Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This week’s theme was the ten bookish events I’d like to attend (or something like that) but I decided to twist this a bit and talk about past experiences at bookish events and my top reasons why I love attending them!
First of all, the events I attended are RARE London and Paris (Paris as an author assistant) and YALC London (twice).
RARE is centered on romance with indie and traditionally published authors while YALC stands for Young Adult Literature Convention.
I wrote several posts about my experiences and tips for attending such events that you can find HERE (attending as a volunteer) and HERE (tips to prepare) and HERE (RARE 2019).
Now about my top reasons for attending!
1.I get to meet my favorite authors!
Nothing beats meeting them “in the flesh” and exchanging a few or many words with them! It’s like being starstruck sometimes.
Emma Scott gives the best hugs and Alwyn Hamilton loves meeting her readers and is uber friendly (I love her!).
2. I meet many people sharing my interest
There is a real energy and enthusiasm at being in a place with so many people sharing the same love for books. It’s infectious. It’s exhilarating! You also get to see that even if it’s romance, you have some men reading romance and even if it’s “young adult” you can have people over eighty going to meet their favorite authors! Books bring people together.
There is nothing better than to chat in a queue with someone you’ve never met about your favorite books while waiting for the author to sign it!
3. I got to meet “face to face” people I had only chatted online with!
Twice for RARE I got to meet other bloggers. We got to fangirl together around a cup of tea or coffe or have a drink somewhere else. That creates lasting bonds and when you’ll chat online after this it will add an extra dimension as you’ll have bonded over an event!
4. I discover new authors
There are so many authors attending these events that you want to take a chance on some of them. Either ordering and reading books beforehand, either buying the books at the event after some friend recommended the book to you.
5.I visit another place!
That’s an added bonus, if you don’t live in that place LOL. But I got to visit London (my second home) and Paris! We also spend some daughter/mother time when we get together and that’s quality time that we adore. Not only do we attend the event but also we do some shopping, sleep at a hotel, go to restaurants, visit etc.
6. I can buy books at a really ridiculous price!
Usually you have big bargains and can buy 2 or 3 paperback for 10£ or 2 hardcover for 20 £! At that price you can try new authors too!
7. I can win ARCs or buy books before they are in the bookstores!
YALC organizes contests to make you win ARCs and last year I even could buy The Dragon Republic before it hit the shelves!!!! As an international blogger it’s often the only mean to have ARCs.
8. I can buy lots of book merch!
Especially at YALC you have shops selling artprint, candles, booksleeves, soaps etc . I swear my luggage are not only filled with books but with merch too. So heavy we need to be two to haul them in the train or metro. 😀
9. You have discussion panels and debate about the latest hot topic!
I always try to attend as many panels as I can. Authors discussing some bookish topic, or explaining how they were published is really fascinating! If you are an aspiring author you learn many useful tips or feel energized again when you learn that some of these big names had had countless rejections before being published!
10. I got to meet Jason Momoa or other international actors!
YALC happens at the same time as the London Film and Comic Con , in the same building and for two years in a row, Jason Momoa did a “flash appearance” while we attended some discussion panel! We all screamed and called “come back” LOL
Your ticket also gives you entrance to the ComicCon and you can go have a look at tons of merch and fanart ! That’s also highly entertaining as many love cosplaying and some costumes are simply brilliant!
You recognize Aquaman, Jon Snow, Gandalf etc.
Now reading all this, do you want to attend one of these events? Can you feel how much I am missing YALC this year?
Thanks for reading!
I went to my first event last year – RARE19 in London and absolutely LOVED it! I definitely want to go again for all the reasons you mentioned.
I’ve never been to an event! I should have been at RARE in Edinburgh last month but it got pushed to this time next year… Oh well. They’re doing quite a few events next year (London, Edinburgh, Berlin) so I really hope covid behaves itself!
Me too Nicci!!!!!
I’ve never been to an event but would love to!
I hope you’ll get the chance one day Katie!
I would love to be able to attend some of the large events. I’ve only been to smaller ones. Maybe someday:)
Fingers crossed Laura!
I have only been to a couple of small events, but never the big ones, and I was planning on going this year but yeah covid put a stop to that. Hopefully next years things will be healthy and safe and we can get back to doing these fun events again.
I hope next year will be way better to attend!
I’ve never been to any events but your list makes me more determined to go to one!
Thay are so much fun!
I totally agree with all of these! I’ve only been to one which was NYALitFest (and ironically now I live in Newcastle I can’t attend any events cause no car and can’t afford the train) but it was absolutely wonderful
I hope you’ll get to attend another one!
Fingers crossed!!
I love these kinds of events too, if they’re not insanely expensive though hahaha And whaaaat?! Momoa?!?! You saw Aquaman and you didn’t capture him alive?! 😛
I tried Lashaan but he is …fishy ! Bwahahahaha
I’ve never been to any book events simply because there’s no such thing in my country. Being an international reader sucks
Carolina I had to travel to attend too so I get it!
The ARCs are a nice perk, but I honestly spend most of my time in panels when I attend book events. I love them.
Yes panels are really interesting! They discuss tropes, character building, trends etc. I love them too!
Great post! I haven’t been to either of these and I’m insanely jealous because I love the idea of meeting authors, discussion panels and also buying bookish merch.
I hope you’ll get the opportunity one day!
I completely agree! I love attending bookish events! And I really hope we can get back to them next year *fingers crossed*. i love meeting new authors and the ones I love. Plus making friends there too, when you’re waiting in lines it’s always so easy to talk with the others around you because you all share the same love – books ♥.
Exactly! You make new friends! I even met another belgian reader that I now meet at every event LOL
Did someone say Jason Momoa? LOL It’s been a while since I’ve gone to a big event. I’ve done a few smaller ones in the last year or so but the last really big one was probably ApollyCon. Unfortunately it’s now cancelled until 2022. I remember when you were an assistant at RARE – what an awesome experience!
Yes I loved being an assistant! I hope I’ll be assistant another time Tanya. And yes jason Momoa (and he is HUGE)
I’ve never been to YALC because I’m living on the other side of the world but I love checking out others posts and reading their experiences. It’s too bad so many bookish events have been cancelled this year because of covid.
I know Raven Sigh
I do miss these kinds of events since retiring. I never met any Hollywood actors, but I met some wonderful authors.
Well Kim, maybe you can get back ton one of these events once the situation is back to normal? They are so much fun!
Now that I’m retired I don’t think I’ll be given access.
Covid has certainly ruin so many wonderful events this year, that we would have all been attention. Like vacations, we will all have to wait for those meet and greets another year. Frustrating and unavoidable, and we can only hope that when they all do come back we get to meet all our favs once again!
Exactly Alex! It will be even more precious.