When you walk up to the Javits the morning of Book Con, knowing you're a blogger and these people are just readers ....
When you see the line of people waiting to get their badges ....
When you first enter the floor and are greeted by thousands of people ....
When it takes you 5 minutes to move 5 feet ....
And the same person has been mouth-breathing on your neck the entire 5 minutes...
Then you turn to talk to the friend you walked in with and they're gone ....
So you take a shortcut along the back wall to avoid the crowds and hope no one sees you ....
And find the security guards sleeping ....
When you're told by 3 people that there are 3 lines for 1 author ....
When you realize you were woefully unprepared for this chaos ....
When you direct the 53rd person to ask where to get signing tickets ....
When you see people taking a dozen copies of the same book ....
When you wind up becoming a BookCon staff member because you feel bad that they're overwhelmed and need help ....
When you call it quits ....
And seek sanctuary on the BEA side of the floor to make sure you still have all vital appendages ....
Then you find your friend you lost hours earlier ....
When someone mentions the words "John Green" and "panel downstairs" ....
But because you're curious, you lean over the railing to see the people waiting to get into the panels downstairs ....
You go to leave and see people taking random display stuff from all the booths and publishers trying to stop them ....
When you finally leave the Javits Center ....
When you make an entire GIF post devoted to the hells of Book Con and realize you're planning to give it another go this year ....
These are so funny! So you're volunteering at Book Con??? Are you MAD????
ReplyDeleteOh boy *laughs* I cannot stay for BookCon but I do wish you the best of luck so this year it won't be this horrible experience once again...
ReplyDeleteBUT HOLY SHIT THIS WAS HILARIOUS!!!
THIS IS SO TERRIFYINGLY ACCURATE!!!
ReplyDeleteI will not be giving BookCon another go this year. I might have considered it if it was included in the BEA ticket, but there's no way in hell I'm paying extra to attend again this year "just to see". NOPE.
I can't make BEA this year, but Book Con is at a time I could go. Unfortunately I can't afford the plane ticket. But there will be some people at Book Con I would love to see. However your post here is EXACTLY how I felt last year. And then, when I had to pay for a book because I didn't go the day before to meet the author when I would have gotten it free that day because they weren't giving the books free to Book Con attendees. I about blew my stack at that one. I also feel like I was staff at certain times. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI totally remember finding you hiding over in the Sourcebooks booth during BookCon... :) Can't wait to see you again!
ReplyDeleteChOi tien len mien bac và game Tien len mien nam de cho thanh trieu phu voi game binh xap xam.
ReplyDeleteEven if the BookCon ticket was included with BEA ticket I don't think I could brave it again. I love the mentioning of hiding on the BEA side to make sure you have all your body parts because that's how I seriously felt. I'm glad they don't overlap this year.
ReplyDeleteThat was so funny and not so funny at the same time. I really hope they worked out the kinks from last year. Twitter was making it sound scary and dangerous.
ReplyDeleteDreams @ Once Upon A Dream Books