This past weekend I was lucky enough to be able to attend Bookcon. I had actually bought the tickets for my mom for Christmas and thought it would be a fun little bookie family bonding experience. That said, I had no clue what to expect. We didn’t realize just how HUGE Bookcon actually is until we were waiting in a line for the showfloor that wrapped around every which way.
The 35 dollars I spent per ticket was nothing compared to all the books we got either for free or heavily discounted. I ended up with 13 books at the end of the day (a small sum compared to others), 4 different tote bags, and a bunch of random goodies. I didn’t spend over 7 dollars on a single book!
I think as a complete newbie I did pretty well (I mean, a week ago I didn’t even really know what ARC meant). Sure there’s some things I didn’t know like: how to get more ARCs, how to carry books so that my shoulders didn’t nearly fall off, and who are some of these authors?
But next year, and yes I fully intend to go next year no matter how much more extremely difficult it will be to get there, I will be even more prepared.
But there are two things that I really got from this Bookcon that were important to me. And they both have to do with people.
I got to spend a fantastic weekend with my parents nerding out about books in my favorite city. I had a great time and I’m glad I got to spend it with them.- I discovered through my post-bookcon sadness a fantastic community of bookie people on youtube. A community that shares one common passion and seems genuinely lovely. And I’m excited to now have that in my life.
All in all it was such a good experience, far better than I could have possibly imagined. I’ve already knocked out one book from my pile (The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, who signed it and was such a funny, nice man), and I’m on to the second (my first ARC!).
Hope you’re all having a MARVELOUS week!
Talk to you soon,
Baylee
That Blushing Book Girl 