Since I waited longer than most, my memory of everything that happened isn't perfect (there were so many things happening at once) so I'm relying on the pictures I took to jog my memory as well as give you some visuals of what I saw. I had a scheduele with all the author signings/events that I wanted to go to but I think I may have recycled it o_O;
But anyway... I was able to go all three days to BEA; I went to the city alone and it was very overwhelming at first (I admit that I cried the first day--I'm not used to traveling all by myself) but I eventually got the hang of it. Lexie was kind enough to walk me to Javits and back from Penn Station although we did lose each other that first day (it was my fault--I came out of the wrong exit). There are like three (or five? oh, I don't even know) exits from Penn and I'm only used to one. *sigh* But she found me, and we walked to Javits so the adventure could begin >D I brought a mini-suitcase this year so I wouldn't have to worry about carrying all the books I would eventually get and if any of you ever decide to go to BEA, DEFINETELY take a luggage bag with you. A backpack is not enough for all the books/swag you will accumulate. I tried that last year and failed horribly. Alright, so here are most of the pictures I took....
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| Sorry for the crappy quality :( |
This is only a portion of the autographing area but there was a long row of tables and the lines (depending on the author) tended to be very long. There were back-to-back signings so if there was an extremely popular author at 3PM (and it was only 2PM at the time), there'd already be an advanced line for the 3PM author. I can't remember WHEN Maggie Stiefvater was there but that was the case when I arrived half an hour early. There were a few people waiting already but I managed to get in the front of the line--yes, I met Maggie Stiefvater everyone; she's lovely!--and managed to make another signing.
Since I was much more familiar with the layout this year, I was more confident in going off by myself (I glued myself to Taschima, Lexie & Emily last year, haha. Seriously, I had NO idea what I was doing!) whenever I had to make a signing that no one else wanted to go to or couldn't go to. (Not everyone's taste is the same, you know?) I had a lot of authors/booths I wanted to visit but there were some signings that I refused to miss. Like these two ladies, for example:
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| It felt like meeting God O_O |
We all know who Sarah Dessen is, yes? If you don't, I feel sad for you. But not so sad that I wouldn't want to club you for not reading one of the best contemporary YA authors AROUND---for realz, if you haven't read any of her books, you have to. Anyhoo. This line was VERY long but I got there at a decent time and met Ms. Dessen. She's just as sweet and pretty as she seems :) I totally texted my friends afterwards and they were like WHAAAAAAAAA? xDDD
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| They misspelled her name! Boo! |
Shatter Me was the book I HAD to get at BEA, no exceptions. And I arrived there early for the line and yes, I did get the book. (*cue the cheers and shrieking*) And spoke to Tahereh for a few seconds. She was lovely too :) I even pulled out my blue penguin and she recognized who I was! :D (I did tweet her about the penguin one time, lol. She's very responsive on twitter--tweet at her!) I lucked out on this line since I was a few people away from where the expo people cut off the line. *looks upwards* Thank you, Book Gods.
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| I walked under this many times. |
One thing that I appreciate about the expo is all the time and energy that goes into promotion. Look at that banner! It's genius. I kept staring at it for the three days I went to Javits and wondered if this was the official cover for Daughter of Smoke & Bone since I saw another image floating around the web.
More stuff I walked under!
This section always had people. There was a teen hour which I attended and I managed to be one of the people that didn't have to leave the line---they were counting heads since there were more people than books to hand out!
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| Harlequin booth filled with people. |
You couldn't really get anything from the Spanish pubs but I walked there a few times because they had plush carpets (my feet were sore and walking on SOFT carpet felt awesome before I had to step back onto the hard floor) and because I knew what everyone was saying, hehe. I did spot the YA section where I recognized a bunch of American titles--that was cool to see.
I passed by Random House a few times but didn't realize that the Egmont booth was RIGHT there. I was desperately looking for an arc of Undercurrents by Tricia Rayburn. I think my only regret for BEA (besides not being able to hang out with anyone outside of Javits) was missing Tricia's signing. I would've loved to meet her since I really enjoyed her first book. I missed a lot of signings for YA contemporary novels since a huge quantity of them were between 10 and 10:30... my goal was to get to Laini Taylor's signing first (which I did) and once I had my copy, I'd rush over to the autographing area. Laini came around half an hour later than she was supposed to so I missed many of those YA signings (including Tricia's--grr!) but I wasn't too bummed---I did get my copy of Daughter of Smoke & Bone ;) 
And just so you can have an idea of how generous some of the publishers were,---see the plush carpetting? I walked there A LOT, lol--there would be galley giveaways at certain times or if you were at the right place at the right time, you'd pass a display with a bunch of free arcs! I think this was in the HarperCollins booth? I liked that the people were creative with how they placed the books. 
Take a closer look! :D It was so neatly stacked. People were passing by grabbing copies of them but I was nice and only took one. *nods* You can't grab everything at this expo---you have to picky with what you accept/grab. This was another lesson I learned last year.
I know there's more to talk about but it's been a while and... I don't think I can properly explain everything I saw or the people I met. OH. Here's one thing I didn't mention: I wore the Mara Dyer t-shirt I snagged at the carnival the first day and I DID bump into Michelle Hodkin--one of the new friends I made (Hi Goldy! *waves*) towed me over to Michelle once we spotted her and we talked for a few minutes. That was exciting O_O And because I was wearing the shirt, I was placed on that super awesome list for news of the sequel to Mara Dyer (which is on super lock-down, apparently). SQUEE. x) OH and those rumors of there being arcs of Stephanie Perkins' new novel? IT WAS TRUE. But the copies were super limited--apparently you had to go up to the Penguin booth and ASK for one. I found out too late though--all the copies were gone. -_- But that is fine. I can't wait why was I not one of the chosen ones?! I can wait. Really.
Okay, so that's all! I hope my pictures satisfy your curiosity and give you a decent glimpse into BEA. I'll do another post where I SHOW you guys what I got from BEA---and naturally there will be a giveaway. I didn't forget you guys ;)
I had an amazing time this year and I'm already waiting for the next expo, lol. It'll be in June 2012, people. Mark your calenders!
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