Wednesday, June 20, 2012

BEA Recap: Meeting Authors and Bloggers

As nice as it is getting gobs and gobs of books at BEA (and let's face it, that's pretty damn nice), the highlight of BEA was getting to meet so many bloggers and authors.

Bloggers


I think the bloggers were the biggest highlight of all. I'd never meet these people before, but as soon as I met them, they felt like friends I'd had forever. I met so many incredible people. Unfortunately, don't have photos of all of them. But here are a few:


Sara from Novel Novice - One of my roomies. We went to The Empire State Building Friday night (travel tip - I highly recommend shelling out the extra money for express tickets. Rather than waiting in line for 90 minutes, we walked right up to the elevators and got up to the 86th floor in no time).


Me and Jenny from Supernatural Snark. So fabulous finally meeting Jenny!!!


Heather, Pushy, Danny from Bewitched Bookworms and me. They were smart enough to artfully pose for the camera, unlike me.


Danny and me. We met at a Starbucks by Rockefeller Center on Friday afternoon and ended up chatting for two and a half hours. So sad that she lives all the way in Germany. :-( Move to America Danny!


Kristi from The Story Siren. So great to meet one of the people that inspired me to blog. Super nice and pretty.

Other bloggers they I really enjoyed hanging out with include (but are definitely not limited to)...My other roomies: Stacy of Pageturners, Megan of Amethyst Daydreams, and Kendra of Books Complete Me (and Sara again, of course).  Melissa of I Swim for Oceans. Briana of The Book Pixie. Emily of Emily's Reading Room. Susan, Jessica, and Wes of Wastepaper Prose. Kat and Jess of Books and Sensibility. Also, Mary of Book Swarm was my buddy touring Soho Monday night and at the Teen Author Carnival Tuesday night - I'm so sad that I didn't get a photo with her!

Authors


Another highlight of BEA is meeting authors at all the signings. And even just seeing authors wondering around.


On Wednesday afternoon, I was walking by the Disney booth and I saw Julie Kagawa standing there talking to a few people. I got to say hi and get a photo. So cool!


Jenny Lawson of The Bloggess and me


Me and Maureen Johnson. Even better than getting a photo...Maureen said she's working on a third Suite Scarlett book!!!


Me and Lauren Oliver!!!! Ignore the fact that I'm holding up Gretchen McNeil's book (fail!)


Tessa Gratton, Brenna Yovanoff, and Maggie Stiefvater signing The Curiosities. I'm in love with Maggie's bracelets.


John Green!!!!!!!! I got there 90 minutes early so I could be at the front of the line.


Me and Jen Calonita at the Teen Author Carnival. I fan-girls and told her how I've read all of her books and loved them. I randomly picked up the first Secrets of My Hollywood Life book up on a cruise ship library and then had to get all the other books as soon as I got home. Jen was so nice and friendly.

I met lots of other authors, but didn't get photos. We were staying in the same hotel as Spencer Hill Press. So every morning, I had a free hotel buffet breakfast with Emily White, Jennifer Armentrout, Daniel Cohen, and Kate Kaynak. Also, Dan Wells of Partials. Marie Lu of Legend even joined us one morning. So cool!

I also met Jenny Han and Tricia Rayburn at the Teen Author Carnival. And maybe the coolest meet-up: Sonia Manzano, better known as Maria on Sesame Street!! She has new book coming out called The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano. The four year old me would have died and gone to heaven if she ever realized that she would one day be sitting in a chair next to Maria (although as the time Big Bird would have been a much bigger draw).

Celebrities at BEA:



Mike Holmes of Holmes on Homes - HGTV


Sabrina Soto of HGTV standing with some random person.


Rachael Ray. I'm not a fan, but I had to get a photo!


Kirstie Alley

27 comments:

  1. So glad you had fun! But you missed the most important celebrity: Chris Colfer! He did a brilliantly funny (or so I've heard) panel with John Green. (I would have paid the $150ish just to go to that panel!)
    So jealous you went. Enjoy your books. ;)

    ~Riv Re
    Riv Reads

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  2. OoooooOo Alison!!! Meeting you definitely was one of my highlights and the Friday afternoon we spend chatting! Loved this so much!
    And look! even though it was super hot, you spend hours of walking and .. not to mention the bird and my shoulder ..(duuh) we still look nice on this picture!!!

    Love this post and I should actually do the same, I have so many pictures with bloggers that I should make a post just like you dedicated to them :))

    And yes... Pushy tells me all the time to move to the US... I have to convince my hubs, but... ;))

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  3. Oh wow you had to arrive 90 minutes early to meet John Green ! Good thinking. You have so many great author photos. Had a great time meeting you !!

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  4. It sounds like you had so much fun!

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  5. Looks like you had a fabulous time. I forget that we get to see these authors and bloggers at individual events where as you guys do it all in one week!

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  6. wow what great pictures and that looks like a blast :)

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  7. It looks like you had so much fun! And, look at all those awesome bloggers and authors you got to meet! So cool!

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  8. You were soooo good with your camera! I totally didn't even remember to pull it out until the end of my last day there. Sad I didn't get a pic with you! And, I agree. Meeting all the awesome bloggers was by far the highlight of BEA. So many cool people!

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  9. SOO fun! Thanks for sharing all of this! How stinking fun!

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  10. I'm with Mary, you were so much better about using your camera than I was! Well, I didn't even bring mine, so by default you were better, but you were sure to get so many great pictures with people. I need to be better about that next year:)

    It was so nice finally meeting you after what, almost 2 years, of trading comments back and forth and talking on Twitter?! The picture with Danny, Heather, and Pushy makes me giggle, they are all lovely and posed aren't they? Adore those girls:)

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    1. Actually... it looks WEIRD LOOOL! But, I adore you too!

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  11. *squeeeek* This is monumentally phenomenal, Alison. Amazing pictures. I'm so glad you got to meet so many fabulous authors and bloggers. Even when I got to small town events in Austin, I often feel to shy to go up to a blogger I admire.

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  12. Holy celebrities! Though I think I'd be most excited to meet the other bloggers ... AND John Green! How awesome! I would've gotten there early, too. :)

    Looks like a fun time!

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  13. SO many awesome people, i am truly green with envy. Maybe 1 day I will save up enough money to get there (from UK) and will meet you and all the other fabulous bloggers and authors. I would love to have met Maggie Stiefvater and Julie Kagawa, amazing authors!
    I can dream! :D

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  14. This is awesome, Alison! You got to meet so many awesome people. Hanging out with other bloggers looks so great! I hope I get to do something like that soon.

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  15. Wow, so happy that you had a fabulous time. I seriously have an author crush on John Green. He's adorable and smart. :)

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  16. Ah! So many fabulous people! I'm jealous. :D It looks like you had a fabulous time. :) I definitely wish I could go to BEA. Oh, and I would TOTALLY stand in line 90 minutes early for John Green. <333 Gah, I love him.

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  17. So cool! I hope to go the BEA one day.

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  18. You have such a pretty tan, Alison! I wish I could manage that... oh, but about the pictures: so jealous that you got to meet so many bloggers and authors! I don't know what I would've done if I had been in proximity with all those people that I admire. Probably act incredibly awkward, haha. Who knows when or if I'll ever be able to attend BEA. In the meantime, I am happy to live vicariously through these pictures!

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  19. Oh wow! You really did meet lots of awesome people! All the bloggers you mentioned are my people and Sara from Novel Novice is my real life friend. So awesome you got so many pics, loved them!

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  20. WOAH! THE BLOGGESS! JOHN GREEN(it's such a pity my copy of The Fault In Our Stars isn't signed)! I wish I was at BEA...seeing all these BEA recap posts is making me envious! If only I wasn't in Hawaii...and heading to NY didn't cost so much.

    and I wonder how old Julie Kagawa is...

    Lilian @ A Novel Toybox

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  21. Oh man, looks like you had a pretty fun time.It's so great to get to meet fellow bloggers and authors!


    I've only been blogging for like a week and a half, and I've already discovered how amazing the blogging community can be:D

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  22. You met so many people and got pictures! I took no pictures and tried to make myself as small and invisible as possible. You definitely made the most of BEA ^_^.

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  23. AHHH! it was SO AWESOME to meet you! and geez of course i am the only one that looks like a freaggin bum in our photo! ha! you made me realize that i did not take any pictures!

    isn't hanging out with bookish people the best thing in the world! so glad you had fun and got to meet so many awesome people!

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  24. Fantastic recap, hun! It's great that you got to meet blogger and authors, BEA looked like a lot of fun!

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