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garnigalToday was a good day. Why do good days tend to result in so much pain?
I went with scarletmote to Book Expo Toronto, which is an industry conference. It's aimed at book buyers for stores and libraries - people with a budget or with influence over a budget. Mote works at a library, and for today, so did I. *wink*.
Anyway, we met downtown TO, found the venue (first we found the third floor of the venue and were very worried we were in the wrong place, but we just went down another floor), got some tea and breakfast (we had directional issues today. Despite having commuted to downtown for over 5 years of the past 8, I couldn't rememeber were the nearest Tim Horton's was), then headed into the conference.
Holy swag, Batman!
There were booths for all sorts of publishers, large and small, from enormous HarperCollins and Scholastic to little guys like Sumach Press and Dundurn. First we wandered aimlessly, trying to figure out where to start. Then Mote got daring, and browsed some books on display, calmly picking them up and putting them in the bag that was provided. It felt so good, but so dirty... like we were stealing. However, it didn't take us long to get into the spirit of the thing, and soon swag (mostly books or chapbooks/samplers) were finding their way into our bags. There were lots of display only stuff (we didn't take those, no matter how much I wanted to go back to Diamond Distributing and steal their copy of Serenity: Those Left Behind) but the majority was free for the taking. Then we found the Crime Writers Association, and we started a new hobby - signings.
It seemed like everyone had authors doing signings. And whatever they were signing was free!
I got lots of signed crime novels and thrillers (so much so that I almost wondered if the genres had specific days - there was very little of the other major genres, such as romance or speculative fic), a fair bit of signed "literature" (non-genre), some kid's lit, non-fiction (knitting!).
Highlights included: talking to Robert J. Sawyer and getting a personalized copy of Iterations, meeting Margaret Atwood who was signing samplers of her upcoming book, meeting Adrienne Clarkson, and chatting with a very friendly New Yorker (I know, I didn't know they existed either!).
Some of the things we missed, but I'm way okay with that: Gordon Korman. They ran out of books just before they got to us. Jean Little. Robert Munsch. The Scholastic booth was a huge draw, can you tell? Mike Holmes. I have such a crush on Mike Holmes, but it was a cocktail party and I had to drive.
There's tons of other stuff I loved and other stuff I wish I'd managed to get my hands on (yes Serenity comic, I'm thinking of you), but it was an awesome day, and I really wouldn't have changed an instant.
By the end of the day, after about 6 hours at the Expo, both of us were in great pain (but still in great moods).I drove us home and then did something I'd been thinking about since my shoulder started to ache.
I weighed the swag.
22 pounds of free stuff. And Mote got more than I did. (I do not know how that tiny person carried so much stuff - she must be part mule.) My stack of signed stuff is as high as the seat of my sofa. Adding the unsigned stuff would give me another 4 inches and put it well over. Plus there was other swag - magazines, catalogues, a beach ball...
So, a great day, with a great haul and a great amount of pain.
Thanks again to the Mote for inviting me - and I'm so in for next year!
I went with scarletmote to Book Expo Toronto, which is an industry conference. It's aimed at book buyers for stores and libraries - people with a budget or with influence over a budget. Mote works at a library, and for today, so did I. *wink*.
Anyway, we met downtown TO, found the venue (first we found the third floor of the venue and were very worried we were in the wrong place, but we just went down another floor), got some tea and breakfast (we had directional issues today. Despite having commuted to downtown for over 5 years of the past 8, I couldn't rememeber were the nearest Tim Horton's was), then headed into the conference.
Holy swag, Batman!
There were booths for all sorts of publishers, large and small, from enormous HarperCollins and Scholastic to little guys like Sumach Press and Dundurn. First we wandered aimlessly, trying to figure out where to start. Then Mote got daring, and browsed some books on display, calmly picking them up and putting them in the bag that was provided. It felt so good, but so dirty... like we were stealing. However, it didn't take us long to get into the spirit of the thing, and soon swag (mostly books or chapbooks/samplers) were finding their way into our bags. There were lots of display only stuff (we didn't take those, no matter how much I wanted to go back to Diamond Distributing and steal their copy of Serenity: Those Left Behind) but the majority was free for the taking. Then we found the Crime Writers Association, and we started a new hobby - signings.
It seemed like everyone had authors doing signings. And whatever they were signing was free!
I got lots of signed crime novels and thrillers (so much so that I almost wondered if the genres had specific days - there was very little of the other major genres, such as romance or speculative fic), a fair bit of signed "literature" (non-genre), some kid's lit, non-fiction (knitting!).
Highlights included: talking to Robert J. Sawyer and getting a personalized copy of Iterations, meeting Margaret Atwood who was signing samplers of her upcoming book, meeting Adrienne Clarkson, and chatting with a very friendly New Yorker (I know, I didn't know they existed either!).
Some of the things we missed, but I'm way okay with that: Gordon Korman. They ran out of books just before they got to us. Jean Little. Robert Munsch. The Scholastic booth was a huge draw, can you tell? Mike Holmes. I have such a crush on Mike Holmes, but it was a cocktail party and I had to drive.
There's tons of other stuff I loved and other stuff I wish I'd managed to get my hands on (yes Serenity comic, I'm thinking of you), but it was an awesome day, and I really wouldn't have changed an instant.
By the end of the day, after about 6 hours at the Expo, both of us were in great pain (but still in great moods).I drove us home and then did something I'd been thinking about since my shoulder started to ache.
I weighed the swag.
22 pounds of free stuff. And Mote got more than I did. (I do not know how that tiny person carried so much stuff - she must be part mule.) My stack of signed stuff is as high as the seat of my sofa. Adding the unsigned stuff would give me another 4 inches and put it well over. Plus there was other swag - magazines, catalogues, a beach ball...
So, a great day, with a great haul and a great amount of pain.
Thanks again to the Mote for inviting me - and I'm so in for next year!
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 12:26 pm (UTC)I am practically in tears with jealousy :-/
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Date: 2006-06-12 01:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 02:43 pm (UTC)What in the world were you doing.
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Date: 2006-06-12 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 04:01 pm (UTC)~w00
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Date: 2006-06-13 03:09 am (UTC)Jean Little came to our local library when I was a little kid. I loved her spunk though I don't clearly remember reading her books.
Sounds like you had a great time!
no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 03:40 am (UTC)I do wish I'd gotten to meet Gordon Korman though.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 06:09 pm (UTC)