My favorite weekend of the year has already passed us by, Book Con 2018. The land of all things bookish, Book Con 2018 was my third year of attending the convention, with my mom of course being my convention buddy. I obviously love this weekend because I get to meet my favorite authors and pick up some books, but also because I get to spend it with my mom.
I admit that I went into Book Con a bit more casual than I usually do- don’t worry, I still brought spreadsheets for both of us- largely because of Book Expo, where I was able to pick up 25 books within those two days. Additionally, as I was planning my Book Con schedule over the two weeks prior to the convention, I was a bit dismayed at a few publishers’ schedules. I picked up so many of my most anticipated books last year, but I found that many publishers did less ARC signings and giveaways this year, or at least publicized them less on social media. I think this largely has to do with the madness over some books in 2017 (the line for Warcross took up the main aisle of the show floor, while Wonder Woman: Warbringer drew a stampede), and unfortunately, the ILLEGAL selling of ARCs online.
However, I did have a few events that I wanted to get to on Saturday. My mom and I arrived at the Javits Center around 8:45, and on both days, everyone was allowed access to the show floor before 10. In my opinion, this was a good idea so people who wanted to attend events at 10 and 10:30 had some extra time to line up. I first stopped at Scholastic to grab a finished copy of Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West (I finally have no excuse to read my first Kasie West book!), and then went to Hachette for the 10:30 signing of Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan. While in line, a girl in front of me kindly gave me her extra copy of Rule by Ellen Goodlett! It was cool meeting Natasha Ngan, who told me this was her first Book Con and her first time in New York City. While meeting her, my mom went to Kevin Kwan’s signing of Crazy Rich Asians. It was a fun experience for mom, who laughed at loud while reading this trilogy, and she got the book personalized to me.
After Natasha Ngan’s signing, I went to Epic Reads for their 12 PM ARC drop. I knew I had to get there at least an hour advance, since everyone at both Book Expo and Book Con had their hearts set on Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera’s What If It’s Us. Epic Reads gave out tickets for the event at 11, which caused a mini stampede and a lot of angry people who had been waiting in line, but I was able to score a ticket. I stayed at Epic Reads until the drop, where I met two awesome people in line, Maddie and Lincy. Maddie was super sweet (she posted a fun Book Con vlog), and I gave her my Morgan Matson signing ticket, since I already had a review copy of Save the Date and wasn’t planning on staying at Book Con until 5. Lincy was also awesome, and she’s the co-founder of a new bookish app called Book Sloth! She gave me a Book Sloth sticker, which has already found a home on my laptop case.
At the Epic Reads event, they were dropping 4 ARCs and you had to play Plinko Ball to decide what ARC you received. The ARCs included Pride by Ibi Zoiboi, Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand, For a Muse of Fire by Heidi Heilig, and What If It’s Us. I won Sawkill Girls, which I’m really happy about due to the amount of hype surround Claire’s Furyborn. During this drop, my mom was again super awesome by going to Harlequin Teen and getting me a finished copy of Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody.
I then wandered the showfloor for a bit, and I picked up some swag, including a Penguin Teen t-shirt for being an email subscriber and a Renegades by Marissa Meyer poster. My mom also picked up an Alex and Eliza pin for me, which is easily one of my favorite things from Book Con this year! I really didn’t have anything else planned for the day and some of the giveaways, especially at Epic Reads, Fierce Reads and Penguin, seemed too crazy to me. Meeting up with my mom, we decided to end our day a bit early around 1 and rest up for a longer day on Sunday.
Did you attend Book Con? What’s one book you’re looking forward to in 2018 or 2019? Share in the comments!
Morgan Matson was born in New York City and grew up there and in Greenwich, Connecticut. She attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, but halfway through a theater degree, she started working in the children’s department of Vroman’s Bookstore and fell in love with YA literature.
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