My BEA Highlights

I had a fabulous time in New York last weekend.  Rather than try to re-cap my adventure, I thought I’d just give you the highlights. Most of my time was spent at Book Expo America so most of the post is about it – it is an overwhelming, exhausting, wonderful event.

1.  Spending a weekend in New York with my fabulous husband.  We saw a Broadway play, Times Square, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, the stores on 5th Avenue, Rockefeller Center, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and Radio City Music Hall.  Carl did some sight seeing on his own while I was at BEA and even bought me a new iPod at the Apple Store while he was out! (The picture is of us at Rockefeller Center Plaza.)

2.  Meeting other bloggers who I’ve been interacting with on line for close to a year now.  Every single blogger was exactly the way I expected them to be.   There were no awkward, getting-to-know-you moments – just hugs all around and lots to talk about.  Carl was happy to meet some of my “blogger buddies” too. (That’s Amy, Natasha, Julie, Serena and Anna in the picture.  I met lots of other bloggers too, but didn’t get everyone’s picture, I’m sad to say.)

3.  Meeting authors, publishers and publicists.  I got autographs from 9 different authors.  Adriana Trigiani was gracious enough to autograph a book for me before I got there when My Friend Amy begged her.  Booking Mama pointed out Adriana later, and I went over to thank her and get a hug!  She is awesome and really appreciates her fans.  Luis Urrea and his wife Cindy are fantastic and made everyone feel special.  It was so nice to put faces to some of the publishers and publicists I’ve been dealing with.  It was also loads of fun to meet the adorable Laura and Fraser from Adaptive Blue.  They are so nice and appreciative of everyone’s support.  (Luis Urrea was kind enough to pose for a picture with me.)

4. Saturday morning’s author breakfast.  I went with several other bloggers and we got to hear Craig Ferguson, Jeanette Walls, Tracy Kidder and Ben Mezrich speak.  They were all interesting and well spoken.  We even scored books by all of them but Ben Mezrich.

5.  Book Blogger Panel.  This panel was organized by Jennifer who works for Random House and blogs as Book Club Girl and consisted of Julie of Booking Mama, Amy of My Friend Amy, Stephanie of Stephanie’s Written Word, Beth of Beth Fish Reads, Dawn of She is Too Fond of Books and Natasha of Maw Books Blog.  Let me tell you, these women are articulate, intelligent and passionate about books.  I was proud of them and the way they represented bloggers.  There was a standing room only crowd and lots of questions from the audience.  This is definitely a hot topic in publishing these days. (Left to right – Julie, Natasha, Jennifer, Stephanie, Beth, Dawn and Amy)

BEA was fantastic.  I recommend going next year if you’re interested in connecting with bloggers, authors, publishers, and publicists or want to know about trends in publishing.  There were plenty of free galleys out there, but don’t go for them – they will be the most expensive free books you’ve ever owned in your life!  I’ve already started saving money for next year.