BookCon Recap

I loved BookCon!

It was so much fun.  Well, okay, when I was waiting in some of the huge lines to see panels, get autographs, or go to the restroom…not so fun.  But, even then, there were awesome people to talk to in line including a lot of other aspiring writers.

So, quick recap of the first ever BookCon.

I woke up around six and the BookCon app already had teens messaging that they were in line.  What???  Well, I was too old to do that so I left my hotel around eight-ish and was in line by 8:30am to get my badge since I was pre-registered.   That line went quickly and they were able to scan my registration code from my phone so I could get my badge. (Phew!  Forgot to print it out.)

The line to get in was huge by that time.  BookCon opened at 9am for us regular folk.  My portion of the line didn’t move until about 9:15 due to the size of the crowd.  The front book stalls were already picked over for their free books. (Those teens – I tell ya, they are quick!)

There was a HUGE line to get the tickets for certain autographs.   But, there were others that did not require the tickets and were in the publisher’s booths instead. 

In the end, I got about five books autographed in person at the booths.  Including Cary Elwes,  (Side point - He is so charming.  We need to get his character from Psych, Pierre Despereaux a spin-off.  In the mean time, I'm looking forward to his book As You Wish coming out this fall.) 

Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) was a total sweetie.  He was so patient when I realized I had turned off my phone.  I also got a photo with him too but I'll post the one of just him here.

I also went to a couple of book panels that were a lot of fun. There was a New Adult panel on Bad Boys in novels.   The authors were hilarious and we got one book from each.  I also went to the Dystopian YA panel lead by Veronica Roth (Divergent) and got a couple of chapter samples. 

In all, it was a great day for $30.  Twelve free books, 3 chapter samples, 5 autographs and a ton of memories. (Ah, isn’t that sweet!)

I hear next year they are thinking about making it two days.  Sounds like a great plan since there were some things I didn’t even try to go to but wanted to see.