BookCon Wrap Up + Rant

Even though I couldn't make it to BEA, I was able to go to BookCon last weekend! It was a little hectic,  but not near as hectic as NYCC. I had a lot of fun, got a ton of books, and met some great people/authors. So I am pretty familiar with the Javit's center, I've been there like 5 other times for separate things so I wasn't worried about finding my way around. However, it is definitely intimidating if you don't know your way around.

Day One: The first thing I did when I got to BookCon was head to the Penguin Random House booth and check it out. I snagged some ARCs and got in line to meet Nicola Yoon, author of Everything, Everything. After that I met Charlaine Harris and got a FREE copy of Day Shift, even though I already brought books for her to sign. I received Day Shift on NetGalley to review, but the book had a MAP in it. I LOVE MAPS! Charlaine was so freaking cute and she had the sweetest accent! I would never picture her writing the sex scenes in The Sookie Stackhouse novels ;). After that, I got in line to meet Colleen Hoover and K.A. Tucker. I brought my own books to that signing as well, and they were SO freaking nice! I literally thought every author I met during the days at BookCon was super nice, though! After that, I met Sabaa Tahir and Renee Ahdieh. Gues what, they were both amazingly nice as well! Then I just roamed the floor and walked by some ARC drops and was able to get into a few signing lines, so here are all of the books I obtained from Day One of BookCon. These are just the books I was given, not the books I brought for the authors to sign. I'm currently reading Lois Lane: Fallout and it is bringing out the ultimate fangirl inside of me!

Day Two: I wasn't able to go the Sarah J. Maas signing, that line was insane! I'm ok with it mostly because she lives in the same state as me and usually does a lot of signings around me. Today was my day of panels! I went to the diversity panel in which I was really excited to listen to Libba Bray, David Levithan, and I.W. Gregorio. Immediately after that was a Fierce Female Characters panel. It had awesome panelists: Charlaine Harris, Rae Carson, and Sarah J. Maas. Sorry about the shitty picture taking skills, guys. Also the first thing I did on Day Two was go to the First In Line author breakfast. I met James Dashner and got the new Collector's Edition Maze Runner + Scorch Trials. I was also able to ask him to sign my Eye of Minds book. He said he was so grateful that I was reading the series! I bet most people just read his Maze Runner series and forget about his other books - but you guys should seriously read The Eye of Minds! It is amazing! At the end of the day I was able to meet Michael Buckley, author of Undertow. When I was just walking around, I saw one of the booths were doing some kind of trivia to give away paperbacks of City of Heavenly Fire. The questions were so EASY, too! I got it by answering "What is Clary's best friends name". That was basically it for today! I don't have a picture of the Day Two books because I dropped them off at my house house and drove to my apartment like two hours away at around 9:00 at night. I'm getting some of the books tomorrow, through from my family who is visiting. But I remember some of the books I did get: I got Newt's Emerald, Undertow, Auggie & Me, The Maze Runner + Scorch Trials collectible edition, City of Heavenly Fire, Another Day, Lair of Dreams, We Were Liars, and the Accident Season. 

Overall, I had a pretty fantastic time at BookCon. I think it was set up really well and organized just like NYCC. I don't think I will be able to go next year since it is in Chicago, and I'm pretty busy with school. NY is super close to me so I was able to go and drive home the same day.

So - I bet you thought my rant was going to be geared towards BookCon, didn't you? Well it's not! It's geared toward what happened towards the end of BEA & BookCon. I'm sure you've seen it on twitter, those "omg can you believe someone put an ARC on ebay" tweets. Everyone has been bitching and bitching about it, and I'm willing to bet that my opinion is different from yours. First of all, I just want to say I don't sell or buy ARCs on ebay - this is just my opinion. Ok - so my opinion about ARCs being sold on ebay was more justified because of everybody's hypocrisy. What is everyone's attitude? It's usually along the lines of, "the author and the publisher are losing money, IT'S TOTALLY NOT RIGHT". Well, you know how else they lose money? BY TRADING BOOKS! Tell me you all don't peruse the hashtags of #Booksfortrade - I know I do. I traded books. But by trading a book for another one, that author and publisher is losing money that they could have received if you bought it new. So, if you're argument is that the publisher and author are losing money and you turn around and trade for a book you would have otherwise purchased - I'm sorry but you're kind of a hypocrite.

My second thing is: yes, the ARC fell into the wrong hands. However, the person bidding on that ARC is obviously a fan of the novel or author and maybe they aren't familiar with the rules of ARCs. I started getting into YA about 8 years ago, I had no idea of the blogging world surrounding it. I didn't know about goodeads, either. I would literally go to my local bookshop, and browse the YA section for like 2 hours just reading the jacket of the book. I never looked up a rating or a review, because I just DIDN'T know. Now, I always look at a rating before I buy a book. I wish I would go back to my old ways sometimes, but I just don't think that'll happen. I remember reading The Maze Runner and The Hunger Games and DYING for the second book to come out - I had to wait an entire year from the time I read them! If I knew about ebay, and that I could get the second one on ebay so I could read it - I probably would have done it. Would that make me a bad person? I don't think so.

Thirdly, I saw those people gather 100's of books from BEA, then complain about this ARC thing. The chances of that person reading ALL of those books before their publication date and reviewing them are super slim, which is the point of ARCs. Half of them will probably be collecting dust on their self until they get to them. Are those ARCs in "good hands"? Don't you think they would be in better hands by someone who bought them on ebay, because chances are that they want to read them right away! End rant. I was not trying to piss anyone off by this post, I just wanted to show everyone that there are two sides to every story. Yes, you getting money from an ARC you sell on ebay is unfair, but so is leaving that ARC on your shelf and then forgetting about.

- Jocelyn