You guys, has it *really* been 3 months since the awesome BEA conference!? My how time flies!
As I go through catalogs for collection development at my library I am starting to see ALL the books that got ALL the buzz at the conference! And I feel like I earned SUPER cool points by adding them to our various collection lists BEFORE they were hot in the catalogs! Score!
So with BEA behind us, and another one on the horizon...how many months away is it....9...oh yeah, it'll be here before we know it, I bid adieu to all of you!
It's been a wonderful journey blogging on a professional level for BEA and having the opportunity to attend one of THE most awesome conferences in libraryland!
Thank you all for reading, commenting, and being all around awesome followers of the blog! I hope that you all got out of it as much as I was able to put into it!
I'd love to keep in touch and can be found around the Interwebs, favoring the ever popular Twitter social media site!
Hope to chat with you soon!
Thank you all so much for an amazing opportunity!
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013
BEA Book & Author Breakfasts!
I was able to attend both the Adult and Children’s Book
& Author breakfasts offered during the conference – that being said, as
Rick Riordan said - the term “breakfast” is used rather loosely considering it
consists of a pitcher of OJ and pot of coffee and one bowl of bagels and
muffins to be divvied up amongst 10 people per table – and that’s just the
people who had tables – there was also chairs set up in rows in the back in
order to open the session up to more people (who can, coincidentally just bring
their own bagel and coffee or juice and enjoy it just the same) – but the “breakfast”
aside, because really, who is going to be able to focus on food at an event
that is chock full of awesome authors including Mary Pope Osborne, Veronica
Roth, Wally Lamb, Octavia Spencer and Chelsea Handler anyway right!
The event started out with the Emcee’s giving a brief
welcome note (or in Chelsea Handler’s case, a comedy sketch) which was chock
full of awesome and sang the praises of the authors and their works (both past
published and pre-pub titles), and was followed by 3 authors (how they picked
these authors out is beyond me because EVERYONE was amazing). Then each author
came up and gave a talk about their background, writing process, the whole
experience of being such well-known and
respected authors, and in some cases, they mentioned the their latest book.
Veronica Roth gave an outstanding speech about how humility
is freedom when it comes to writing. And Wally Lamb stated that us (librarians,
booksellers, bloggers) are the electricity connecting the reader and the author
to one another.
Heartfelt stuff you
guys!
Definitely worth the extra cost if you are able to swing it!
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
BEA 2013 aka GET ALL THE FREE BOOKS...not really...read on :)
As I mentioned in my previous post – the whole ‘GET ALL THE
(FREE PRE-PUB) BOOKS’ was so NOT the angle I took in attending this conference.
I was in it for the panels, the knowledge and to fill up our order cart when I
got back to work from all those buzz panel titles mentioned, and to implement
ALL the awesome social media tactics I picked up in various sessions - among
other things! Meeting librarians I had spoken to only online (say HI Twitter
friends!) was a TOTAL perk for me!
However each morning when I walked in I saw a line of people
snaked around the lobby, people sitting with their coffee and copy of Publishers
Weekly, at 7:45am, waiting for the Exhibit Hall to open at 9AM. And to their
credit, there was MUCH MORE to the Exhibit Hall than the free books – AMAZING
NY Times bestselling authors were doing in-booth signings of their latest (and
to be released) books, there were 3 feature stages which hosted various
sessions for editors, publishers, authors, and even celebrities! Autographing
tables were set up to host hour long sessions for fans of their favorite books.
So yes, waiting in line = AWESOME.
And you know what you guys – the first time I stepped foot
in the exhibit hall I was SO overwhelmed. ALL the people, the big fluorescent lights,
the HUGE signs (thank goodness for the signs), the BOOKS, the random running
into Grumpy Cat and various celebrity authors as I perused the booths – and OH
THE AMAZING of it all. Seriously I had to stop a minute and look at my agenda
and see who was where when and WHY was I there again and, oh yeah, did I
mention this was like a surreal experience!?
Never have I seen such dedicated readers, librarians,
booksellers, bloggers, and everyone gathered together in celebration of the
book! Truly amazing!
So yeah, totally NOT a GET ALL THE BOOKS conference – although
bonus if you snagged some good ARCs and are promoting them on your blog, giving
them away at your summer reading programs etc!!!
Plus - if you missed some of the events being held in the exhibit hall, you can view the videos of author interviews and buzz panel presentations here!
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