Long Overdue BEA Wrap-up!

Once again, I am way behind! Had a family emergency that has occupied all of my time since returning from BEA. Things are going better now, for which I am profoundly grateful! Anyway, I was in New York from May 24 thru the 29th for Book Expo America. Last year was so much fun, I didn't think it could be more fun or exciting this year, but it was! There were so many bloggers there, old friends and new, and it was exciting to see everyone. Plus, on Friday I attended the first ever Book Blogger Convention! Michelle, Trish, Natasha, Nicole, Amy, Rebecca and everyone involved in the organization of it did a fantastic job. It was interesting, educational and the keynote speaker, author Maureen Johnson, was an inspired choice. She was hilarious and so much fun to listen to! I don't buy very many books but she completely won me over, I'll be going out to buy all of hers!

Show Floor

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The first exhibit day was Wednesday, it was crazy! So many people everywhere...not to mention the books! I had more than I could carry within the first hour. Time to start being more selective! It is very hard to limit yourself when fantastic books are being thrust at you from every direction. I admit, BEA is heaven for someone like me. Nothing but books, authors, book publicists, book publishers, book lovers, book bloggers....very fun and exciting. So, Wednesday was great. But it was Thursday that was fantastic!

Me and Clinton Kelly

You'll think I'm very silly, but I was so excited to meet Clinton Kelly from TLC's show What Not to Wear. I love the show, have been watching it for ages and learning from it! (I put a LOT of thought into what I would wear on Thursday!) He was signing at 10am and I got in line early. He was so nice! Even complimented me on my outfit (whew!)...you know I couldn't meet him and have him thinking "Wow, YOU need to be on my show..."!! What is a fashion guru doing at BEA? He has a book coming out, not until October, called Oh No She Didn't. We didn't actually get the book, it was a little preview pamphlet which he signed for me.

As you walk down the aisles at BEA one of the things that you notice immediately is the lines that form around the booths. There is a separate autographing area where authors sign at scheduled times, but many publisher booths have authors signing, too. So, as you walk by a line you get curious and lean in to ask who everyone is waiting to see. This happens over and over again during the course of BEA (at least for me, I'm always curious to know who is causing all the excitement at the moment). Now, I make up a schedule before I go of who I want to see, so I usually don't stop. But early afternoon on Thursday I walked by a line that had just started to form...only about 15 people in it. When I asked who it is for I was told Kathryn Stockett would be signing copies of her bestseller, The Help ! This was completely unannounced, probably for crowd control reasons, but I was thrilled. The Help has been out well over a year and is still at the top of bestseller lists (#11 right now on Amazon). And I had yet to get a copy, let alone a signed one. And then I got to meet the author, too! I tried to get a picture but the one I manged to take was horribly blurry...to many people jostling around to get a second shot.

Me and Tim Gunn

At 1 pm Thursday, Tim Gunn (he has had a long career in the fashion world but is best known for Project Runway) was scheduled to sign his new book Gunn's Golden Rules, which will be out in September. I got in line at noon because I knew that the line would get incredibly long. The signing started exactly on time but the line moved extremely slowly. Tim is so friendly and nice, he chatted with each person, called them by name, asked about them, taking 2-3 minutes for each of us. Which translated to a long wait in line that was completely worth it! What a gracious man. I was probably about 40th in line and it was a bit after two when I finally got to meet him (the goofy picture of me is above). He was only scheduled to sign for ONE HOUR, from 1-2. After I saw him there were still hundreds of people in line behind me. When I left the room at 4:15 pm he was still there, looking like he had just stepped out there, smiling and generous with each and every person. He stood there for as long as it took to see everyone who wanted to meet him. I was very impressed.

A night out with Caitlin and the crew from Unbridled Books was a perfect way to end a perfect day! We all had a great time at Hudson Bar & Books, an appropriate spot for us!

After Friday's Book Blogger Convention we decided dinner was in order. Allie (Hist-Fic Chick) and Nicole (Linus' Blanket), our resident New Yorkers, led the way to Dos Caminos where we had twenty something bloggers all together for some great mexican food and, of course, margaritas. I wish I had time to chat with everyone but the conversation was non-stop. It was a great evening. The bill was well over $1,000! So much fun, a perfect end to a perfect trip!

Jen (Devourer of Books), Allie (Hist-Fic Chick) and Me

And there you have it, a fantastic BEA! Can't wait for next year! (Thanks for sharing the above photo, Allie!)

BEA 2009 Wrap-Up & 100th Review Giveaway Announcement

Got home at 2am this morning from a fantastic four day trip to NYC for Book Expo America. It was just incredible and we had a wonderful time! It was my first BEA and I was repeatedly told that it was "the smallest one ever." All I have to say to that is "Thank Goodness!" I did not sit down for three days so my back was killing me and I was completely exhausted. But also thrilled to meet bloggers and publicists who I have been talking to online and emailing for the last year. They are all so nice and such fun to talk to, I wish there had been time to say more than "hi" to most of them! But I was so happy to get to spend a little time with Kathy from Bermudaonion's Weblog, Julie from Booking Mama, Amy from My Friend Amy, Stephanie from Stephanie's Written Word, Nicole from Linus's Blanket, Beth from Beth Fish Reads and Lisa from Online Publicist.

It was also great to meet the publicists at Hachette (so much fun!), Sourcebooks, Unbridled, Five Star, Medallion and Penguin.

There are probably people that I am forgetting at the moment, but they were all a pleasure to meet. Each and every one was positive and enthusiastic. I saw no evidence of the much-hyped "death of publishing," for which I am grateful.

Friday night was the BEAtweetup party. Huge turnout and a very cool venue at Greenhouse:

There were signings with many interesting authors but the one that pleased me the most was Julie Andrews, who wrote the book that was my absolute favorite when I was a kid: Mandy. (She even signed a bookplate for me to put into my old copy of Mandy.) And so many others: Annie Barrows, Eileen Goudge, James Patterson, Alan Bradley. For a book lover, it was heaven!

I also got some great books to add to my giveaway pile, which is outgrowing my house. I've been planning a HUGE giveaway to celebrate my 100th review. I am currently at 91, so 100 will be coming up in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for the details, it looks like I'm going to be giving away in excess of fifty books, you won't want to miss it!

Saturday night we went to The Strand. It is the best bookshop anywhere (in my humble opinion) and I never miss a chance to visit there when I am in NYC. For the first time ever, I did not pick up a single book! Not even one. I was so overwhelmed with great galleys at BEA, I didn't even want another book. My husband went a little crazy, though, and made up for me not buying anything!

**Edited to add that I did have one disappointment at BEA, and it was a biggie. One of my all-time favorite authors, Diana Gabaldon, was there signing and I missed her because I had no idea that she was scheduled to appear. She wasn't on any of the published schedules before the show. Here's a tip for anyone going to their first BEA: Publishers Weekly puts out a daily BEA newspaper, which is distributed free all over the conference center. Pick one up first thing in the morning and read it. I grabbed one on Friday morning and then proceeded to carry it around with me for the entire day. It wasn't until I was sitting in bed Friday night that I opened it up and read it. There was the ad for Diana's appearance on Friday morning. And I missed it! I'll admit, there was some cursing in my room at that moment. My sweet hubby felt so bad for me!

Attending Book Expo America this weekend? Don't miss this!!

If you are going to be at BEA in New York this weekend, please stop by Booth 4077, Firebrand Technologies. The great people at Firebrand and Net Galley decided to host Book Bloggers at their booth this year and invited us all to sign up for time slots so that anyone interested can come and meet us. They got a great response and we are all so excited to be participating! The schedule for all the bloggers over the three day event can be found here and updates can be found on the Net Galley blog, Follow the Reader.

I'll be there on Sunday May 31 from 1-2 p.m. Please come over to say hello and enter to win a Sony E-Reader!