BEA or Bust!

I’m about to leave to pick up my pass for Book Expo America, the four-day conference on the publishing industry that is held each year at the Jacob Javitts Convention Center in New York. I’ve been looking forward to BEA since I registered in January because it allows me to talk to writers, network with publishing professionals and get some free books.

I’m hoping to get advanced reading copies (ARCs) of a few books, some of which I want to read really badly. The only trade off with ARCs, though, is the question of anticipation. Is it better to get a book you really want to read earlier and devour it right away? Or is it better to have the anticipation of reading it stretch ahead for another few weeks or months?

I finally decided that anticipation is nice but so is having an ARC of a book like Crossed, the second installment of Ally Condie’s dystopian trilogy, or Shannon Hale’s Midnight in Austenland. I liked its predecessor, Austenland, so much that I finished it and went right back to the beginning and read it again. I’m hoping to scoop up ARCs of both of those books!

Here’s the checklist of what I’m taking to the Javitts Center:

• Comfortable shoes
• Backpack (more evenly distributes the weight of any books that might come home with me)
• Map of the exhibition hall and corresponding list of where and when to get ARCs of books that I covet.
• Snacks and water bottle. All of that walking around burns a lot of energy.
• Fully charged cell phone and laptop.

Hopefully I’ll see some of you there. And watch this space. This time next week, I’ll be giving away some ARCs to you!