Book Con Part 2
That nigh I went to Wonder Woman screening at the AMC theatre near by to a restaurant my friends and "hotel-mates" were visiting. When I got to the theatre I waited in a line, talked a bit with some of the other guest, and got ready for the screening. Before the screening I saw a few popular authors in the audience like Cassandra Clare. Leigh Bardugo got up and actually talked to us about her Wonder Woman book coming out and Wonder Woman in general. While I though there was going to be a Q &A or something like that, we just watched the movie (which was fantastic). After I went to go wait outside and I saw Nicola Yoon. I will admit I was really nervous at first to take a photo with her, but once I got the courage to talk to her she was really sweet and was happy to take a photo with me. I also met Adam Silveria too and he was very nice as well. The screening night turned out to be way better than I expected and the highlight of my trip.
Meeting Nicola Yoon at Wonder Woman Screening was one of the best parts of Book Con!
The next morning my friends and I got up, double checked we had all our things ready to go, checked out of the hotel, and got a lyft to the center. It understandably took a little while to get into the center due to security bunch once we got in it was time for day 2. Today I did not end up getting as much due to trying my best to not have more bags to have to bring home then I alrady did at that point. So throughout the day I mainly just tried to pick up or win little things here and there, but not really get any more books or big bags, except for what I really wanted.
And what I really wanted was the Wonder Woman ARC.
I knew that there were going to be a ton of people who had the same idea as I did and actually I got to the area about an hour before and we started to congregate around the area where the line was formed. While I love Book Con I have to say my only real issues with it was when it comes to amount of people vs. amount of things people could/wanted to do it could be summed up in two words:
Disorganized Chaos
There were so many people who wanted to do things and wanted free books or free items of some sort or autographs or whatever, but limited amount of spaces. I can not tell you how many people ended up being disappointed or finding ways around the "Book Con system" to be able to get books. I feel that my only real complaint about Book Con was that there are so many people and that there is not enough inventory for everyone. While it is understandable a convention would want to make money, to have people you know line up for an hour and then cut the line off at a random place or not anticipate the number of people getting books feels kind of ridiculous to me. I understand that not everyone will get every book they want to get and that is completely fine and reasonable. What I hated though is the fact that people would line up for an hour for something, security would see that these people were lining up and had even talked to us earlier, and then decides to start taking people from all the way on the other side who were not waiting as long as we were, and then cutting off the line and acting like everyone would just be saying that. Agains I understand not everyone gets a book, but when you wait in line for an hour and are one of the first people to start lining up, and then not one of the original people who started the line are able to even get a book, it kinda makes you feel cheated and like you wasted an hour of your life. I hope that Book Con next year is a bit more organized with how they do things and deal with crowds of people. Whether that is publishing companies providing more ARCs for Book Con or finding a way to control crowds more so that everyone who waited longer or was first in line is able to get what they are in line for. That would probably be my only real big complaint about Book Con.
Sorry Rant Over!
Anyway, the rest of the day went kind of slow and not much happened. I mostly walked around and found my friends. Hung out a little in the BookTube meet up room and then it was time to go home. Alyssa and I were sad to have to say bye to Sabrina and all the new and old friends we met or met up with at Book Con, but it was time to head home. So we got our bags, got in our lyft, and left for the bus stop.
Sabrina and I saying Goodbye after a fun weekend at Book Con!
I have to say I was very happy with hour Book Con turned out. While there were a few issues with crowds and lines, I had for the most part a great time. I don't know if I will be going back to Book Con next year or what, I do know though that I had a lot of fun, made some friends, made some memories, and got a lot of awesome books and swag merchandise. I hope everyone had as much of a great time at Book Con as I did and I can't wait to see what the future brings for convention.
