BEA is Streaming!

As you can see from above, the BEA streaming video is all set up and reading to go!

Streaming will actually begin Tuesday morning with the Book and Author breakfast, featuring Stephen Colbert.  It'll feature two more author breakfasts through Thursday along with buzz panels and events on the author stages.  Check out this list for all of the details on what you can watch streaming throughout the week.

Armchair BEA is also doing their version of BEA streaming with their online correspondents set up to chat about the event as it goes on.  So even though you may be missing out on actually being there this year, you have a bunch of options to make it FEEL like you're really there.  Be sure to jump in on these opportunities.  I'm sure you'll end up seeing more than those of us on the floor!

A Handful More on BEA

It's now officially one week until BEA.  For those of you that are going, are you excited?  I hope so!  It's super fun, interacting with so many different people at all levels of the publishing industry.  Right now I just have a few more things I wanted to mention that I didn't say in my Obligatory BEA Post from last week.

 If anyone wants to say hi while at BEA or get a hold of me for whatever reason, the easiest way to do that would be to @ me on Twitter, donnaatbites.  It'll pop up a couple of different ways on my phone, which I'll have on me constantly, so I'll definitely get it.

Along with following me on Twitter be sure to tag along on my tumblr page as well.  You can find that here.  Instagram + direct posting = instaphotos.  I'll be posting them, possibly in a variety of filters.  So you'll definitely want to follow for that.

If you can't attend BEA for whatever reason, be sure to sign up for Armchair BEA.  I did it last year and it was loads of fun.  I also won a bunch of books.  Yes, I went to BEA last year but only for a day. I won't be doing Armchair this year because I'll be at BEA for most of the week.  But you'll want to do this.  It's totally worth the effort, you'll get introduced to a bunch of new bloggers and it's just plain old fun posting and participating in all of the activities.  And winning!  Not to mention BEA is actually sponsoring this year.  How awesome is that?  It's grown so much!

For those of you that are going to BEA, don't forget to use their My Show Planner and download the mobile app for use at the show itself.  You'll get to keep track of all of your stuff in one easy to use place plus get near-instant changes to scheduling right there.  The first two years I went I can't tell you how many times my schedule changed as I was getting into a signing line.  What do you mean they're not here?  But I wouldn't discount printing out your schedule either.  As the foremost killer of technology, I'd always recommend a failsafe backup.

And last but not least, my BEA information posts of yore.  I've done quite a few of these posts, which is why I don't really do them anymore.  I'm not a fan of repeating myself.  But I will repost my links.  And if you do happen to have any last minute questions I'd be more than happy to answer them if you want to leave them in the comments.

2010 -

• BEA Tips for BEA Newbie
• BEA ?s Answered + 1
• BEA ?s Answered + 2
• BEA ?s Answered + 3
• BEA ?s Answered + 4
• Up to HERE with BEA Books!
• BEA ?s Answered + 5 and Final!

2011 -

• Big YA Books at BEA and Helpful Links
• More on BEA
• Bookish Decorum at BEA
• Last BEA ? Answered!

Even My Dog Loves BEA Swag

My dog pulled my 'Anhk if you're horny' horn from the Ellora's Cave booth out of one of the bags and started trying to kill it. Sometimes I question his intelligence.

The Obligatory BEA Post

Because everyone that went to BEA must have one. At least. Those that were there the whole week will have multiples. But me? Just the one. I was at BEA on its final day, Thursday, May 26th. I didn't realize until the day before that the floor was only open until three. Initially I was a little disappointed but then I got over it. Why? Less temptation. I had to fit everything into an Army ruck that had to be carried on my back. Not good policy if I couldn't do that.

But being there on the last day of BEA definitely had its advantages. After last year's clusterfuck of only two days of exhibition, going back to the three day convention was a reprieve. There were noticeably fewer people, far less of a rush and just the general atmosphere was a lot calmer than my previous experiences. On top of all of that, because it's the last day, publishers were trying to unload their stash. Even if they were from New York, they didn't want to lug their stuff back to the office. So not only did I get a massive amount of swag, I was able to grab extra copies of books.

I was more about the swag this year mainly because I had to be able to carry my bag. But because the pubs wanted to unload, I was able to cash in on some extra book copies as well. So before people start getting all snot-nosed that I have duplicate copies of books (as some are wont to do), I asked for every single one of them and had others shoved upon me willingly, without my asking. Like I said, being there on the last day had its advantages. Wandering around the floor an hour before it closed even more so. So don't shoot me for being in the right place at the right time. I get duplicate copies to pass them along. I never go to BEA without my readers in mind.

Now let's get on with the visuals, shall we? I apologize for the load time for this post. I have a few pictures. I resolved to actually take them this year since I didn't really last year and I don't think I did at all the year before.

This year there was more order to the signing lines. Since they didn't have to cram so many authors into such a short amount of time, they were able to space them out, along with their lines. Instead of them extending back and curling around and you end up wandering them trying to figure out which line was for what, they looped in the signing aisles themselves. I ended up right at a corner (not the actual front of the line) for Ellen Hopkins' signing so I snagged a picture as she was just sitting down.

And again as she was signing my copy of Perfect. Squee! She poses well.


On my way over to Melissa Marr's signing I inadvertently came across Tony Hawk signing his new middle grade series! I didn't realize he was there again this year. And I have no idea who that is posing with him but it was a good shot so I took it.


And again when he was actually signing. I thought about hopping in his line but it was huge and the wait in Melissa Marr's was really long so I ended up missing it. I'm just glad I got a couple more shots. :)


In Melissa Marr's signing line I met up with the Mad Scientist of Steampunkery & Book Reviews, who's a great big bucket of awesome. She's more elusive than I am! Even getting books signed she had them signed to Mad Scientist instead of her true name. Ask her nicely and she might just tell you. No promises though.

While in line I snapped a couple of shots of Disney Book Group's booth.


And some token Riordan fare. Solider boy had me watch Percy Jackson this weekend and dammit all, I need to read the books now. That movie was fantastic. Kevin McKidd really helped.

Me with Melissa Marr who's fantastic and super sweet. I haven't actually read the Wicked Lovely books yet but I'm thinking I have to. I really wanted Enthralled which I got as well (she was signing both) and I'm anxious to read it. She also stuck a Graveminder bookmark into the book as well.

The HarperCollins booth, which was huge. The bigger pubs tended to have much larger booths.

Some Iron Fey love in banner form.


Have I mentioned that this was pretty much the one book I really wanted from BEA? Not only did I get a copy but I got an extra one too. :) I'll be giving that one away soon.


My day wouldn't have been complete if I didn't meet Nicole from WORD for Teens. We've been in touch since pretty much our beginnings and we finally had a chance to meet! Quite possibly one of the sweetest chicks I know. I wish I got to hang out with her more! I also ran into fellow blogger Katherine from The Lady Critic's Library. Seriously a total sweetheart.

The super Kody Keplinger as she's signing my copy of Shut Out in the autographing area.


The Ashes display at the Egmont Booth. I came back to it later in the day so I didn't get a shot of it with all of the ARCs out. I'm just happy I got something! I did get an extra copy so look for the giveaway when I post the review in the next day or so.


The Random House sign. Another big booth publisher.


The Hachette area, specifically Little, Brown which is one of my favorite publishers. They're so nice!


Bloomsbury. More awesome.


I love how they do up these stairs every year. Last year it was Heather Brewer's Vlad Tod series. This year, Dork Diaries.


The first publisher I started working with as a book blogger, Llewellyn.


And their YA counterpart, Flux. They come out with some awesome books.


A blurry picture of Jane Fonda at one of the stages. I couldn't get close enough for anything more decent, unfortunately.


And the aftermath. This is what I carried from the Javits Center to Penn Station to get the subway to 42nd Street. From there I lugged it through the subway tunnels from hell (including up and down ramps and stairs) to get to the Grand Central shuttle. To Grand Central where I was arriving nearly as the train was pulling out. I then RAN, yes ran, to catch the train and then hauled this maybe 3 cars forward before I about died in an empty seat.


Without the dog-like comparison.


What was stuffed into the ruck (excluding the blue bag at the top, I could have fit it but I didn't want to crush the posters).


And all spread out, part one. I didn't realize the lighting was this bad until I'd cleared the table. By then I wasn't about to lay it all out again.

And spread out part two. I told you I got a lot of swag. Swag packs galore!

So that was my day. If you went, how was yours?

Last BEA ? Answered!

I have one lingering question in my spreadsheet and then you can consider questions closed for the year. Since pretty much everyone that's going to BEA is already there or on their way, not much of a point left now in keeping them open, is there? So here we go!

I have read some people saying that you should bring a rolling suitcase, bu BEA has clearly stated that no rolling suitcases are allowed inside of Javits, so I am kinda confused.

The Javits Center has bag check areas where you can check the intended massive suitcase. No, you can't bring it on the floor but you can go back to it while it's checked and drop stuff off throughout the day. That makes security seem kind of lax but it's a trust thing. I wouldn't worry about it. Plus it's a nice relief on your shoulders.

Have fun at BEA, everyone! And I hope to see some of you there!

Ashes Cover Reveal and Why You Need to Go to Ilsa's BEA Signing

Remember when I reviewed a book called Draw the Dark and I gushed for it like I gushed for very few books in my book blogging days? Remember the fantabulousness that I thought it was? Remember how it made my 2010 Squee!!mers list that was, needless to say, rather short? Remember the last time I steered you wrong about a book I gushed about? Yeah, I didn't think so on that last one.

Ilsa J. Bick, author of Draw the Dark, is coming out with her next book, Ashes, in September through Egmont. Is it like Draw the Dark? Not so much. It's more along the lines of the current apocalyptic/dystopian trend that's hitting the YA market now. Take a look -

An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky, destroying every electronic device and killing billions. For those spared, it's a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human . . .

Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the Changed, Alex meets up with Tom - a young army veteran - and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse.

This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to survive. (ARC back blurb)

A proper apocalyptic, but not like anything I've read yet. More on that in a minute. Right now I want to release its cover. If you get the Publisher's Weekly daily emails, then you've already seen it. If you've looked to the right and in my sidebar, you've seen the stock ARC cover. If you read my Added to the Pile post on Sunday, you've seen the tentative cover on my ARC. Creepy as hell. Rest assured I turn the thing over when it's on my nightstand. But the real cover? It looks like this -

You creeped out? Good. You should be. Because it's a creepy ass story. It's not meant to have some torn love triangle or really have any pretty romance in it at all. It's a survival story and it holds no qualms about it.

Ilsa's signing?

Tuesday, May 24th

10:30 - 11:30 at Table 4 in the Autographing Area

2:30 - 3:30 at Egmont Booth 4522

Why should you line up nice and early to get this ARC?

• It's an apocalyptic story that makes sense. With a growing number of cranked out dystopians and general books of future dismay being released, it's plainly obvious Ilsa has spent a lot of time crafting this destroyed world. She did the research. She studied the people. The thing's so damn realistic that it'll have you looking up at the sky with a touch of fear in your eyes.
• It's relatively romance-free. I say relatively because there is a hint of something. What would a YA book be without some nominal teenage hormones, even in the most desolate of times? But it's not a focus. The story is about these kids surviving. That's it. I know there are those of you out there yearning for a future-imperfect story sans romance. This is it.
• It will make you feel things you didn't think a book could make you feel. Like how you really shouldn't read this when you're eating. And I'm not exaggerating. From nausea to pain to extreme loss, you will feel it all along with Alex.
• Ilsa is merciless with her characters. They are spared nothing. Logic does not evade them. They don't miraculously escape tricky situations. They get pwned by them. They are ripped, torn and pulled apart until there's barely anything left, but their will to survive is so strong they just keep going.
• Zombies. Sort of. They're kind of non-traditional in that they're not reanimated corpses. But the Changed aren't spared that classic title.

I could keep going but I'll save it for the review. So now you have no excuse not to go to either of Ilsa's signings. So go and tell her I sent you. You'll meet an awesome chick and get a fan-fucking-tabulous book while you're at it. Seriously, you won't want to put it down and, quite frankly, it blows the rest of those dismal-future books clean out of the water.

Bookish Decorum at BEA

It's a hotly contested issue of just what kind of decorum you're supposed to have at BEA when it comes to grabbing books. For those of you popping your BEA cherry this year, you'll see stacks of books piled up on the floors at publisher booths, ready for grabbing. The urge to ask for this title or that will be there. At signings? You'll probably have the want to ask for just one more signed copy. But what will people think about you if you do?

Guys, this is me. To that last sentence I say bite me. But on the other hand, if you attend BEA for no other purpose than to horde books to have giveaways and boost your blog stats, pray you don't come across me. Snatching multiple copies of books from publishers is tacky (that doesn't mean I haven't seen people do it, and NOT book bloggers either). Yes, there is a giant stack of books but they're meant to distribute as far as they can and once that pile is gone, it's gone.

So what's that middle road between regretting not getting an extra copy and being a slut at a sausage festival? Here's what I did last year and it worked really well for me. I even had publishers pushing books at me to take.

I asked.

OMG, right? Shocking!

At publisher booths, lay down your business card and introduce yourself. If you know a book is there that you want, just ask if you can grab a couple copies for promotion on your blog. A publicist's favorite word is promotion. Unless they're really strapped for copies, they won't have a problem with it. In fact, they'll probably be a little grateful that you actually asked.

At signings, don't be afraid to ask for an extra copy (AN, singular), signed or not, so you can

promote the book. Don't worry about holding up the line. You won't. Just quickly mention you run a book blog and would love to be able to give away a copy. Most of the time they'll just sign it automatically. One publicist in the autographing area really did push multiple copies at me (not all of them signed) because he was eager to have me promote the book (it was one of the YA Editors' Buzz titles last year). More than happy to oblige!

I'm sure there are people reading this that think me the Antichrist for even thinking the thought of considering getting extra copies. ONE AND ONLY ONE! But the reality is, we're promoters. That's why ARCs are there. To aide us in the promotion of the product at hand. Just be gracious about it and everything will be fine.

I think it's fairly obvious that book bloggers have the short end of the stick in the publishing world. Now that even more of us are attending BEA, now's our time to really shine. Now's our time to show how gracious we are to get those ARCs, how helpful we want to be in promoting books and reading in general. How professional we can be.

This is a PROFESSIONAL event, remember. Act it. I'm not saying don't fangirl/boy at your favorite author or get giddy talking to publishers. What I'm saying is don't be a douche. Don't hoard half a dozen copies of a single ARC for any reason. Don't hold a place for twelve of your closest blogging friends at the front of the signing line (lord have mercy if you do that in a line I'm in, so help me I'll call you right the FUCK out and make you slink to the back of the line where you belong, I can't count how many times I saw this happen and let's just say it made a dent in the book blogger bubble). Just practice common courtesy. We need to show these industry professionals that we're there to help them (although for the most part, I think we've already done this, with publishers, anyway). That we're just as capable as anyone else to get the word out there about their books. Show them your mama done taught you right. The majority of these guys love us. Let's make them love us even more. The last thing we need to do is hand them more reasons to discredit what we do.

At the end of the day, have fun. Get books. Hand out business cards. Get an inside look at the publishing world that a lot of people don't get to see. Take advantage of the opportunity while you have it and be thankful you can get it. Just keep decorum in mind. You may think I'm just stating the obvious but you'd be shockingly surprised.

More On BEA

I got another question to answer from my 2011 BEA post this year so let's see what I can do -

I started the non editorial press registration but it says you still have to pay...

That is the one that makes you pay, unfortunately. I went through the editorial media door for registration and everything turned out okay. That one you don't have to pay for but where they have to confirm your credentials. A question I did notice this year that wasn't on there last year was whether or not you were granted a press pass last year (or the year prior, as it were). That might grandfather those of us in who have already gone but I'm basing that on absolutely nothing. I haven't heard of anyone getting denied through editorial media so if you don't want to pay, I'd try that way and see how it goes.

If you have any questions, you can hit me up on my 2011 tips post here. I know info posts are all over the place this year because so many more people went last year but it's worth just putting one more out there, I think. I added a couple more links to that post as well to Eleni at La Femme Readers and and Emily at Red House Books for their joint BEA info posts. I'm still looking for BEA buddies. You know, the more the merrier so if you want to link up, just leave me your information here. I'll be in the city all day on Thursday, May 26th.

On a more creative note, I'm getting myself some professional business cards this year. I didn't have them my first year (2009) because I really didn't have any idea what I was doing. Last year I realized I should have them a little too late to order them so I slapped together an image and printed out some "business cards" on card stock at my house. This year? My dumbass ordered them in time. And I can't wait to see them! I'm happy with the little designs I came up with. It's double-sided this year.

The front -

And the back -

I'm tacky at heart and I wanted a good scene on there but didn't want to cram too much onto one side. So double-sided it is. Yay!

Post BEA . . . Post

God, I'm original, huh? So here it is. My wrap-up post.

Wednesday evening was the HarperCollins Celebration of Book Bloggers which was basically just a wine and cheese soiree. It was nice to sit down and chat with a bunch of fellow book bloggers but I think us YA folks were greatly outnumbered! I did get to re-meet Sharon (Sharon Loves Books and Cats) and actually talk and hang out. We met very briefly last year. I caught up with Lenore (Presenting Lenore), Alea (Pop Culture Junkie), Gail (for the life of me I can't remember her blog name), Angie (Angieville), Kristi (The Story Siren) and April (Good Books ad Good Wine), who is now my Sister of Swears. She is also my personal fangirl and totally awesome. I have a horrible feeling I'm forgetting people so if I didn't name you, please don't take it personally! Names just don't stick in my brain unless they're pounded in there.

Then a bunch of us when to Max Brenner's (Chocolate by the Bald Man) for dinner and what was supposed to be dessert but the portions were so huge there was no fitting anything else in the stomach. Still, it was a nice restaurant with really good food and constantly smelled of chocolate. How can you go wrong?

I didn't get to sleep until after midnight and the alarm went off at 5 am. Of course, I didn't sleep through the night and woke up right smack in the middle, mainly because I was sleeping on pygmy pillows. I swear, they were the size of small throw pillows and I had them doubled up. I was afraid if I rolled over I'd fall off and wake up. And did I mention I was in a pygmy room? Yeah. Nice centrally located and if all you're doing is sleeping there (which was me), it's not bad but, I mean, it was shockingly small. As in my bedroom at home was bigger, including the square footage of the bathroom. It was functional, basically. It was nice, not scuzzy or anything. But tiny. Really tiny.

I was at Javits by about 10 to 7 Thursday morning, had my bag checked in and was waiting for the Press Office to open up so I could check in with them and get my badge. In my wanderings I ran back into Lenore waiting in line to get into the author breakfast and we started chatting. She asked me if I was able to get a ticket for the RL Stine signing. I said no. I wasn't really stressing getting one. If I did, I did. If I didn't, I didn't. So she digs into her bag and pulls out an extra one. *squee* She said she was afraid I wouldn't be able to get one so she got me an extra. Lenore is my FUCKING HERO!!! Like, savior. Amazing. I couldn't thank her enough, nor can I ever thank her enough. RL Stine is one of my literary heroes. I've been reading his work since I was like 8 (I'm 27 now, a nice long time). And I was going to meet him! *squee*

Turn the clock ahead to the opening and I'm waiting at a side entrance to get in. Most of the people were queuing up at the main entrance. Not me! I got in the Little Line That Could off to the side, closer to the S&S booth where they were giving away Clockwork Angel. 9 o'clock hit and I hit the ground running. Literally. I ran to the S&S booth and nabbed me a ticket to snag a copy of Clockwork Angel. Did I get it?


It would appear so. Actually, it was the very first book I picked up. Now, if you read my review of City of Bones, you'll see that I actually liked the story, I just wanted to stab those Similes of Doom to death. I've heard that the writing gets better as the series goes on so I'm hoping that for this one, Clare's worked out the need to turn every single description into a simile. I have two books I need to read within the next couple of weeks for a blog tour I signed up for but once those are done, I'm going to read this. I got is expressly for the purpose of passing it on because I know you guys want to read it. So end of June-ish look for a review and a contest for my ARC.

And then after that, I was off. I kept bumping into my fellow bloggers I met the night before plus I got to meet the lovely Sarah (Sarah's Random Musings) and Steph Su (Steph Su Reads) throughout the day. Plus I got to talk to some awesome people, both attendees and authors, not to mention publicity people.

The signing area was one giant clusterfuck and I really hope they move that area back downstairs just for the space. Last year it was twice the size with room for the lines. This year the lines couldn't back out of the corrals because they'd bleed into exhibitor booths so they curled around into each other. When I was waiting in Stine's line, at one point there were 3 other lines lapping over the one I was in. It was nuts. I heard it was even worse on Wednesday and that a fight nearly broke out at the Harlequin booth because it was so disorganized. But I didn't have any of those issues on Thursday. Maybe they got their shit leveled out by then. Next year it's back to three days so maybe they thought ahead and this was an experiment that was best left to the imagination.

I line-hopped like crazy for those signings and my signing schedule actually turned out to be the exact opposite of what I thought it was going to be. I thought my morning was going to be hectic and my afternoon easy. Oh no. The morning was nice and smooth. The afternoon? Nearly every signing I went to had been changed which totally threw my scheduling for a loop. I was standing in line for Jennifer Lynn Barnes and the table and time changed WHILE WE WERE IN LINE. Even Barnes was like, WTF? and came to the line and walked down it and apologized to everyone for the mix-up even though it was not her fault in the least. Very nice.I wanted to get Simone Elkeles signature but after 15 minutes into a 30 minute signing block and not having moved in the line, I bailed but evened up getting the books. I had to get Fat Vampire by Adam Rex. Had to. And I did!

I ended up grabbing some other rather coveted books including one from the very Simone Elkeles -


I ended up grabbing four of her books which I'm excited about because I wanted to read all of them. So I'm anxious to get to get to them.

I also nabbed a highly anticipated sequel -


Of which I have two copies so be on the lookout for a contest (see? I told you guys I go to BEA with you in mind!). The publisher put this one out at like 4 on Thursday. I happened to catch it because I did one more walk through before leaving for the day. Good thing I went back in!

Plus I nabbed a couple of copies of a pseudonymously written book -


Again, another contest! And if you didn't know, Ivy Devlin = Elizabeth Scott. To which an older woman replied after finding out what kind of book it was, "Oh she's too old to be writing that kind of stuff." I kind of gave her the O_o look as she walked away. Ignorance, I tell you!

And I just have to say, because it's been bugging the hell out of me since I read it on Lenore's blog. When she did the "book blogging mortal sins" post that was collected from a bunch of different bloggers I saw this. I don't know who said it because she kept everything anonymous but someone considered it a sin to nab more than one ARC/book at a signing/giveaway. Well, just in my experience, editors are more than willing to hand over an extra copy if you're going to be promoting it on your blog.

Case in point: when I was in Erin Bow's signing line for Plain Kate, I asked, quite nicely, "Would it be okay to ask if I could have an extra copy?" The editor, who was standing right there, without hesitation, handed over an extra copy and said, "Here you go." And I was taking it I said, "I wanted to give it away on my blog." He then said, "Especially if that's what you're going to do with it, we want you to have it." So shenanigans on that one. I'd just say use your better judgment when asking for a second signed copy like that. If you're in line and there were a million people behind you, don't ask. But if you're one of the last people, don't be afraid to. Just be up front with your intentions with the extra copy. Publishers love book bloggers. They really do. They recognize our value and are more than happy to hand over an extra copy or two to help promote the book.

In that same vein, my BEA pet peeve of the year? People engaging authors in the signing line in extended conversations. It should not take me 20 minutes to go 15 feet. It really shouldn't. Small talk, a little fangirl/boying isn't a problem. Standing there chatting for 5 minutes is. Be considerate of the people behind you, especially if the line is so long it's actually looped out of the corral. We all understand you love the author and want to let them know and engage them a little bit. That's fine. But draw the line, for the sake of the rest of the people waiting.

My favorite signing of the day is split between two people: RL Stine (duh) and Tony Hawk. I had to forfeit waiting in the ridiculously long line for Laurie Halse Anderson to jump into Tony Hawk's line. Fine by me! Love you, LHA, but I've been a fan of TH for a hell of a lot longer. I initially went to Tony's line right as he started signing and, like LHA, it was absolutely ridiculously long. So I decided to come back later and I'm so glad I did. It was about 1/4 the length it originally was and I was waiting for about 5 minutes.

When I got up to him, one, he's really tall, like at least an entire foot taller than me, and two, I totally felt like a goober. I mean, it's Tony Freakin' Hawk!!! But he's so nice and just so awesome and he personalized the sampler of his book he was signing and answered my awesome 80s movie question I had for him ("Where you in Gleaming the Cube and Thrashin'?). His answer, he was just kind of skating around in Thrashin' and wasn't even appropriately named in the credits, just in case anyone wanted to know. But I felt like I was 10 just kind of looking up at him with this goofy smile on my face. OMG, I was high for like an hour after that.


And then there was RL Stine who I could rightly worship as a god if I were so inclined. He is just amazing. I was chatting with another girl in line and when I got up to him, she was going to take my picture getting the book from him. Yay! So she got in position to take it and when the flash went off, he was like, "Who's taking a picture?" in a light-hearted voice. So the girl explained that I'm a big fan and she wanted to get a picture of me getting the book. Stine's like, "No, no, no! I'll take a picture with her. Get over here!" Wheeeeeee! So I walked around the table and got a kick ass picture with RL Stine. Then I gushed that I'm a huge fan and I've been reading his books for like 20 years and he was so appreciative and thankful for my being a fan. Genuinely awesome.


Ayeeeeeeeeeeeee! Wheeeeeeeeee! And this was the picture I realized just how red my hair actually was. Holy crap! It hasn't looked that red in any mirror I've looked into. Yikes! Not that I mind but it was still a shock!

So after it all, I was in some major pain from carrying around all that book weight with me all day. It didn't help that I fell down the stairs at home on Wednesday before I left. Let's just compound the pain, shall we? I could barely move when I got home Thursday evening but it was so worth it. I'm definitely going the entire week next year. It's going to be mid-week again too but at least they're tacking back on that third day. Maybe everything won't be so cramped.

Of course, at the end of the day, we have the haul. The complete list of books I picked up is at the bottom of the post. Any doubled up books you see, expect a contest at the very least for those books, if not more. I did that for you guys!


Total number of books : 48
Total retail value: $781

And then there's the swag. I've already got this stuff partitioned out and I'll be having a swag contest within the next week or so.


The complete list -

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
The Exiled Queen: A Seven Realms Novel by Cinda Williams Chima
I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip by John Donovan
Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror by RL Stine
Of All the Stupid Things by Alexandra Diaz
Brilliant by Rachel Vail
Think of a Numb3r by John Verdon
Vampires by Konstantinos
Jane by April Lindner
Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles
Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
Hero by Mike Lupica
Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart
Up from the Blue by Susan Henderson
Red Moon Rising by Peter Moore
The Devil's Rooming House by M. William Phelps
Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin
Go, Mutants! by Larry Doyle
Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto by Eric Luper
Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
How Did I Get Here?: The Ascent of an Unlikely CEO by Tony Hawk (excerpt)
Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
The Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead by Roger Ma
Clockwork Angel: The Infernal Devices, Book 1 by Cassandra Clare
Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles
Return to Paradise by Simone Elkeles
Plain Kate by Erin Bow
The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher
The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn
Fat Vampire by Adam Rex
Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff
Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry
The Dragon Factory by Jonathan Maberry
Virgin Territory by James Lecesne
Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon
Time Riders by Alex Scarrow
Firelight by Sophie Jordan
You by Charles Benoit (eGalley)

Bites Out to BEA!

So this is it. Expect blog silence until Friday when I hobble in with many a pulled muscle and an extra hundred pounds.

I had a d'oh! moment Saturday night when I decided that I really should have business cards to hand out while I'm there. It'll save me a lot of time from having to write out my information over and over and over again. So I looked into ordering some and getting them rushed. I either couldn't get them before Wednesday (the day I leave) or I could spend $100 in shipping alone to get them by Monday. No thanks. I went out to Staples, bought cardstock and printer ink and made my own. I screen-captured some elements from my blog and just pasted them onto the template. Nice and easy. The smudges are personal information that I wasn't about to release to my world wide blog!


Considering I whipped it up in about 20 minutes, I'm fond of it. The printing isn't professional quality, obviously, but they'll do. I've only had 2 months to plan this. I have no one to blame but myself. Maybe next year I don't be so duh.

Tomorrow I'm hitting up the HarperCollins' Celebration of Book Bloggers event. I'm not sure what that entails but know I'll probably have a drink in hand, even if I have to stand in the doorway and drink it. After that hopefully the most epic ice cream sundae ever. I've been fantasizing about it for 2 weeks now (sad, I know).

And then Thursday is my BEA day! Hopefully my OCD planning will be to my benefit and I won't be running around all crazy like I was last year because it took me half the day to figure Javits out. At least this year everything's on one floor. Much easier to manage, let me tell you.

For signings, I plan on seeing -

Sarah Mlynowski (Gimme A Call)
Simone Elkeles (Rules of Attraction)
Adam Rex (Fat Vampire)
Larry Doyle (Go, Mutants!)
Cameron Stracher (The Water Wars)
Deanna Raybourn (The Dead Travel Fast)
Roger Ma (The Zombie Combat Manual)
Eric Luper (Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto)
Jonathan Maberry (The Dragon Factory)
Leah Cypress (Mistwood)
Stacy Schiff (Cleopatra)
Anthony Scioli (The Power of Hope)
Nancy Kilpatrick (Evolve: Vampire Stores of the New Undead)
Ivy Devlin (Low Red Moon)
Sophie Jordan (Firelight)
Alexandra Diaz (Of All the Stupid Things)
Laurie Halse Anderson (Forge)
Tony Hawk (How Did I Get Here?) (OMFG *squee*)
Tricia Rayburn (Siren)
Rachel Vail (Brilliant)
Beth Kephart (Dangerous Neighbors)
Jonathan Maberry (again) (Patient Zero)
James Lecesne (Virgin Territory)
Maria Snyder (Spy Glass)
Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Raised by Wolves)
William M. Phelps (The Devil's Rooming House)
Jeri Smith-Ready (Shade)
John Verdon (Think of a Number)
MJ Rose (The Memorist)
Ennis Garth (The Boys)
Earle Williams (100 Facts of Life)
Owen Egerton (The Book of Harold)
Erin Bow (Plain Kate)

Some more galley grabbing that I'd like to do -

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
The Magnificent Twelve: The Call by Michael Grant
Paranormalcy by Kiersen White
The Unidentified by Rae Mariz
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry (and again!)
The Limit by Kristen Landon
Reckless by Cornelia Funke (really want this one)
Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Witch and Wizard: The Gift by James Patterson
The Duff (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) by Kody Keplinger
Sapphiqueby Catherine Fisher
Matched by Ally Condie
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Virals by Kathy Reich
The Secret of Ka by Christopher Pike
Adios, Nirvana by Conrad Wesselhoeff
Wildthorn by Jane England
Annexed by Sharon Dogar
Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler
The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn
Tyger, Tyger: A Goblin Wars Book by Kersten Hamilton
Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey
The Agency: The Body at the Tower by YS Lee
Another Pan by Daniel and Dina Nayeri
Girl Parts by John M. Cusick
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Steps Across the Water by Adam Gopnik
The Exhiled Queen: A Seven Realms Novel by Cinda Williams Chima
Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon
The Enemy by Charlie Higson
Red Moon Rising by Peter Moore
Misguided Angel (A Blue Bloods Novel) by Melissa de la Cruz
Return to Paradise by Simone Elkeles
The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston
Thaw by Rick Jasper
The Absolute Value of -1 by Steven Brezenoff
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
For the Win by Cory Doctorow
Night Star by Alyson Noel
Shadowland by Alyson Noel
Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel
Hush by Eishes Chayil
Prisoners in the Palace by Michaela MacColl
Accomplice by Eireann Corrigan
The 13th Reality, Book 3: The Blade of Shattered Hope by James Dashner
Choke by Obert Skye
Faithful by Janet Fox
Losing Faith by Denise Jaden
Split by Swati Avasthi
There Are No Words by Mary Calhoun Brown

Whew! And the publishers I want to make sure to hit -

Lerner/Carolrhoda Lab
Raven Tree Press
Candlewick
Sourcebooks
Llewellyn/Flux
Macmillan (Henry Holt/St. Martin's/Tor/Forge/Fiewel & Friends)
Ingram
Bloomsbury
Dark Horse
Scholastic
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Random House
Hyperion
Hachette
Simon & Schuster
Prometheus
Disney
HarperCollins/Children's
Penguin
Little, Brown
Grand Central
Egmont
Visible Ink
CreateSpace
Perseus
Harlequin
Orca Books
Peachtree Publishers
BenBella Books
Chronicle Books
Shadow Mountain

Hey, when you only have a day, you have to cram a lot in there. Hopefully I won't be so jam-packed next year as I'll be there the whole time. Trying to wedge all the publishers in between the signings is the difficult part. Or maybe it's choosing which signings to go to. Meh. They're both hard.

So wish me luck! The better I do, the better you guys do. I go to BEA with you guys in mind and what I can bring you back! So keep those fingers crossed!