BEA 2015 Recap: My Overall Experience and Thoughts

My Overall Experience and Thoughts 

We now arrive to the final post about my amazing experience at BEA 2015... I'm crying. Once again, like I've said a million times before, BEA was amazing. Here is some facts that BEA included by the numbers:

• one publicist who I work with from Penguin Random House!
• 117 ARCs in total! The rest were finished copies!
• books were signed by the author! *squeals*
• 4 days filled with book lovers and authors!
• 1 actual celebrity—Julianne Moore!
• many, many water bottles to calm the stress and dehydration
• one epic trip to the gorgeous city, New York City
• 152 books in total + some middle-grades for my sister

That's just some of it. But honestly, there's so many people that I'd like to thank for making this possible, and for giving me an amazing experience:

• my family
• my partner in crime (Mom)
• the amazing publishers who worked so hard to make this happen (Macmillan, Simon and Schuster, Hachette, Sourcebooks, HarperCollins, Soho Press, Mystery Writers of America, Penguin Random House, Penguin Canada, Disney-Hyperion, Bloomsbury, just to name a few)
• all of the authors who worked so hard to satisfy readers and take time out of their busy lives to meet us
• the staff and volunteers at the event who handled the crazy people and organized everything perfectly
• Starbucks, for all of those times where I died of dehydration and needed a boost
• all of the awesome people who I met
• the amazing city of NYC 
• BEA's press office. Love you guys.

I'm so grateful to have been at the Expo and to be honest..

I'm super excited for Chicago next year. Hopefully I can go? 

That would be awesome. I'm so in love with BEA! I'm going to probably start counting down the days soon enough, haha.

38 signed books!

When BEA time comes around next year, I'll probably write up a tip post, full of tips for you newbies who'll be attending, but here are some that I've come up with that I'd highly recommend following:

1. Have fun. It's not about the number of books you get, instead it's about having a good time and meeting other people.
2. Socialize, socialize, socialize. This is a crazily busy place and you have so many chances to meet people!
3. Take photos. You'll never see such a bookish place in the whole world like you do here.
4. Get in lines early. You won't regret it, and then you'll have the chance to wait less, and head to something later.
5. Make a spreadsheet/schedule earlier before the event. This'll help so much and will keep you organized! (Make a few copies, mine ripped as it was the only thing I held in my hand 24/7!)
6. Check in a luggage. Even if you're sure you won't get much on one of the days, better have it checked in on the bottom floor in case, rather than risking your shoulders falling apart. (See my Day 1 Recap. Hmmph.) It's only $3 per bag!
7. Head to panels! I went to one this year (YA Buzz Editor's Panel) and had a complete blast. It's one of my main highlights!
8. While you're in the city (or Chicago next year), go sightseeing! You don't need to be at BEA every single second to get every single book. Explore!
9. Get there early in the morning. This way, you'll be able to relax and not think about that Passenger signing at 9:30 and how you might not make it. (I DIDN'T. WAAAHH)
10. Make the most out of your experience. It's the #1 biggest (and best) publishing event in all of North America. THINK ABOUT IT—YOU'RE THERE!

There's so much more to the event, but those are the main things that I realized afterwards, and made my experience so much better by following them.

Until next time, KING JAVITS!

What an amazing experience. Now what I have to do is—READ ALL OF THOSE BOOKS.WOW. OKAY. UM. THAT'S GOING TO BE HECTIC. (I already read In the Afterlight, and really enjoyed it!) I seriously cried as I left the city. :(

That's my recap! How did you like my 5 posts? Any questions? Have you been to a book event before?