: I have a new boss!  As of last month.  From the beginning he really stressed owning your professional development goals.  So when I got the unexpected news that my BEA press badge was approved, I put together a quick proposal for professional development (looked up a template email on the internet, modified it, calculated a travel budget, cobbled together an education calendar and submitted the whole thing within an hour and a half. approved in 5 minutes. golden!).

What I learned

I’ve never done professional development before, folks.   To prepare I went through the BEA program guide and highlighted all of the sessions that looked even remotely helpful to my current role.  Sessions on data and innovation, copyright, Google Analytics, and women in leadership made the list.  Yeah, I didn’t realize BEA had a program that covered that many angles either! 

What did I learn?  To be truthful, session quality varied greatly.  I did some speaker scouting for the Education team back at the office, was bored out of my skull in a basic web analytics course, and gleaned one or two insights on copyright and DRM management.  The good news is that while work paid for transport & food, I arranged to share a college friend’s hotel room for my lodging, so the cost was minimal on my employer’s side of things (that kept the guilt monster at bay).

Who I saw

Of course, no trip to BEA is complete until you’ve met up with an awesome internet friend for the first time.  I’ll just warn you now, I didn’t make notes about who I met each day, so I’m sure I’ll leave people out.  If I do and you’re reading this, please remind me in the comments! 

Emma and Nicole, my BEA buddies for the past 3 years, were there for me again.  We chilled in lines together, checked galley drops, and took fantastic photo booth pictures.  Nicole of YA Interrobang was so great in the leadup to the show – she sent me tweets almost every day to keep me apprised of the YA signings and giveaways.  I fangirled a tiny bit when I finally met her. DC local (and book club friend!) Sajda of Across the Words was at BEA for the very first time, so we met up in lines, at parties, and just to chat.  Charlotte of Charlotte’s Library and I always find a lot to talk about (and we seem to be going for the same titles!), which is lovely.  I also said quick hellos to Jamie of The Perpetual Page Turner, Andi of Andi’s ABCs, Cassi of My Thoughts Literally, Jess of Books & Sensibility… and that’s the point where my memory gets faulty.

Books… right?!

Yes, there were books.  On Wednesday and Thursday I stalked the Exhibit Hall floor in between panels, and picked up a few great titles.  My big book day was Friday, when I decided that I could count myself happy (and victorious) if I picked up Margaret Stohl’s Black Widow: Forever Red and Erin Bow’s The Scorpion Rules.  I accomplished those two things, so the day was a success.  If you’d like to see the other titles I snagged, feel free to check out the Instagram photo evidence.

In hindsight

I don’t imagine I’ll be attending BEA again in a professional capacity.  There are other, more uniformly useful opportunities to explore.  But hey, you never know unless you give it a try, right?  The best bits of my trip: Hanging out with my people (the ones with books in their souls), attending the fantastic Macmillan Kids blogger party, chatting late into the night with a college friend, bookkkksssss, and a final dinner in the city with my cousin and her two children at the Wythe on Friday night.  I went home a happy and exhausted blogger, and I hope I’ll be able to do it all again next year.

Tell me, how was your BEA or Armchair BEA experience?

monday memories – clariel

Emma of Miss Print and Nicole at The Book Bandit have started a new weekly feature called Monday Memories.  To participate, all you have to do is take a photo of one of your books (or a library book that means a lot to you) and talk a bit about why it made an impression.  Today I'm going to talk about Clariel by Garth Nix.

True story: I haven’t read this book yet. 

Given that I’ve re-read Sabriel and the other Abhorsen stories over and over (too many times to count!), you’d think I would have already jumped into this one.  Especially since I picked it up at Book Expo America in MAY, and it is October now.  Somehow this book has become a charm.  In my head it has become the thing that’ll pull me out of a terrible day, the antidote to reading malaise, the cure for all that ails me! 

I may be putting too much pressure on this book.  I’ll stop, I swear. 

Oh look at that – it’s me meeting Garth Nix in person and getting his signature.  I was SO EXCITED (I’m in the middle, that’s my sister on the right, beeteedubs)… it doesn’t show in the photo, but my heart was beating like mad and I almost forgot how to speak.  I just… authors are my rock stars, you know? 

So yeah.  Even though I haven’t read this book, it means a lot to me.  It’s potential wonder, the continuation of a favorite universe, and the meet-and-greet of the year.  Dear book, I don't know you yet, but I love you.

If you'd like to see more Monday Memories posts, head over to this week's link list.

top ten things that make my blogging life easier

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we all get to exercise our OCD tendencies and come up with bookish lists.  If you’d like to play along, check out this post.

This week’s list is about the ‘tools of the trade’ that make my life as a book blogger stress-free and fun.  If you’re into the blogging scene, you’ll recognize the majority of these as necessities or ‘givens.’  If you don’t blog, I encourage you to check out these resources anyway – they’re great tools for the serious reader as well as the hobbyist blogger.  Anything that introduces you to more books is a good thing, right?!

Top Ten Things That Make My Blogging Life Easier

1. Goodreads – This is THE social network for readers.  It’s a database where you can keep track of the books you’ve read, write reviews, give star ratings, and interact with your favorite authors (if that’s your jam).  I get great recommendations from fellow readers every time I log in.

2. Bloggiesta – Hosted biannually, this is a blogger ‘work party,’ where an entire weekend is devoted to updating whatever needs updating on your blog, and also learning new tricks of the trade.  I learned basic HTML coding from participating in Bloggiesta!

3. Weekly memes – Events like Top Ten Tuesday (this post!) and Waiting on Wednesday are great ways to find new blogs to read and fellow readers with the same taste.  TTT is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and WoW is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

4. Arlington County Libraries and King County Library System – Libraries.  They remain a favorite method of mine for accessing new and not-so-new releases.  Arlington County is my current location, and they’ve got a good selection of YA in print and digital formats.  KCLS is ‘back home,’ and I still peruse their digital collection on a weekly basis.

5. Twitter – My preferred social network, and a great way to discover the latest news in the publishing world.  I follow agents, editors, authors, bloggers, and more.  What’s noteworthy?  You’ll find people talking about it on Twitter.

6. Blank journal/notebook – I like to write most of my reviews longhand before I type them up.  I find that this allows me to edit, deliberate over word choice, and make sure my conclusions are sound before I hit the ‘publish’ button.  Because the internet doesn’t forget.  And you can still cross things out in a notebook!

7. Kindle, OverDrive, iBooks and Blio – I don’t have an e-reader, so I rely on these reading apps for iPhone.  They offer digital access to galleys, library books and ebook purchases, free of charge.  And then I can read happily on my phone during my commute!

8. NetGalley access to digital ARCs – Speaking of galleys (not-quite-final books that are circulated to selected reviewers and influencers before publication to create hype), I use NetGalley to request early reading rights from publishers.  I don’t use this service as much as I once did, but a couple of times a season I’ll peruse the site and get stars in my eyes from all the books on offer.  If you review books, or are a librarian, bookseller or educator, you too can sign up!

9. Edelweiss & Shelf Awareness emails – Edelweiss is a service that, like NetGalley, offers digital access to ARCs.  But my favorite part of Edelweiss?  Their weekly Monday emails with publishing catalogue updates.  I do a lot of new title discovery on Monday afternoons (thanks, guys!).  Shelf Awareness’ daily emails are essential for anyone interested in the publishing  industry.  If you like books, you should sign up for Shelf Awareness.

10. Book Expo America – This yearly conference is basically book heaven.  I go to meet up with fellow bloggers, make contacts among publishing professionals, and see what’s new and awesome in book world.  While not necessary to maintaining a successful blog, BEA is a great help and a lot of fun besides.

Do you use any of these tools or resources? Which one is your favorite?

book expo america, 2013 version

Last year marked my first trip to Book Expo America.  I read a lot of helpful posts from fellow bloggers who had visited before, but I didn’t really know what to expect.  I don’t think you can until/unless you’ve been to a huge conference.  All you can do is take the advice that seems good, be prepared and stay flexible.  So how’d it go for me?  Pretty well!  I learned a lot and I posted some ‘after the fact’ BEA tips based on my experience. 

I’m attending again this year, and I’m *gasp* ignoring several of my own suggestions (and that’s okay, too).  We could probably call this next section, How Cecelia Bedelia Is Doing BEA, And Why It’s Kind Of Crazy.

1. Time commitment.  I’m only going for two days, instead of four like last year.  I’m skipping the BEA Bloggers Conference.  It’s not that I don’t want to have the full experience (I do!) – my limitations are about vacation time at the day job and saving ca$hmoney.  If you’ll be at BEA on Friday and Saturday, we should probably be friends.

2. Business cards.  I ordered two hundred mini cards a month ago – twice the number I took with me last year. I like the thick card stock and lovely printing quality of MOO cards, and I found a 30% discount code online. Tip for life/the internet: if you’re going to online shop, always do a search for discount or promo codes before you hit the ‘purchase’ button.

3. Transportation.  The train: I’m taking it, and I booked early to ensure the best fare (something I failed to do last year).  I’m taking the early train up to NYC on Friday, and the 6-something in the evening train back home the next day so as to only spend one night in a hotel.  I will probably come to regret that…

4. Lodging.  Many of my fellow bloggers and attendees will tell you that the only way to do BEA affordably is to either live in the greater New York metro area, know someone who does and has a place to crash (me last year), or share a hotel room.  Since I didn’t feel like figuring out awkward financial arrangements with an internet friend, I am staying by myself in one of the Barnard College dorms provided through the BEA hotel booking partner.  Still expensive, but not bad for NYC, and being able to shut a door on other human beings privacy at the end of the day will be so worth it.

5. Children’s Author Breakfast.  It’s on Friday morning, and it’s the first thing I’ll do at BEA.  I had an amazing experience attending this breakfast last year (Lois Lowry made me weep).  I’m excited to hear from a new crop of authors this year, and if you’re going and sitting at the nice tables, CAN WE BE FRIENDS PLEASE?  I’d love to chat with people I know.  Last year I sat next to a film rights person who was perfectly nice, but I didn’t know what to say/do.  Blogging friends, volunteer yourselves!

6. Bag check and the USPS.  Also known as genius and lifesaver.  I plan to use the concierge-attended bag checks on the lower levels of the Javits Center throughout the day to cut down on the number of books I’m carrying at any given time.  And I’ll definitely repeat last year’s Post Office lunch break to mail my books home each day – it saved me from having an enormous stack at the end, and I got a breath of fresh air (alone!) in the middle of a very busy schedule.

7. Meet with publishing contacts and blogging friends.  Self-explanatory.  Umm… anyone want to do breakfast or coffee on Saturday? *grin*

8. Extra battery/handheld charger for phone. My phone is a combination watch, alarm, reading device, calendar and the portal to the internet.  And because I have an enormous smartphone, the battery dies every 2.5 hours when in use.  Also: the BEA app is too good not to use.  Extra juice for the phone = mandatory.

9.  Books!  Oh yes, that.  I am already looking at lists of authors and signings and panels I want to check out.  I tend to be fairly relaxed about schedules (no color-coded spreadsheets), but I’ll still have several ideas and possible plans in mind.

And I think that’s it!  Tell me: what are your tips, tricks, fears and/or plans for BEA?  If you don’t plan to attend, will you look up Armchair BEA?  Your secrets, please!

bea: what i saw and how i conquered

I’ve been blogging for over three years.  Until this week, I had never been to Book Expo America.  I feel lucky to have been able to attend – it wouldn’t have been possible without a bonus at the start of the year and several vacation days from work.  For me, this trip was a luxury, one I wouldn’t let myself stress over (because those are VACATION days, dude!), and one that I wanted to do from ‘outside the box.’  Know what?  It was fun.

I’m going to lay out the elements of my BEA 2012 experience below, in case you want to borrow them for future planning.  And also because I met some great people and ate some delicious food, and those experiences bear recording.

1.  Take the bus, not the train (and if you have to fly, i apologize in advance, this is useless advice).  Even though I like trains best, the itinerary I would have chosen was just too expensive.  But it was okay – largely because of item 2.

2.  Bring a friend.  One of my non-blogging, real life friends joined me for the first few days of the trip.  She wanted to get out and see things and go to cool places and wouldn’t let me sit indoors and obsess about what author would be where and when.   We could also commiserate if we picked a bad table at the restaurant and ended up overhearing a bizarre conversation (it happened. little italy.).  That’s how memories are made.

3.  Get to NYC early.  We got to NYC on Friday night.  We went out that night and slept in the next morning, by which time we were ready for some Saturday sight-seeing – nothing too ambitious, mind you – we just checked out the Egyptian and American wings of the Met.  But while waiting for dinner that night we walked into an open artist studio night.  And the next day we dropped by the Brooklyn Flea and went to a Mets baseball game.  Going in without an epic master plan can work to your advantage.

me, freaking out over a sphinx at the Met

4.  Think about staying somewhere other than Manhattan central.  Like…Brooklyn.  You knew I was going to say that!  But seriously, I would attribute the majority of my ‘good times’ during BEA to having a cool place to go back to in Brooklyn.  I stayed with cousins, but you could consider renting an apartment for a week, and even the hotels themselves are a bit cheaper in the outer boroughs.  It does mean you have to take the subway to and from the Javits each day, but the distance was very freeing – I didn’t feel like I was locked into the madhouse 24/7.

5.  Plan your meals – with an eye towards quality.  You’ll be in New. York. City.  The place is teeming with great restaurants, and not all of them will break the bank.  Do your research and find great places to eat – that way you won’t have any regrets later about settling for something subpar.  If a restaurant meal isn’t in your budget?  Make sure you have plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables!  A couple of places we tried this trip: Nights and Weekends (for brunch in Greenpoint), Pok Pok (thai dinner in Red Hook), Roberta’s (pizza plus in Bushwick), Ample Hills Creamery (ice cream! in Prospect Heights), & Shake Shack.

6.  Have a signing schedule/plan for BEA, but be reasonable.  Prep yourself for changes, for being tired, and for the idea that things may not work out.  You won’t get every book you want.  But you will find that there are so many things on offer that you’ll end up happy.  Oh, and expert tip: go to one of the author breakfasts.  I heard they were all good, and Lois Lowry’s speech made me cry at the children’s one.

7.  If you have publishing contacts, reach out and see if they’d like to meet.  I don’t regularly correspond with many publishers – but I did email in advance and ended up having a lovely meeting with one publicist (it totally made my day).

8.  Check out social media for news about BEA and outside events.  I found out about the Teen Author Carnival and a NYPL Science Fiction, Fantasy & Music evening through twitter links.  And someone tweeted another link to a Facebook contest to attend a Carolrhoda Lab-sponsored author/blogger breakfast.  I entered and won – and it was fabulous.  I was invited to one other morning event that I couldn’t make, but KIDS, here’s the deal: I wasn’t invited to publisher parties.  And I still had a really good time.

left to right: me, Tessa Gratton, Brenna Yovanoff, Jen (A Book and a Latte) & Maggie Stiefvater

9.  Make sure to meet up with your internet friends in real life.  If you correspond on twitter or via blog comments, you probably have something in common.  Take the extra step and ask them to meet you for lunch, or simply introduce yourself prior to a panel.  I was surprised that anyone recognized me – but it was so lovely when they did (or when I did the same thing to them).  

10.  Mail yourself books from the USPS during lunch breaks, take advantage of bag check the rest of the time, and follow other great BEA advice you can find in preparatory blog posts. 

I enjoyed myself most when I was wandering around people-watching, not putting limits my time and not worrying about the people ahead of me in line.  Thanks to all of the authors, bloggers, publishing contacts (shout-out to college friend Whitney!), my friend Lauren and especially my cousins Isaac and Jess for making BEA and New York a fun time.  I heart you.

bea bloggers & the fantastic flying books of mr. morris lessmore

As mentioned previously, I’m in New York.  I’m using vacation days from my real job to go to BEA Bloggers and Book Expo America 2012.  Real life friends: if you weren’t convinced before, I AM A NERD.  Okay, done now.

BEA Bloggers was a full day devoted to book blogging.  Book bloggers networked, checked out panels on everything from critical reviewing to monetization, and had a chance to meet favorite authors as well as learn and share their tried-and-true methods for keeping things new, interesting and on the right side of the ethical line.  My favorite panel of the day was one entitled ‘Demystifying the Book Blogger & Publisher Relationship’ – each of the panelists provided great input and the audience appreciated the topic.

On a different note: I got incredibly lucky with my breakfast table and made several new friends (also: was SO HAPPY to find danielle. from My Mercurial Musings sitting right next to me!  ask her about the level of happy.  it was pretty epic).  Best part of the day, by far, was meeting bloggers both new and familiar.  I heart you, wonderful book people!

One of the books in my ‘swag bag’ at BEA Bloggers (yes, this was a thing!) was a charming picture book by William Joyce called The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.  I love a good picture book, though I don’t search them out as often as I should (I have little cousins, but no kids of my own).  This?  Is a special story in a beautiful package, and one I’ll be buying for many years of baby showers and birthdays to come.

The book that inspired the Academy Award–winning short film, from New York Times bestselling author and beloved visionary William Joyce.

Morris Lessmore loved words. 

He loved stories.

He loved books.

But every story has its upsets.

Everything in Morris Lessmore’s life, including his own story, is scattered to the winds.  

But the power of story will save the day. 

Stunningly brought to life by William Joyce, one of the preeminent creators in children’s literature, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a modern masterpiece, showing that in today’s world of traditional books, eBooks, and apps, it’s story that we truly celebrate—and this story, no matter how you tell it, begs to be read again and again.

Morris Lessmore is in the habit of writing his daily joys and activities in his own book.  But when his world is turned upside down, things turn dull and confusing.  It takes a special encounter, a flying book and a lady floating through the sky for Morris to find his place among the books. 

The story is simple, redeeming, and magical.  The few lines on each page are almost window-dressing for the lovely illustrations.  Those illustrations range from sepia-toned and melancholy to bright, happy and action-filled.  There were a couple of page spreads that were particularly wonderful – including the one here (you can see that I enjoyed this book IMMEDIATELY), with its letters and words super-sized and at odd angles.  It’s about getting lost in books, and should come across as sweet, earnest, and perhaps a bit nostalgic for the average reader.

Recommended for: fans of beautifully illustrated picture books, readers large and small, or old and quite young, and especially anyone who sees a book and knows that enchantment awaits inside.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore will be released on June 19^th, 2012 from Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster).  For more on the film and app that preceded the book, check out the website.