Almost Grown-up

*rips through the interwebs*

HELLO FRIENDS. I have returned. There are many many reasons for this, but chief among them are:

1. I miss blogging a lot.
2. Book Expo America is in merely WEEKS.

The fact that BEA is omgsosoon is really what decided things for me, despite the fact that I’m still working on revisions for my novel (lordy be, they are taking longer than I expected).

And since this is going to be my second year going to BEA, I thought I’d offer some TIPS for anyone who is going to be new to the conference this year. I know that last year when I was preparing, I stalked every blog that I could think of for advice, so here are my two cents.

1. I hope those boots are made for walking. I literally do not think that I can stress this point enough: WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES. I honestly scoffed when I saw this on a bunch of posts last year because I wear heels and I wear heels often. So listen to me when I tell you: if you wear high heels, your feet will want to break up with you. Last year, I wore boat shoes for most of my trip, and my feet and I still went through a rough patch. You want comfortable flats. Trust me on this.

Among the flats I am packing this year.

2. This isn’t a job fair, but you’re not hanging out at a friend’s house either. You don’t need to wear a suit, but you’ll probably want to leave the T-shirts back at your hotel. My wardrobe options this year include dresses, sundresses, cardigans, comfortable black slacks and sweaters, and maybe even nice white jeans with button-ups. And I’m sure all of them will be fine. Also, check the weather before you pack because NYC is colder in May/June than Florida is, and I almost wasn’t prepared for that last year.

Wardrobe examples!

3. The bag situation. My personal preference is for a backpack or cross body because it keeps your hands free. As for what goes in your backpack, last year I was a little too prepared, I think. You’ll want your phone and/or your camera, maybe your charger, and definitely your wallet. You don’t need to bring large amounts of tote bags, I promise. They’ll have them at a bazillion booths and you’ll be able to grab them as needed soon enough.

Tote we received at the morning of the blogger conference (aka the 1st day) last year.

4. Business cards. No, they’re not a must and no one is going to judgy-face you if you don’t have them, but I exchanged a LOT of cards with people at BEA and started following their blogs/Twitter accounts because of that.

My cards (designed by SophistiKatied!)

5. ARCs. Don’t be greedy, my dudes. I know that there can be a little bit of a starry-eyed ZOMG-SO-MANY-BOOKS factor, but rein your self-control in tight. Yes, there are MANY books, but I have ARCs from last year that I still haven’t gotten to. Grab the stuff that really appeals to you and that you don’t expect to get from a publishing contact. You’ll be glad later.

This is kind of what it’s like.

6. I ship it. Hopefully you took my advice re: the selectiveness of your ARC-grabbing because dudes, if you’re not from NYC (as I am not), shipping can be expensive. The two ways to go about this depend on what matters most to you: price or convenience.

If convenience, there is a giant room at the Javits where you can reserve a box to add your books to throughout the conference and mail it at the end. You never have to carry any ARCs out, but I hear it’s a little pricey.

If price matters most, some of my BEA roomies and I packed our books into our suitcases and wheeled them to the nearest NYC post office where we sat on the ground and assembled many boxes to ship them home. It took a while because we did not exercise great self-control last year and also, shipping that many boxes to Canada, where Lindsey lives, was more complicated than we expected.

Don’t we look happy.

7. See the big apple. You’re in New York! It’s an awesome city. The conference and surrounding events are probably going to eat up most of your time, but you should definitely make an effort to do some typical tourist stuff.

ATLAS.

8. In your face. Finally, before you go, make sure your Twitter avatar, etc, is YOUR FACE so that we can all recognize each other! This is my face. I met so many bloggers last year and I look forward to meeting more of you this year! We’re going to have a great time!

9. Armchair BEA. If you’re not making the trip out to NYC this year, we’ll miss you! But there’s a great event called Armchair BEA that is a wonderful virtual alternative and I definitely recommend it.

Are any of you going to Book Expo America this year? Do you have tips that I missed? Let me know!

*Thanks to Lindsey for this post title, from our planning e-mail chain ;)