KC and the Sunshine Chats (3): Preparing for BEA

Around the book blog world, there are a lot of awesome discussion post groups, like Book Girls Don’t Cry, They Vent or Reviewer’s Roundtable. The ironically named KC and the Sunshine Chats was born out of a wish to be part of the fun. However, we wanted to mix things up and instead of posting individual discussion posts, we’ll chat back and forth in one post, alternating which blog the post will appear on. We don’t have a set schedule for these, but will probably post one or two a month.

We do know the name is silly, but this is Kara and Christina and we are silly. :)

As some of you may know, both Kara and I are going to BEA this year, and we’re going to have a freaking blast. I went to BEA last year, but this is Kara’s first time going, so, for today’s chat, we’re going to be a bit more interrogation-y as Kara asks whatever she wants about the BEA experience and garners my wisdom.

"I flatter myself."

CF: So, Kara, what would you like to know about BEA?

KM: So many things. You are my Yoda. First of all, what kind of luggage do you bring? One piece or two? What do you take to BEA as far as luggage and totes go? I think I have this figured out, but I just want to make sure I bring enough. I will be shipping my books from the post office (which I will follow you to, I am sure), but I need something to put my books in when I am there. So, what’s the deal with luggage?

CF: Okay, well, first thing you should know is that you can check bags at the conference center for two dollars. Last year, I was all “I don’t need to spend that money,” so I didn’t. Well, guess what? I’m planning to check my rolly bag this year, at least on the first day. Books are HEAVY. If you check the bag, you can go there every so often and dump books off. There’s no need to take any tote bags because plenty of free ones are being given out. I took a backpack last year, so that the weight would be distributed better, but I might not bother since I’m checking a bag. Please note, though, that rolling bags are not allowed onto the exhibition floor!

KM: Good to know about the tote bags! I was planning to bring one but now I don’t need to! That’s more room for other stuff! I was already planning to check a bag at the conference and two bucks is cheap! I am good to go on that.

Next: I’m really interested in knowing how the expo floor is organized. It seems like it would be very disorganized. Is it hard to find all the publishers and do ARCs disappear before you get there? Also, how do you know when there is an ARC drop? How does the autographing area work? Do the authors have the books there with them? Can you just grab books at the publisher booths or do you have to ask?

CF: This is many questions.

1) The floor is organized by number, so if you know the number of a booth, it’s not too hard to find. The big 6 were all clustered together, so they were easy enough to locate. I did miss a signing at Flux, though, because I couldn’t find the freaking booth, so, without the number, they can mysteriously disappear. There’s also a separate area for autographing. It was in the back left of the exhibition hall. Events and talks took place downstairs in rooms, but I honestly didn’t do much of that.

2) ARC drops vary. Penguin had flyers listing when they would be dropping certain titles. I don’t think I saw anything like that from the others, so it was a matter of luck. If you want to know and there aren’t any signs/flyers, ask one of the reps at the booth, and they might tell you. Also, Penguin had more than one drop for most books, so just because you miss one, doesn’t mean you can’t still get it. I think I only missed one of their drops last year (The Innocents - lucky!)

3) The Autographing Area is just a bunch of lines. They ask that you love a dollar per book that you pick up there, since these tend to be nice finished copies. Probably easier to just drop all the money at once, rather than singles per-book since I would feel weird with that many ones. The lines tend to form ahead of time, so if you want a quick wait for a big title, get there early. They also sometimes ran out before the end of the line or ran out of signing time, since there’s generally someone who needs that space.

The Autograph Area Lines

At signings, the authors (well, their reps) have the books and they are free (aside from the request for donation). If you wanted to bring a book, I imagine they would sign that too, but I’m not sure.

4) You can’t just grab EVERYTHING at the publisher booths. They generally have display copies around, and those are not for the taking. However, if you see a pile of ARCs on the floor or a table, those are free for the taking. If you’re not sure, then ask a publisher representative politely. Display copies might be given away on the last day, but I left before that happened. It did happen at ALA. They generally don’t want to cart anything back.

KM: Wow. This is a lot of info. It’s also very good info. I figured there would be display copies. What I was concerned about is getting my hand slapped if I grabbed something from a pile without asking. Looks like that doesn’t happen there. So yay!

Is there time after the day is done to do other stuff? Do you always stay there until the very end? It closes at 5, right? Did you do any sightseeing when you were there last year? I’d like to see Central Park and Times Square at least while I am there. Is there time enough for that?

CF: BEA does close up at 5 PM, so there is time to get stuff done, though you will be rather tired. I did leave earlier on the last day (so early I got standby to an earlier flight home), and I think on one other day. I pretty much left when I had gotten to the signings I wanted to attend. Sure, I could have wandered more, but I was tired. There should be time to get to those, but it depends how much walking you can handle on a given day.

KM: Not much, honestly. And my feet do tire easily. I will try to stick it out for as long as I can but I am not going to kill myself. If I can’t do it, I can’t. It’s my first time in NYC so I wanted to see some of this stuff but maybe it would be better saved for another trip. I don’t want to get sick, and my immune system is WHACK.

What about food? I’ve heard that food at Javits is pricey but I would bet it’s pricey everywhere. So what did you do for meals?

CF: Well, the first day, I accidentally skipped eating and felt like I was going to faint. Don’t do that. I had some nuts, two pieces of chocolate and a cookie acquired throughout the day. Eat a good breakfast and stop for lunch. There is food at Javits and it’s sort of airport prices, because they know you’re trapped. I ate there one day, and I was okay with a 7 dollar giant baked potato, since they’re super filling. You could always bring a lunch or snacks with you, though then you have to carry them.

KM: I will probably just eat there or nearby. But I will definitely eat as I am hypoglycemic and my blood sugar gets pretty bad and I get shaky. I haven’t passed out yet, and I don’t want to start now.

Shoes and clothes. I am concerned about what kind of shoes to wear. I have a pair of comfy shoes, and I think I am just going to roll with those, but how did you dress? I’ve heard business casual is the way to go but I saw lots of bloggers in dresses, and they are so cute, but totally not me. Though I have one I could bring. Basically, I want to know what clothes and shoes you brought.

CF: I’m really wishing I could remember what shoes I wore last year. I think ballet flats. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes, because you’re going to be walking ALL the time. You can sit in some signing lines, but otherwise on your feet all the time. I wore a lot of dresses and skirts, ranging from casual to fairly professional, mostly because I like an excuse to dress up. I maybe wouldn’t wear jeans, but you could probably get away with it. I’ll probably dress the same this year, but I might wear flip flops, because they really are most comfortable to me, though I don’t know because some people are mortally offended by them, which I totally do not get.

KM: I would love to be able to wear flip flops. But I can’t wear them for very long because I need a shoe that makes me have an arch do to my flat ass feet. I won’t wear jeans. But I was wondering if I could get by with khaki pants and it looks like I can, so yay. I don’t feel comfy in dresses because I hate my legs. I know, I’m weird. But I’d rather wear pants or cute shorts. Is it okay to wear dressy shorts if I can find any?

CF: I have really high arches, and I like flip flops because they mold to my feet. Or I’ll suffer with my less comfy ballet flats. We’ll see on that. My mind is sort of boggling at the idea of dressy shorts, but maybe? BEA isn’t packed with fashion plates. There are some women who have no fucks to give about clothing.

KM: LOL! You don’t know me. I can make anything dressy with the right shoes and accessories. :D Ah yes. Sweatpants and spandex. The fashion statement of women with no fucks to give.

CF: Well, not quite THAT bad, but...plenty of floral monstrosities.

KM: Bahaha. That’s almost just as bad. Grandma pants. YES!

I’ve heard the third day isn’t really necessary to go to. Would that be a good sightseeing day or did you go for all three days?

CF: This will depend on you. Look at the list of signings on that day and see if they are ones you can live without. Likely, you will at least want to leave earlier on the final day, so that probably would be good for sightseeing. I did go on day three, but I think I was done by 12.

KM: Good to know. I think this is probably what I will end up doing because I’d bet I will be sick of Javits by then, but we’ll see.

I’m sure everybody wants to know about transportation and so do I. How often did you use cabs versus public transportation, and how the hell do you read those transit maps and schedules?

CF: I am not much help here, sadly. I only took the buses/trains with my friend who lives in New York, so I am just as stymied as you are. *trembles* I cabbed back and forth to BEA last year, since my friend’s apartment is in the Upper East Side and going by public transit would have been 45 minutes at least each way. Yellow cabs are nice because they charge a flat rate. I wouldn’t recommend getting in one of the non-yellow-cabs. I hear they overcharge and they seem really shady. Be warned that catching a cab at about 5 from Javits is really difficult, and there are some directions they refuse to go because that’s cabbie shift change (like over bridges). You might want to plan to eat somewhere walkable afterwards or head to the post office to ship books, and give traffic time to settle down.

KM: You do know want to get in the unsanctioned cabs in ANY city, believe me. They are just as bad in Orlando. Though for people that don’t know anything about cabs, please remember that!

I can do that. I will probably be hungry and want to ship my books anyway, so maybe we can all hang out because we are going to be at the same hotel.

CF: And, to warn you guys, those guys KNOW that it’s hard to get yellow cabs outside of the Javits at around 5 and they will hassle you to get in. I was waiting to cross the street and this one guy kept badgering me to get in his black car. I don’t THINK so.

KM: Oh, FFS. So basically they are hawking their wares outside the conference center. SUCKY. Well, I can be plenty rude so hang with me. :D We’ll both have to put on our bus faces. LOL.

CF: Haha, being rude to those guys is not a problem I have. I’m pretty sure I finally had to go “Hell no would I get in your car.”

KM: Go Christina. I hope I get the chance to see this side of you there. So...

Are bloggers really that grabby there? I heard someone got bit last year. Is it really that crazy?

CF: Well, I didn’t personally get bit or bite anyone. (KM: I hope you didn’t bite anyone, bahaha!) I didn’t see any particularly questionable behavior. You probably will get shoved and stepped on when you head for a drop of something good, but that’s generally accidental. There are a lot of accidental bumps/shoves, because everyone’s way wider than they are used to, because of the tote bags full of books, and there are just tons of people around the popular booths. Things do get snapped up quickly, but, for the most part, any rudeness seemed unintentional. I, for example, accidentally cut in a line last year, because there was a huge gap. I apologized profusely and started to head to the back, but they told me to stay. If someone does something they shouldn’t, politely see if they know they’ve just caused a problem. The lines can be really confusing, so don’t assume they’re trying to be a jerk.

KM: Will do. I am going to try to be on my nice behavior those days. Not exactly easy for me, but I know that if I have a bad attitude, bad shit will keep happening and I need to be sweet for my anxiety. LOL.

CF: And at least you will be running around with your friends. I was all alone last year, so I expect it to be much better now!

One last piece of advice: everything at BEA takes longer than you think. When you look at the list of signings, you will probably want to go to several an hour. You probably can’t, unless you just go for the small authors. The multi-author signings begin to line up about an hour before the signing, as do big authors, like John Green, Kristin Cashore, Melissa Marr.

KM: Good to know, considering I wanted to go to the Maria V. Snyder signing and she is pretty popular. I don’t get too crazy over the authors like some bloggers do. For me it is all about the books, so I will probably just go to the signings you guys go to, other than Maria. But I am sure this is helpful for almost everyone else that is going.

CF: Basically, you have to sort out your priorities. Know what you want most and make sure you get that. Go for the other things as time permits. Most importantly, HAVE FUN!

KM: Peace out, biznatches! :D


If you’re going to BEA and have any other questions or advice, leave them in the comments! If you’re not going to BEA, sorry but there’s always next year! If you have any suggestions for future Sunshine Chats, let us know in the comments, because we would love to accommodate you.