Nest Book Club
Dear Community,

Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.

If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.

Thank you.

Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.

Did anyone go to Bookcon this weekend in NYC?

As a consumer? I missed it, even though I'd been thinking about going since last year's event. I'm so bummed! Make me (more) jealous - how was it? 

Re: Did anyone go to Bookcon this weekend in NYC?

  • I didn't think it was as good as past years. They didn't let people with BookCon passes onto the whole BEA exhibit floor, which was a change, and resulted in way too many people shoved in way too small an area. And their crowd control was crap - some of the more popular author signings/panels were near riots.

    We did get some fun books but I wouldn't go to BookCon again.

  • Kate&Mark said:

    I didn't think it was as good as past years. They didn't let people with BookCon passes onto the whole BEA exhibit floor, which was a change, and resulted in way too many people shoved in way too small an area. And their crowd control was crap - some of the more popular author signings/panels were near riots.

    We did get some fun books but I wouldn't go to BookCon again.

    The crowd pics on twitter looked a little scary.
    image

    I wrote this! 
  • Kate&Mark said:

    I didn't think it was as good as past years. They didn't let people with BookCon passes onto the whole BEA exhibit floor, which was a change, and resulted in way too many people shoved in way too small an area. And their crowd control was crap - some of the more popular author signings/panels were near riots.

    We did get some fun books but I wouldn't go to BookCon again.

    The crowd pics on twitter looked a little scary.

    It really was a little scary. Libba Bray was one of the few big names doing an unticketed signing and I walked away from that side of the floor at one point because the crowd was just screaming at the staff. They seemed completely unprepared for the number of people that showed up.

    It also felt like a really different crowd of people - probably because how they marketed it. In the past it felt more like librarians/wannabe librarians/avid book lovers - so even when there were crowds, they were pretty polite crowds. Like, my first year this was a big ARC drop at a booth that got mobbed and grabbed up pretty fast. The result was people stood around handing out their emails so the people who got ARCs could pass them on after they read them.This year, it was a lot more young teens and people that were hell-bent on seeing whatever big name they came for. I was really unprepared for the entitled attitudes and out-and-out yelling that I saw this year.

  • Kate&Mark said:

    It really was a little scary. Libba Bray was one of the few big names doing an unticketed signing and I walked away from that side of the floor at one point because the crowd was just screaming at the staff. They seemed completely unprepared for the number of people that showed up.

    It also felt like a really different crowd of people - probably because how they marketed it. In the past it felt more like librarians/wannabe librarians/avid book lovers - so even when there were crowds, they were pretty polite crowds. Like, my first year this was a big ARC drop at a booth that got mobbed and grabbed up pretty fast. The result was people stood around handing out their emails so the people who got ARCs could pass them on after they read them.This year, it was a lot more young teens and people that were hell-bent on seeing whatever big name they came for. I was really unprepared for the entitled attitudes and out-and-out yelling that I saw this year.

    So disappointing.  It makes me never want to go to a big name book con because I can't stand that kind of behavior.
    imageimage image
  • So disappointing.  It makes me never want to go to a big name book con because I can't stand that kind of behavior.

    I would absolutely say go to BEA if you can go as a librarian or blogger. The experience is so much different. I'd do BEA again in a heartbeat - just not the BookCon side of things.
  • Wow. That sounds pretty bad.
    :(
    image image image
    Lilypie Pregnancy tickers
  • It really wasn't *all* bad. I avoided the big names and got to chat with some really nice authors. Corey Ann Haydu and Liz Pichon were both super sweet. And I picked up a few ARCs I'm excited about, including Tawni O'Dell's One of Us. It wasn't that the day was a bust... it just wasn't the same as previous years.
  • Wow. Thanks for sharing. I don't even know what to say about all that. @Kate&Mark - I think you're the reason I wanted to go this year! Lol. I guess I won't be too upset that I missed it. 
  • Yeah, it was definitely ridiculously crowded.  I hadn't been before so I don't think I was as upset about the state of things as Kate, but I also just stayed away from the crowds as much as possible.  I totally missed people screaming at the staff but I didn't even attempt to go near the Libba Bray signing or RL Stein or Cassandra Clare.  

    I didn't get as many of the books that I had hoped to get though...I think in part because of how many people were there.  You could SEE the BEA side and it looked so nice and uncrowded.  The panel to see John Green was downright terrifying.  Mosh pit scary.  If someone had screamed bomb, people would have died for sure.  So, ummm yeah, we stayed far away from that...
    Kristen's book recommendations, liked quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists (read shelf)

    image

    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • My friend and co-worker, William Ritter, who wrote Jackaby, a paranormal/Sherlock Holmes type book was there! :)
    Books Read in 2016: 4/50

Sign In or Register to comment.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards