If you’ve been following along with the blog and my social media the last week, you know that I went to my first book event on Saturday (the 20th). Today’s post is the second part of my recap of the event. If you missed yesterday’s part 1, you can find that HERE.
When we last left our hero, he was deep in the bowels of the beast…The Chapter by Chapter Book Rave. He was knee-deep in a crowd of readers and authors with only a few familiar faces to keep him afloat…
Ok, enough with being overdramatic. Yesterday’s post touched on the fact that I only went up to two authors out of all that were at the event. Did I know other authors? Well, not really. I knew of a majority of them, and I knew of their books (either by name, cover, or both)…but that’s really all. I don’t meet people easily. Wait, that’s somewhat untrue. I can be outgoing to strangers, but when it’s dealing with my “professional” self, it’s not the same. It’s harder to do and I actually need to pay attention. I can’t just go on auto-pilot and act like someone who I’m really not. Blah blah…
So I didn’t go up to any other authors and I’m regretting that now. There was one author there who I’d actually read a book from over the winter and wanted to go up to. I listened to the audio for Incarnate by Jodi Meadows during the months of audiobook listening/snow shoveling this year. I enjoyed the book and will get to reading the next two in the trilogy when I can. I also tried to use it as a selling point to get a friend to come to NY for the signing. C.J. Listro, who’s been on the blog a few times, LOVED Meadows’ series. She’d have been a better candidate to meet the author. Me, I saw Jodi at her table. No one was standing there at the time, and I could have walked up and said…hi? Probably my best bet. I chickened out a bit. But at least I saw her in person. I’m pretty sure I’d only have been able to say “Hi, I enjoyed your book and love the cover.” Not sure I could elaborate much more. I’m still not good at vocalizing why I enjoy books.
Funny addition to that part of the adventure is that on Monday I tweeted to C.J. that I didn’t get the nerve to go up to Jodi…and then Jodi replied to the tweet and we had a short conversation about the event. Apparently (I knew this already) I am very open and easy to talk to on Twitter (and anything dealing with typing, not speaking). Maybe now I’ll go up to Jodi next time I meet her. I have a fun thing to laugh about now.
Another author I should have said hi to was Megan Erickson. No, I haven’t read her books yet, but her table was RIGHT next to Chelsea M. Cameron’s where I was standing for a good amount of time. I should have just introduced myself like any civilized person should do, and gotten to know more about her books and all those things you talk about at book events. Nope. Didn’t do that. I’m a dumbass.
Similar to my interaction with Jodi Meadows, I also had a Twitter conversation with Megan. I came home from the event and was like “Well, maybe I should at least find some of these authors online and check out their books more.” So I found Megan Erickson on Twitter and knew I had friends who’ve enjoyed her work. I’ve seen her covers around on their blogs and tweets. That’s normally how I start following people anyway. That word of mouth stuff.
So, I started following her. Not too long after, Megan follows me back. Always a good sign. Then this morning when I had some time, I took a look at her books and grabbed a copy of her first book Anchor Me (I always find it good to start with the debut). Tweeting that out started a conversation between us about the event. Again, so much easier online. But yea, another missed opportunity. Megan seems like a person I’d get along well with. Lesson learned!
There’s a moral here. That moral is basically to suck it up and say hi. In my experience online, authors don’t bite unless you bite first. That transfers to real life too. I’m basing that off of the fact that I witnessed no biting at the event from either side of the tables…but I didn’t check the dark corners or vampires, so who knows. Is that moral easy to put into action? Nope, I knew the moral before walking in there. With one event under my belt, I think it’ll be easier next time and I do hope there’s a next time. That’s the bottom line really. I want to go to more. I want to meet Chelsea and Tiffany again. I want to meet more of these authors who are only mythical creatures in the world of “The Interwebs” (story idea? Fantasy with a cyber/sci-fi twist?). Maybe next event I’ll be on the other side of the table, and be able to intimidate the readers…MWUAHAHAHAHA!
Let’s end this post with what you all really want to see…the booty I collected from the event! Regretfully, it’s not a HUGE pile of booty because as you read, I didn’t go up to more than two authors, but the pile is very special to me. That’s what counts in the end.
Let me start with the signed books I came home with. My signed book collections is larger than I realize sometimes. Many of those are from Tiffany King. But it’s not a complete set…yet. I’m lucky enough to have walked out with three more Tiffany King signed books from CBC. One of the books I brought from home was Misunderstandings, which I went to a B&N to buy because I wanted to buy it from a physical store. It’s the first time I’ve been able to buy a book from an author I know from a store. It was also the first time I walked into a B&N in over 6 years. Sacrifice and all that jazz, for the love of books. Tiffany, since she’s the nicest person I’ll ever know, signed a copy of The Write Stuff for me, as well. I also made sure to go buy a copy of No Attachments while I was there. Here they are, all signed and pretty:
BONUS: Here’s how Tiffany signed my copy of No Attachments…(see pic with Chelsea below for further explanation. Also if you still don’t know what GG is, wait until October 1st and you’ll know for sure.)
Now, with that link, here are the books from Chelsea that I got. I brought My Favorite Mistake and My Sweetest Escape from home. I’d bought those two special MONTHS ago in order to have them ready for this event. The other three, Deeper We Fall, Faster We Burn, and UnWritten, my girlfriend bought me when we were at the event for an anniversary present. I got her a necklace, she gets me pretty books. Everyone wins! Now I own five signed books from Chelsea, to Tiffany’s eight. They’re both going to make my signed shelves overload.
Aside from signed books, I left with more swag from Tiffany King than I know what to do with. I already have A LOT in a box with my other swag. But who can refuse even more? And there are new items, like the buttons! One day I’m going to walk around handing people some bookmarks to push King’s work on more people. I’ll be a walking business card for her.
Tiffany also gave me these cool mini-posters that I have to go buy frames for:
And in pure Tiffany King fashion…here’s a very unique piece of swag. It’s a tile with part of the first page of Wishing For Someday Soon (my FAVORITE one of her books) attached to it. Once I buy a little stand for it, I’m going to keep it on my desk (once I clear off space and stacks of books).
Lastly, to end this recap on the best note possible, here are the (very few) pics I took while there.
Chelsea M. Cameron and I…I made sure to make a face since Chelsea doesn’t like taking pictures. Figured I’d look like a weirdo so she didn’t have to.
Tiffany King and I, together for the first time…FINALLY!
Tiffany, myself, and Shana (of A Book Vacation)
A Life Among The Pages 