More Shameless Bragging about the 2010 BookExpo America and Book Blogger Convention Part Three: What I Got

Another fun photo blog about the 2010 BookExpo America (BEA) and Book Blogger Convention (BBC) that I attended last week.   How could I not brag about all the stuff I got?  I’m too excited not to.  Plus, don’t we all love getting swag, books and miscellaneous free stuff?  I always feel it is best to be honest about who we are, rather than pretend to be someone else.  I am thrilled to have gotten tons of great items that I could never afford to buy on my own.

Before I begin with my photo post, I wanted to let you other book nerds and interested parties know that I have one last serious recap of my thoughts on the BEA and BBC.  I started writing it on the plane on the way home, and I needed time to think about it, like you let a good pasta sauce simmer on the stove for several hours before serving it.  Sure, in my case it’s been days, but I have a life outside blog world, too.  I’m impressed as hell with all of the other attendees who have written their multiple great recaps, but I am not them, I’m just me.  I write slow as heck, and get distracted by emails, comments, job searches, etc.  The only reason this post made it up so fast is due to my OCD, since all those photos were clogging up my desktop and driving me nuts.

 

Whoever thought to give away book bags is a genius.  I had two bags with me at all times that I brought from home, and it still wasn’t enough.  I thank you book bag givers from the bottom of my heart!  There were more bags even to pick up, and I may be a little mad at myself for not picking up the Penguin bags, but this is plenty, no need to be greedy.  I even shared some book bags with Pam, my wonderful host.

Without all of the guides, where the heck was I going to store all of that information?  Not in this brain, not anymore.

Proving the point that bringing back my catalogs would be beneficial for the whole family.  We loved going through them, learning about what new books are coming out.  And, you can clearly see that Beatrice is in heaven laying on them or using them as a chin scratcher.  Could we get that pleasure from an online guide?  Me thinks not.

Box three arrived yesterday (I know … ) and I was thrilled to have a few more catalogs to go through.

Now, getting the books isn’t as easy as you may think it would be if you are a nice and normal person.  (I say this because I saw people push, shove, and grab, and heard multiple horror stories about greedy grabbers who dared to steal display copies from publishing booths.  I find that behavior horrible, even you wonder about who I am since my name is The Girl from the Ghetto)  I spent a good hour in line waiting for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, just to be the hero for my step-son.  But, while I was in line they passed me book marks, cds, a water bottle, and another booth walked over and gave me a gigantic Food Network cook book.  Good things do come to those who wait and have manners.

I immediately went to another line, where I waited another hour and twenty minutes (sitting on the ground, no less) to get a second book, the only one I was DYING to get.

Waiting in line with other über diehard fans can be the bright side of line waiting of BEA …. if you get by the right fans, and get in a less traffic-y area.  My Rob Sheffield people were awesome, even though we were right by the mega Tim Gunn line and we had people stepping over us with hot coffee and screw-you attitudes from time to time.

I’d take that line any day over the peeps in the Kathryn Stockett line, who ranged from uppity old lady snobs to young teens who had no idea what her name was to defensive Rick Springfield fans (Hey, sorry about ragging on him, but come on!  We haven’t seen him since his days on General Hospital.  Get over it.)  Before I knew it, it was 1:45 pm and I had two books (and my cookbook) for the entire day and was thrilled about it.  After midway through my second day I still had no strategy other than wandering around, and occasionally looking at my guides from BEA.  I went on instinct and chance and it paid off.

If it wasn’t for the booths who gave away the occasional snack or treat, I may have died in Javits.  Seriously.  Between the chocolate gummy bears, the Hersey’s Kisses, and The Help cake, I made it all around town until 9:15 pm when I finally had the chance to eat something of substance.  So thank you, booth runners, for feeding me and keeping me alive.  On a side note - boy did your free beers look good, even though I hate the stuff.

 

 Swag is good.  And I was happy to share some of it with my host, as well as my own family.  And, eventually, I will do a giveaway here at my blog as well.  Just give me time.

Originally, I was going to post a link to every author’s website who I got swag and books from.  I was that grateful that I had received everything that I did.

Then reality set in after realizing it had already taken me over four hours to write this post if you include the time I spent fooling around with all my photographs.

I don’t have another four hours to look for that many author websites.  All I can do at this point is say here that I’m so happy to have gotten these books, and I plan on reading them, minus the ones I already gave to Pam.  Yes, Pam loves books too and deserved even more than what I gave her since she lugged me all around NY and NJ for days without a complaint.  Pam is my hero!

I’m hoping to review many of these books.  I wish I could review all of them, but I think that is impossible so I don’t want to lie about it here.  I may give away some, too, because who needs all of this?  If you are one of the few authors or publicists who gave me one of these books, and I offered to review your book, please remember that I told you it may not be for six months, and I meant it.  Rreaders, plan on a few of these to come up for giveaway, especially if I get that job that I’m interviewing for next week.  (Yes, I’ve got a second interview for a great job (part-time though) next week.

Was I happy that I attended BEA?  Heck yes.  Did I get enough free stuff?  Heck yes.  Did lugging all of this around and shipping it home suck?  Heck yes.  And, for those secretly greedy at heart – How much more could I have gotten?  Well, I read about a girl last year who wrote that she had gotten around 400 books.  She had a car parked nearby and had people helping her run books back and forth.  I think that’s crazy, and what I have is enough.  Maybe you got nothing near what I got, or you took home twice as much as I did.  Does it matter?  Heck no.  I’m just happy I got to go, and meet people who were like me, geeks who love to read, and who share the passion for trying to get others to read, so we can save the publishing industry.  The swag is really just the icing on the cake, as they say.  Although I do like cake … a lot.

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