BEA the Melissa A Way

By Melissa Amster

You may remember my post about BEA (Book Expo America) from 2014. Well, I got to go again and it was an even more amazing experience. I'm going to break down my visit into a time table so you can see how busy it was and how much I was able to do in that short of a time span! (In New York, time goes by at warp speed.)

Wednesday, May 27th

4:45 pm: I arrived at a wine tasting party in honor of Laura Dave's latest novel, Eight Hundred Grapes. It was an intimate gathering and Laura was so friendly and welcoming. This is where I first got to meet Kaley from Books Etc. in person. I also got to meet Jackie Friedland, who has guest reviewed for CLC a few times. I was not expecting to meet Melody from Read Baby Read, so that was a nice surprise too. Liz and Lisa were there, as well. I met a few other authors, publishers, and publicists. Right before I left, I got to meet Robert and Morgan from BookSparks. It was fun chatting with them too. There were little snacks and desserts to nosh on at this event, but I was saving room for dinner too. I even got to take home a mug!

With Laura Dave

With Liz and Lisa

6:10 pm: Hopped into a cab with Liz, Lisa, and Kaley to go to the Ladie's First event hosted by Jennifer Weiner at Le Parker Meridian. Right when I arrived, I met Kristy Woodson Harvey, who is as delightful in person as she is online. I also got to meet Elisabeth Egan, Elin Hilderbrand and Jen Lancaster. They were all really nice! I reunited with Samantha Stroh Bailey, Meredith Schorr, and Brenda Janowitz, as well. Before I left, I got to chat with Jennifer Weiner for a few minutes. It's been three years since I last saw her and she still remembered me. It was a really cool party and I felt honored to be there. As we were getting off the elevator when we first arrived, I saw Jodi Picoult leaving with an entourage. I didn't get a chance to talk with her though.

With Kristy Woodson Harvey

With Brenda Janowitz

With Jen Lancaster

With Elin Hilderbrand

With Jen Weiner

7:40 pm: Hopped into another cab with Kaley, Samantha, and Meredith to head to dinner, where we were meeting a few authors and bloggers. The ride was taking forever, so at one point we finally got out and walked the rest of the way in the rain. I was helping Samantha with her umbrella since it kept going up in the wind and we didn't want her hair to get all frizzy. When we arrived, the first person I saw was none other than Amy Bromberg! I finally got to meet my blog partner in person after FOUR long years! It was wonderful too. She's so enthusiastic and I had a lot of fun chatting with her face to face. When we talk by phone or e-mail, we tend to misunderstand each other, but this time our communication had no awkwardness. It felt like we had never not met in person, if that makes any sense! While I was initially worried I'd feel like a giant next to her, it ended up that we were pretty close in height. Anyway, it was an intimate group of eight women (including myself), sitting around and making each other laugh. Julie Valerie, Francine LaSala, and Lynn Marie Hulsman rounded out the group. We had so much fun chatting and even celebrated Samantha and Kaley's birthdays.

We meet at last!

With Samantha Stroh Bailey

With Meredith Schorr

With Julie Valerie

With Kaley from Books Etc.

After dinner, I went home, still high on the energy of the wonderful evening. However, I had to rest up for BEA...

Thursday, May 28th

8:45 am: Got a ride from Uber to Javits Center and then hightailed it over to where people were lining up to meet Kunal Nayyar, who plays Raj on The Big Bang Theory. I didn't want to be stuck at the end of a long line, so I figured it was better to stand around and wait. I had Jane Green's latest novel to keep me company, as well as some friendly bloggers and librarians standing nearby. (One of the women next to me in line reminded me of Marlene from Book Mama, both in looks and personality.) Once it was time to meet Kunal, the line moved quickly. They wouldn't let us pose for pictures with him, nor let him personalize anything. However, they let us take pictures of him and he smiled for each and every one. I somehow was able to speak coherently and told him how much I enjoy BBT. He was very gracious and told me that meant a lot to him.

10:50 am: Lined up to meet Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie. While he was really nice, he also spent a lot of time talking to everyone who came by to meet him. So the line moved slowly. When it was my turn, I told him how my husband doesn't like to read much but enjoyed "Tuesdays." He said a lot of women have told him that. :) And apparently, people will read his books while waiting in line to meet him and finish them before they even get to the front of the line. His latest novel is The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto. Afterward, I got in line to get Vanessa Diffenbaugh's new novel, We Never Asked for Wings (this one was for Amy). Then I walked around for a bit and found Liza Wiemer (more about her later) in line for a children's book, so I lined up to get it too. Afterward, I met up with Samantha and Julie for a quick snack. On the way over to meet them, I ran into a Facebook friend who is also named Melissa. We recognized each other right away!

12:30 pm: Met up with Pam Jenoff, as well as Tamara of Traveling with T and Kristin of Always with a Book. We grabbed some snacks and had a picnic since there were no available tables and chairs. We just chatted about our favorite TV shows, shared book recommendations, etc. It was fun and relaxing.

Pam, Tamara, Kristin, and me at our picnic...next year we'll bring blankets!

Afterward, I walked around a bit more and checked out the various booths before my next meeting.

2:00 pm: I met up with Ann-Marie Nieves of Get Red PR. We've been working together whenever she has a chick lit novel to promote, so it was a treat to finally meet her in person. She's really sweet and we had fun talking for a while. We were sharing pictures of our kids and talking about what it's like to blog vs. actually work as a book publicist. I got a lot of insight from her.

Me and Ann-Marie...whose hair is curlier? :)

3:00 pm: On the way to New York, I finished and really enjoyed Wishful Thinking by Kamy Wicoff. I had heard she was going to be at BEA, but wasn't sure when, and I "wished" to meet her. I reached out to her and she wrote back saying that she wasn't intending on being there Thursday, but since I was going to be there, she'd stop by. It meant a lot to me that she'd take time out of her busy day just to meet a blogger. We made plans to meet at 3:00 at the She Writes Press booth (where I also got to see Robert again.) It was great meeting her in person and I even got some background into how she created the characters for her book.

With Kamy Wicoff and her wonderful book!

3:30 pm: I lined up to get Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica and The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach by Pam Jenoff. Before the line started moving, I got to see Samantha one more time. Kaley was there too, but she was also in line. I got to meet Beth from Fuelled By Fiction, as well.

With Samantha and Kaley

I didn't realize that to get the two books I wanted, I also had to first get the other books being offered at that time. I wasn't as familiar with the other authors at the booth, but they seemed nice. Then I stopped by Hachette's booth to get Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg and swung by the Penguin booth to get Auggie and Me (which my son is currently devouring) by R.J. Palacio (whom I met last year).

I tried connecting with some other people I know were going to be at BEA, but they had left for the day. Before I left, I swung by the Spencer Hill Press booth to say hi to Liza Wiemer (pronounced "Leeza Weemer," which I didn't realize until earlier this year) from WhoRuBlog. She was busy, but we got to chat for a few minutes. She was going to give me one of her copies of her upcoming YA novel, Hello?, but someone apparently snatched it out of her bag. I just hope that person gives her a good review! I can wait for a copy, but I definitely want to read it! The staff at Spencer Hill is really nice and I enjoyed talking to a few of the people standing around the booth at the time.

With Liza Wiemer

Are you exhausted yet? Well, I definitely was! And I left with three bags full of books! (Yet I somehow still envied some other people's stashes...go figure!)

Next year in Chicago! (Maybe some of you will get to meet my mom...)

What came home with me from BEA and the parties (see close ups below)

Melissa A does BEA

By Melissa Amster

Star-struck!

I went to Book Expo America (BEA) for the first time, and what an experience it was! Due to my crazy schedule, I was only there for a day, but I made the most of it. I didn’t go to any seminars, but I was plenty busy! The day started out with an autographing session from Neil Patrick Harris. He has an autobiography coming out and signed a small excerpt booklet. I got in line and figured I’d try my luck. As luck would have it, I was one of the last through before they cut off the line entirely. And Neil even let me do a selfie with him! Legen…wait for it…dary! Of course, I was all star-struck and giggly and couldn’t keep my eyes off his nail polish, which was dark blue and glittery.

After that, I went on my search for Liz and Lisa (who are featured at CLC today). On the way there, I saw the Little, Brown booth and stopped by to meet Michelle, who is not only a great publishing contact, but also graduated high school with me 20 years ago. (Sorry to age us, but 20 is a pretty big reunion year…not that I’m even going to mine.) It was great to see her again and she is as nice as I remember her from high school.

Mini reunion!

I finally found Liz and Lisa after exchanging texts with them and hung out while they were waiting in line to meet one of their author crushes. We got some photos together and then walked over to the Macmillan booth, where Rainbow Rowell was signing copies of her upcoming novel, Landline. At first, we weren’t going to be able to get her autograph without a ticket, but Liz and Lisa got on the “gatekeeper’s” good side and he let us in. It was great to meet Rainbow, as I love the two books of hers that I have read so far and am excited to check out her other two soon.  Then we stopped by Penguin and got a bunch of galleys.

I may have eluded to this in this morning’s post, but Liz and Lisa are so wonderful in person. They’re a lot of fun and you can just tell that they’re best friends by the way they interact with each other. They remind me of the connection I have with my BFF. (Just like them, we’re separated by a bunch of states but talk all the time.) I love listening to them talk. They have great speaking voices that resonate with their chick lit loving nature. (I can’t really explain any further than this, but if you’ve heard them talk, you know what I mean.) They even have some books from BEA to give away at their blog!

With Liza

A little while later, Liz and Lisa left for lunch and I took a short break before walking around and checking out all the booths. I met up with another blogger friend, Liza from WhoRuBlog, for a few minutes. She is just as friendly as she is online and I wish we had more time to hang out and talk. I’m glad I got to see her in person though! While walking around, I managed to get pictures of Anjelica Huston, Billy Idol, and Jane Lynch. I didn’t feel like waiting for their autographs, as the lines were pretty long. Instead, I got in line to meet Stephanie Evanovich, author of Big Girl Panties and The Sweet Spot. She is so outgoing and enthusiastic. I can totally see how her personality plays into her writing. The moment she saw me, she knew who I was. Her publisher was there too and I recognized her name from multiple e-mail exchanges, so it was nice to make that connection too.

With Stephanie Evanovich

Cuter in person!

Since I was one of the first in line to meet Stephanie, I managed to get a spot in line to meet B.J. Novak (from The Office) while he was signing his children’s book at the Penguin booth. Again, I was totally star-struck and couldn’t think of anything witty to say. He’s even cuter in person. While waiting to meet him, I found out that Liane Moriarty was across the way signing her latest novel, Big Little Lies. I didn’t even know she was going to be there, so that was a huge surprise. I got to meet her and she also knew who I was. She was so sweet and I wish we could have chatted longer, as well. Her publisher was there and I also got to make the name to face connection.

The final author I waited in line to meet that day was R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder. It’s a book for kids (probably starting at fourth grade), but adults have been reading it too. My son and I both read it, so I had her sign a bag for him. Afterward, I went around the area one more time to make sure I didn’t miss out on any galleys and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening excitement.

While I was at the hotel, I got to meet my roommate, Julie Valerie. She’s also a blogger and is working on her own novel. Jen Tucker had suggested that we be roommates and she knows me well enough to know that I’d love Julie. She was definitely right! We had a fun time chatting while I was getting ready to meet my friend for dinner before BookBuzz and then got to hang out more at the event. We were joking about how we met in a hotel.

With Julie Valerie

BookBuzz was a wonderful event. It reminded me of the first time I felt accepted by a group of people, which was at Rocky Horror in 1994. Everyone was just so nice and it was like having a reunion with people, even though I’ve only met them online prior to this event. I got to meet Lydia Laceby, Samantha Stroh Bailey, Meredith Schorr, Samantha March, Brenda Janowitz, Sheryn MacMunn, Francine LaSala, Lynn Marie Hulsman, Cat Lavoie, Glynis Astie, Ariella Papa, Lynn Messina, Holly Peterson, Heather Wardell…..and my blog sister, Marlene Engel from BookMama! The drink of the night was a “Pink Stiletto,” which as really good! (It’s basically pink lemonade and vodka.) I had such a nice time chatting with everyone. My friend from dinner was also there for the event and she had a great time too and made some connections. The time went by so fast and we stayed there well past the ending of the event. I was hoping we would be able to go somewhere quieter to hang out and chat more, but we just ended up staying at the bar the entire time. It was so hard to part ways when the clock struck midnight and we were all about to turn into very sleepy pumpkins! (Samantha Stroh Bailey and I compared it to that let down feeling after your Bat Mitzvah party has ended.) Anyway, it was amazing to meet all these fabulous women and chat with them in a group or one-on-one. 

With Julie, Francine, Marlene, Samantha March,
Lynn Marie Hulsman, Lydia Laceby, Heather Wardell,
and K.C. Wilder

Overall, BEA and BookBuzz made last Thursday very memorable for me. I'm still on a high from it! I wish Amy could have been there, as she lives nearby but wasn't available that day. I hope we'll get to meet the next time I'm in town. I highly suggest that you check out BEA and BookBuzz next year! I hope I'll be able to do this again. It's like going to Disney World (well, BEA is a bit more complex in terms of strategizing your day), as in you just want to go back immediately after you've left.

Here are some more pics from BookBuzz 2014:

With Brenda Janowitz

With my friend Linda, showing off our Pink Stilettos!

With Lydia Laceby

With Marlene Engel

With Sam Bailey and Marlene

Selfie with Meredith Schorr

Selfie with Sam

Chick Lit Cheerleader: Buzzing about the BEA

Introduction by Melissa Amster

If I lived closer to NYC and didn't have the obligations I currently do, I would have been at BEA this past May. However, it wasn't in the cards this year, between using most of my vacation time at work for Disney World and dealing with some allergy issues from one of my kids. Believe me, I was sad about not being able to attend. Especially when I saw all the cool pictures from Amy. Thankfully, I was able to live vicariously through blog posts from Samantha Bailey, Meredith Schorr and some other authors who attended BEA. Chick Lit Cheerleader, Jen Tucker's account of the event was equally entertaining (if not more) and I enjoyed seeing it through her eyes. I just hope I can see it in person next year and give all these amazing authors a hug. So, without further ado, I give you Jen's version of the BEA.....

Mmmm...cookies!

What happens when a country mouse heads to the big city?  She evolves into a temporary city slicker, with memories, photos and blisters on her feet to prove it.  BEA (Book Expo America) and Book Buzz NYC 2013 led me from my Indiana home to the city that never sleeps.  Yet what started out as a business trip, with a hint of pleasure on the side, became the experience of a lifetime. 

BEA is the event, of all events, in the book industry.  Publishers, distributers, authors, reporters, and others descend upon the Big Apple for power meetings and sneak peeks into the books and products hitting the market.  I also termed it “Christmas for Book Hoarders.”  Booths are manned by effervescent PR people begging you to take copies of the latest and greatest reads.  It would’ve been rude for me to say no, right?  Yet that 50lb rule about suitcase weight on airlines caused me to evaluate my needs versus wants.  I meandered BEA with my friend, author Cari Kamm.  Once she recovered from me leaping on top of her with endless joy in our shared taxi at 7:20AM, I think the rest of our day went splendidly well.  

Book Buzz NYC 2013 was the brain child of some fabulous women, who wanted to bring authors and readers to mix and mingle at a side event during BEA.  Francine LaSala was the mastermind, creative director, and babysitter who kept the authors in line while prepping for this inaugural event.  Everyone worked hard behind the scenes making this night spectacular for our guests.  The synergy of the evening wouldn’t have happened without blogger, Julie Valerie.  Julie volunteered (she worked for booze and laughs) to stay in NYC one extra day to keep vigil over our book table.  Julie, you are a rock star, and because in private you wouldn’t accept praise for what you did, it’s my honor to karaoke my love for you now.

Hoopla for books is one reason I booked my ticket to New York City.  Add in a dash of BFF time with my sweet pal, Jill, and there were zero reasons to say no to this trek.  What I couldn’t shake while committing to purchasing my plane ticket was the opportunity to spend time with women, in the flesh, that I’ve had relationships with forever and a day.  Talented authors, editors, bloggers and PR whizzes I’ve communicated with via social media and email were finally going to occupy the same living, breathing space as me.  How could I say no to that?

Who is luckier?!?

If you know me (I’m not shy, nor introverted, and have been known to attempt to solve the world’s ills in line at the grocery while talking with strangers.) it won’t shock you that moment I saw Francine LaSala, I attacked her with a voracious, yet loving, bear hug.  During our days together, we constantly finished each other’s sentences, and boisterously interjected the same words into conversations at the same time (think Double Mint Twins).  I emphatically declared to CLC’s own Amy Bromberg, she was so adorable that I wanted to tuck her into my pocket.  Sweet and petite, I think I could’ve snuck her past airport security and brought her home with me.  When I had drinks with Meredith Schorr, it eased my soul like catching up with your little sister after her year away at college.  She’s tough, all heart, and I’m so happy to have her on my side walking the streets of NYC at midnight.  Heather Thurmeier impressed the socks off me with her drive and goals.  I can only hope a sliver of her tenacity rubbed off on me.  She’s that sensational.  Samantha Bailey (affectionately known to me as Sam-I-Am) will neatly tuck into my other pocket Amy isn’t occupying.  She’s a spitfire, and will conquer the world one adventure at a time.  I’m so happy to be a fly on a wall in any room she occupies.   Lucie Simone is a powerhouse in writing and publishing.  I was crazy about her the moment we shared Asparagus dip together, and find her a zentastic, calming force for my manic self.  Eileen Goudge; breathtaking and gracious.  She opened her home this crazy bunch where we cackled way past curfew on my last night in New York.  Her husband, Sandy, sweetly retreated to his “man cave” while we shared a meal prepared by Eileen, drank way too much champagne, and absorbed the views as the sun set over Central Park.  In true Jen Tucker fashion, while peering over the skyscrapers to see the Hudson River, I said, “Hey!  That’s were Captain Sully crashed his plane in the water!  Boiler Up!” yet was glad my comment went unnoticed and quickly recovered with, “Hey look, Broadway!”    

Besides the birth of my children, I’ve never experienced an instant kismet, bond, trust, and devotion the way I did for these talented women.  How could people, without a history together in the flesh, have a comfort with one another that rivaled sisters?  I think Francine captured it best when she said, “We connected first through written words, because as writers that’s how we communicate.   It’s who we are.  We are our words.”  Gosh, she’s so smart, isn’t she?

We're a happy family....

These women are in my life for keeps.  Our plans to work together, and play together, continue to blossom.  Francine’s coordination of Book Buzz NYC 2013 was so superb, that you might see more Book Buzz events in cities near you featuring other incredibly talented authors.  Isn’t that wonderful?  I grew up a little too on this excursion.  I went from hiding in my hotel room worried that New York would eat me alive (remember, I’m the country mouse), to strutting the streets a la John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.  

There was only one caveat.  I do believe I lost cool points when an air vent on 7^th Avenue blew my dress into the air, reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe, minus the sexy aspect.  So if you saw my derriere the evening I strolled to Eileen Goudge’s home, my sincerest apologies.  If you find it on YouTube, that wasn’t me, baby.   

Jen Tucker is the author of the funny and true stories, The Day I Wore My Panties Inside Out and The Day I Lost My Shaker of Salt. In September 2012, she had her children's book, Little Pumpkin published as an e-book. She also blogs monthly for Survival for Blondes. She currently lives in Indiana with her husband, three kids and two dogs. You can find her at Twitter, Facebook, her blog and on her website. And in case you missed them. check out her previous Chick Lit Cheerleader posts here.