Hello, everyone! If you haven't already read my BEA Day 1 and BEA Day 2 recaps, you can do so at those links. Friday, the 29th was in some ways more chill than the other two days and somehow more hectic because my two most anticipated titles had events going on at the same time that day. Today's video recap won't have C.J., as we got back at midnight & were so exhausted, we went to sleep, and she went to the airport the next day :).

So we were a bit late into BEA today, such that when we got there, the line to go inside had already started to move. Whoops. But, actually, it's amazing how strolling in like that can reduce stress levels. I knew we had various plans because C.J. ofSarcasm and Lemons, Summer of Blue Sky Shelf, and I had some of the same books on our lists, but getting to sleep a little bit more, actually getting lunch that day (yes, I literally did not eat lunch on either Day 1 or Day 2 - it just slipped my mind)... much better. Plus, focusing on fewer books - also much better.

C.J. went to go sit in the 10:30 signing line for SIX OF CROWS by Leigh Bardugo, and was like tenth at 9:03. Yeah, BEA is that intense. (I also didn't realize this until later). Summer and I were in the BLACK WIDOW: FOREVER RED 9:30 autographing line for Margaret Stohl along with the lovely Brooke. I passed by the Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff 9:00 signing for THE ANATOMY OF CURIOSITY, but the line was already pretty big at the very beginning, so I skipped onto the Widow signing, which was the plan (C.J. in line; Summer & I to join later). As soon as I finished with that signing, I went over to the line for Six of Crows and got the sense that people were glaring / telling me to leave / to not join C.J. So I did leave. Debated what to do.

NGL, I was a little upset. But then later, I got really embarrassed by myself. Upset? What right did I even have to be upset? This is an industry event. It was my number one most anticipated title, but I'm not entitled to anything and am I really that important in the face of other people who can also promote the title? NO. Freaking BEA and getting caught up in the book fervor - I hate that, and you know what? I'd made my choice in not going to that line immediately - I should have realized that was what would happen. The moment I realized that some of my upset was rooted in this entitlement, I just wanted to go crawl into a dark corner to get over myself.

I went to two events and kinda did just that.

The two events I went to were the BLOOD AND SALT by Kim Liggett signing and the DAUGHTER OF DEEP SILENCE by Carrie Ryan signing. Kim Liggett seemed really friendly, and as with all signings, I was trying to prepare a generic question (can't ask any specifics if I haven't read the book yet; also awkward penguin = me), but all that went out of my head after Kim Liggett came around the table to hug me. She'd recognized me from my booktube channel! So shocking to me - I'd only started that channel in December and deleted many of my earlier videos because of my crappy webcam and I even nearly skipped the entirety of March. If people have recognized me, it's from my blog. Booktube? Woah. She also said that I had a calming voice and wanted me to... read to her? I don't remember what she said she wanted me to do though. Her reaction was one of the many things that calmed me, actually. It was gratifying. I don't spend much time promoting this blog or that channel, or on twitter, so it's just unexpected. And I got lucky with that Carrie Ryan signing - she was going so quickly that I was able to step in towards the end, when there were only like 10 people in front of me, and it still worked!

After I got those books, I found an open table by the Starbucks on the first floor, calmed myself and my earlier disappointment/embarrassment/etc., ate lunch, and read the PW Show Daily.

Another thing or two I learned from the PW Show Daily:

Y'all want to know which books are going to be "hyped" soon, right? Here's information from the article, "Early Favorites for Young Readers."

"As booksellers, librarians, and publishers descend on the Javits Center for the first full day of BookExpo America, there was strong early interest across all age ranges and genres, including adult books with YA crossover and vice versa..."

• Crown: Ernest Cline's Armada
• National Geographic: Anita Silvey's Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall
• Penguin Random House: Ruta Sepetys's Salt to the Sea, Marie Lu's The Rose Society, Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski's Nightfall, Moira Fowley-Doyle's The Accident Season, Richelle Mead's Soundless, Eric Carle's The Nonsense Show, Pharrell's Happy!, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's Illuminae, Nicola Yoon's Everything, Everything, Jory John's I Will Chomp You!, Rebecca Stead's Goodbye Stranger
• Bloomsbury: Aimee Carter's Simon Thorn and the Wolf's Den and Lauren DeStefano's A Curious Tale of the In-Between
• Abrams: Jeff Kinney's Old School, Robbie Robertson's Hiawatha and the Peacemaker
• HarperCollins: Julie Murphy's Dumplin', Nicholas Gannon's The Doldrums, Patrick Ness's The Rest of Us Just Live Here, Rae Carson's Walk on Earth a Stranger, Garth Nix's Newt's Emerald
• Disney: Mercedes Lackey's Hunter
• Charlesbridge: Pamela S. Turner's Samurai Rising
• Chronicle: Mac Barnett and Christian Robinson's Leo, Hannah Moskowitz's A History of Glitter and Blood
• Shadow Mountain: Brandon Mull's The Caretaker's Guide to the Fablehaven, True Heroes by 21 authors
• HMH: Erin Bowman's Vengeance Road, Gary D. Schmidt's Orbiting Jupiter (Clarion), Estelle Laure's This Raging Light, Joelle Charbonneau's Need, Audrey and Don Wood's The Full Moon at the Napping House
• Simon & Schuster: Kevin Sands's The Blackthorn Key, Kenneth Oppel's The Nest, Erin Bow's The Scorpion Rules
• Workman: Polar, Daniel Nayeri's How to Tell a Story
• Little, Brown: Ali Benjamin's The Thing about Jellyfish
• Candlewick: Maggie Thrash's Honor Girl, M.T. Anderson's Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad
• St. Martin's Press: Rainbow Rowell's Carry On
• Scholastic: Brian Selznick's The Marvels

(Probably not every hyped title - and not just from the publishers, but across the industry it seems - but still a decent list, no?).

I actually went to go ask about Ruta Sepetys's title after reading this article. Turns out they had manuscripts available for booksellers - a little fascinating, no, how books come in so many different forms at BEA for promotion? I went around to the publishers, but I already had so many books, it was a little ridiculous. I did get THIS RAGING LIGHT, though, because C.J. and everyone else seems so excited by it & it was a YA Editor's Buzz Panel book. Eventually, to kill time, I started to read BLOOD AND SALT, which is quite good (see the video for more! + this blog later!).

Essentially I needed to catch the 2:51 train from New York Penn station to go back to my job. We're currently on a sort of deadline to run subjects at work, and so it didn't seem right to take Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off without running a single subject. And the very last thing on my schedule was the 2:30 galley drop of SIX OF CROWS, which I'd missed that morning (and work => why I'd wanted to get it in the morning). So I started to hover around the Macmillan booth, reading BLOOD AND SALT, at like... 12:40. Yeah, I had a feeling I was going to annoy the publicists, but I honestly didn't want to start a line so much as see when the line started and make sure that I was early so that I could go catch my train. Oh well. Line formed, line dispersed, line formed, line moved. And then once it was official, I got to talk to awesome people like Kel, Jen (in my book club :D), Kay, Lauren, and Danielle. Lines are sometimes the best!

As soon as I got that book, I sped over to NY Penn station. Made it with four minutes to spare. Books are important, people... but so is making your train.

#BEA15 ended then for me. I came back into the city after work for one last important thing:

OMG THAT BROADWAY IS AMAZING. If y'all are in New York, see it ASAP! If it comes to your city's theater sometime, SEE IT (especially if you're a writer). It's the story of how J.M. Barrie found his inspiration for PETER PAN. It was made into a film a while back, but the Broadway play is so much more inspiring (C.J. told me the film was quite depressing, actually - this play was not depressing; it had a little bit of everything - sad, funny, inspiring, glorious (aka: Christina in awe)).

On Saturday, May 30th, aka BookCon Day 1... well, I was at the Javits for like 20 minutes because I didn't want to brave any super long lines. I picked up my press badge, found the line for the SERPENTINE by Cindy Pon signing, and then left. I knew that Ameriie at Books Beauty Ameriie was really looking forward to that title, so I got it for her. I also read it immediately so that when she got a chance to read it, I'd be able to discuss the book with her. Highly recommended book! FIND & READ IT, PEOPLE.

BOOK HAUL:

Hey, hey! If you haven't already read my recap of Day 1 at BEA 2015, you can do so at that link (also includes a video, as this post does, with C.J. from Sarcasm and Lemons). Today honestly felt much better & I have more detail in this post than from last time as well. Same questions for the video though: a.) favorite moment of the day; b.) favorite book/grab; c.) most surprising moment/book; d.) most anticipating (and today, since our answers were unlikely to change from last time: expectations for the last day aka tomorrow!).

One of the first things I remember people advising re: BEA is to get a hotel in NYC - don't deal with Port Authority in NJ, try to save money in NJ, etc.. But I happen to live and work in NJ, and can take the train, have that ride take about an hour and be good to go, without the costs (it's okay for me, too, because I'm used to this). Still... then there are the days when you want to get to Javits by 7:30 and are awake before 5 to catch a train you literally have to sprint to (we were late).

TRUTH!

Things to learn from those PW Show Dailys!

 

At Harlequin Breakfast

So cool though that Libba's title has so much hype over it! I also asked Libba Bray who her favorite character was and she said that it changes depending on the scene that she's writing. She also said that Theta gets some "good lines" in this series. Also, the publicist who I was standing next to in line said that she thought that thrillers and mysteries (though just "everyone appreciates a good story") would be the next big thing.

At some point during the day, I wandered into the Penguin booth and found THE ACCIDENT SEASON and WILD ONES. One early morning and the other later. I also specifically sought out the EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING galley drop at 4:30, the 2:00 drop of THE MARVELS, the random drop of THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH. The best thing was getting to talk to everyone while being in line, like Kel at the LOIS LANE lane and Monica at the Libba Bray line and older friends like Liliand Kristin. Also hanging out again with Summer.

But, now, the worst thing is that I am way too tired to continue writing. Toooooo tired. After that train and the time of night it is now...

BOOK HAUL:
if you're really looking forward to any of these titles, and we're friends, you can definitely borrow these books. let me know!

Hello, everyone! Today I'll recap my experience of BEA Day 1. I've got a video for you with C.J. from Sarcasm and Lemons. Most of what I'll write about in this post is a sort of logistics "what-did-you-do" thing whereas the video talks more about our individual experiences & the books I got/why I'm excited for those. Let me know what y'all think!

On the train from NJ (where I currently live) to BEA!

Last year both C.J. and I went to BEA, and this year the schedule is completely different. I'm only mentioning this because I've done like 0 research on my own and would know nothing were it not for this community. Most of what I know about comes from other bloggers making spreadsheets, so thanks community! Wednesday used to be a day to pick up your badges and... leave. Unless you were going to Blogger Con, I guess. This year, Wednesday was a sort of half day, with the exhibition hall opening at 1:00 p.m. (a fact I found out last night from twitter; thanks bloggers!).

(My badge was ... not to be found. So I'm that sketchy anonymous press member. I also forgot to pick up a reprinted version later mostly because if I had free time, I was sitting down. I hope this does not cause actual problems.)

I thought that because today was a half day, it would be less intense.

I was wrong.

So, the first thing that most YA bloggers wanted to get was Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. There were 100 ARCs for a signing at 3:00 p.m., but tickets were being given out at 1:00 p.m., right when the exhibition hall opened. When C.J. and I got there, the main line outside the exhibition hall looked really intense. So, we and let's say 10 others formed a line by the side entrance and as soon as it 1:00... heh, we were fast walking beside so many other people. But, sadly, we didn't make it in time. Later we learned that the tickets were gone within 90 seconds. 90 SECONDS PEOPLE. HOW IS THAT EVEN PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE?

(But really, I have nothing to complain nothing about since I would know nothing were it not for the fellow community :D).

Also, like, if you're looking to find out what the next trend in YA is... hello, high fantasy!

YAY!

From there C.J. and I searched for Little, Brown because I'd read in the "PW Show Daily" (these giant booklets that are given for free while you're waiting to get into the exhibition hall... pubbed by Publisher's Weekly... goes over various publishing industry articles like whether Amazon is good for readers and practical things like favorite NYC bookstores & food places.... also has ads by some publishers for their main titles) that they were having a galley drop at 1:00. Got there, and then caught behind the mob. Didn't really want to push through people to find Wolf by Wolf by Graudin which is what I was essentially interested in, but ...in those few seconds I wasted, the ARCs ended. Half day? WHO CARES. ;)

Did I say BEA was intense? yeah.

So we wandered over to find lists from various publishers on author events and galley drops and the like. (Funny story: at one publisher, not going to say who, a publicist was talking to her colleague about how she didn't have ARC/author event sheets because people would then have to come up and ask her, and that meant that she could for the most part avoid people). I didn't really plan much re: this BEA because I figured these sheets would end up being more helpful than so many other things. And they were (cc: below).

The next thing we went to was the galley drop at Harper Collins at 1:30 for Lauren Oliver's latest MG title... and as you see in the video, hello, new precious MG that I'm going to love (THE DOLDRUMS!). THIS LOOKS SO ADORABLE; PUT IT ON YOUR LIST TOO (and watch the video to see the artwork inside!). And from there, another drop at Little, Brown for the 2:00 of THE WITCH HUNTER & COURT OF FIVES. But what's cool is also getting to see what other people have... aka the person in front of us in line was holding A THOUSAND NIGHTS and told me about Disney's pile. So I grabbed copies of that while C.J. stayed in line and then lol, there was the drop of THE SCORPION RULES (I'm probably getting the times mixed up) and drop after drop after drop (I basically just plopped onto the floor at several points). Earlier in the day, we found NIGHTFALL at the Penguin Booth (their BEA Editors Buzz Book selection, I believe, in addition to EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING). Also THESE SHALLOW GRAVES and ANOTHER DAY. At some point, too, I went to the HMH booth to ask about VENGEANCE ROAD; same for Chronicle and A HISTORY OF GLITTER AND BLOOD.

The first day... was a lot of running around, and I'm hoping to change that tomorrow, because I felt like I didn't get a chance to... enjoy?

The thing I probably hate and love most about BEA is the book fervor. Like, a.) love book nerdiness but b.) it's so easy to get caught up in everything and I felt like I lost sight of just those nice moments of talking more to the other people and falling less into what-next-who-where-why (relaxed Christina would have actually gone up to the various Famous Bloggers and Booktubers that she saw instead of wondering whether she was going to be bothersome... and also rather than running to the next area for another book). As I say in the video, my favorite part was actually one of the quiet moments talking with a librarian. The waiting in line and just getting to chat with other people and see what they're excited about.

Also meeting up with other people, like Summer from Blue Sky Shelf and getting to hang out with C.J.. And, also just asking publicists what they're most excited about. A publicist we met at Candlewick was SO friendly. The best. I wanted to be excited about all the books that she was excited about. All the publicists I met today were SO freaking nice. I probably should have mentioned that as one of my favorite moments too but ah.

And because this post wasn't full of bookish goodness, I also got two books from the Strand: The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer & Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (high fantasy, peeps. It's my game. And now if I ever complain about not having books to read, please smack me upside the head).

Okay, because I live in NJ, it takes about an hour to go to and from Javits. (And not to mention the time it took editing the video, and the rain that delayed trains...) So, like, hopefully I'll have a longer recap tomorrow than I did today, but I'm now too exhausted and need to sleep some.

Thanks for reading!

BOOK HAUL:
if you're really looking forward to any of these titles, and we're friends, you can definitely borrow these books. let me know!

• Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski
• The Curiosity House: the Shrunken Head by Lauren Oliver & H.C. Chester
• The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow
• Court of Fives by Kate Elliott
• The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker
• A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz
• A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston
• Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti
• Honor Girl by Maggie Thrash {sampler}
• Another Day by David Levithan
• Newt's Emerald by Garth Nix
• Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman
• The Doldrums by Nicholas Gannon
• These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

• Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
• A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano
• Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
• Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between by Jennifer Smith
• Black Widow: Forever Red by Margaret Stohl
• Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
• Blood and Salt by Kim Liggett
• Serpentine by Cindy Pon

I was very excited to receive a letter from my literary agent stating that he/she was going to represent my book at Book Expo America. This is the largest book promoting event in the United States. The two day event will offer my literary agent the change to speak with 30 different publishing companies.

While I am thrilled that my manuscript will be represented, I am also a bit nervous. Penny's story is very close to my heart. And even though I think her tale is amazing, I am finding out just how subjective the publishing world can be.

I am in hopes that potential publishers will really understand the powerful message that Penny's story carries. This is not a typical "cutesy" dog book. It is a book about being different, feeling unloved, and getting a second chance at life. I know that Penny's story could make a great impact upon the literary world.

Good luck to my fellow authors who will also be represented at the Expo!

Rincey explains her frustration regarding the lack of diversity on the panels of BookCon 2014 @ Book Expo of America in New York next month.