It's that time of year again -- time for us to recap our BookExpo/BookCon 2019 experience! We had such a great time meeting friends, seeing authors, getting books, and exploring over 5 exhausting days, even though things didn't exactly go according to plan. (Read more to find out about that!) So without further ado, here is everyone's recap on the last week and everything that happened!
Amber's Recap:
Happy post BookExpo and BookCon! After the most exhausting few days of my life I've been just chilling and resting and reading all the wonderful books I got. Sadly, this year I was only able to attend Wednesday and Thursday. The plan was for me to attend Wednesday - Sunday but on Thursday I injured myself and ended up fracturing my ankle. So, I sadly had to cut my trip short. For the two days I got to attend BookExpo I had the time of my life. I met so many of my favorite authors, bloggers I adored, and met so many new friends and met up with friends that I made last year. Though I couldn't attend BookExpo on Friday, Emily and Jessica sent me videos and pictures and I felt like I was a part of all the festivities. In the two days I managed to get 20 books and a few that Emily and Jessica managed to pick up for me. Though this year didn't go according to our plans, I had an amazing time (regardless of my fractured ankle) and can't wait for next year!
Emily's Recap:
The time has come again for us to recap our BookExpo and BookCon experiences. So as most of you know, this was our second year attending BookExpo and, let me tell you, I had a blast. I was pleasantly surprised that Wednesday became an actual show day (there usually aren't any drops or signings that day) so we were able to get in a few extra hours on the show floor. We were able to meet so many amazing authors, meet up with friends, and even make new friends! I was able to get everything I wanted plus more so that was a major score. The lines were well organized and everyone actually seemed to be on the same page. Then comes BookCon. I've always known BookCon to be the crazier of the two but this year takes the award for most chaotic. Out of the five I've been to, this year has been the craziest. There were just so many people that everywhere you turned you were in a mob. If you weren't two hours early to a drop you weren't getting the book and the lines were unorganized and out of control. My biggest complaint every year has been the Penguin booth and this year is no different. They refuse to start lines until 10 minutes before a drop and it causes dangerous mobs and rushing when they do start the line. BookCon was a way for us to meet up with friends who couldn't attend Expo but I honestly don't think I want to attend BookCon next year. Oh, and side note, we stayed in a hotel this year and it was the best decision we could have made. It made lugging our suitcases around so much easier and we weren't exhausted from the commute. All in all, I was able to get everything I wanted and had an amazing time and am super excited for next year!
Jessica's Recap:
This year was our second BookExpo and our fifth BookCon, and wow, have so many things changed in the best way! It's still crazy to me that we get a chance to come to the biggest publishing event in the world and meet so many different readers, authors, publishers, and friends. This year, I managed to snag every single book that I was really excited for, which means I have a summer full of incredible reads ahead of me! I actually love BookExpo more than BookCon because it's so much calmer, and we get to mingle with our friends without super long lines or intense crowds. The staff members were also super helpful and polite this year, so Wednesday-Friday was super calm and fun! As for BookCon, we still had so much fun, but it was definitely more crowded, lines filled up faster, and we spent more time walking around and saying hello to our friends, which was much calmer. As for my haul, this year, I limited myself to only picking up books that I was actually really excited for, which ended up being a good decision because now I am absolutely in love with every single thing in my haul.
This was also the first year that we got invited to a blogger-exclusive event (thank you, Fierce Reads!) where we got to mingle with other bloggers and get a sneak peek at Macmillan's winter 2020 YA catalog. Not only was it a super fun event, but it was also really important to see publishers prioritizing bloggers and giving them a valid networking space -- it made us feel really appreciated, both as individual workers and also as a blogging community as a whole. It was really important and we loved it!
The fact that Amber got hurt and had to leave early was really a bummer, but we still made the best of it by getting her some of the books she was super excited for, and we even got little videos from authors and friends telling Amber that they hope she gets well soon -- so that was something small we were able to do to make her smile and cheer her up, so that was really special. But yes, back to my thoughts on the event -- we networked with some incredible people from some incredible publishing companies this year, which means we have some exciting collaborations happening here on the blog soon, so stay tuned!
So, that's our recap post for BEA & BookCon 2019! It was such an incredible experience to be able to go to BookExpo for the second time -- and we also got to see so many awesome panels, authors, and spectacular blogger friends! And we made so many more, so there was so much to love!
Did you attend BookExpo or BookCon this year? What were your favorite things about it? Comment down below and let us know!
