ALA stands for American Library Association and it is essentially an event specifically for librarians but it is open to bloggers/book reviewers and the public. Of course, the rates will go up if you're not an ALA member. But I'm only going to be visiting the exhibits, which isn't really expensive.
This is my first book event EVER!!!
I'm not joking when I say this. I've never been to any author signings or book festivals. But this will be perfect because there will be authors and books!! It'll be a mix of both.
I guess I will be so overwhelmed since I don't know what to expect. But I've heard so many things like publishers handing out so many arcs and that's going to be awesome. But all I can think about is that since I got the Only-Exhibits badge, I can only attend the last three days of ALA.
ALA is four days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) and the exhibits open on Friday night. I keep thinking that all the good books will be gone by then. It's only open for 90 minutes and the next days are open for 9 hours. But maybe it's a good thing? I heard people say that when the exhibits are finally opened on Friday that people go crazy, running all over the place, and pushing going on. The books are complimentary by the publishers so people will get greedy.
Right now it's too early to tell what books will be there. And the authors that will be attending haven't been released yet. But I'm still excited. Hopefully, I will know some of them. And I've already made a plan to see which publishing booths I want to visit first. I'm crazy! But I want to be prepared even though I know I will go insane when I get there and I'll forget my plan.
Now there are two types of ALA events. The one I'm attending is the Midwinter which is hosted at the start of the year. The second one is the Annual one. That one is much bigger and the focus is more on authors. But Midwinter is more focused on the books and very few authors attend or do signings. But I'm just going to the exhibits.
I really hope I get to meet other bloggers and talk to publishers and get some arcs. Right now it's too soon to tell what books will be available, but I can't wait for them announce. I'm just so pumped up and it's still like three months away. I'm insane but how can I not be?
Has any of you ever heard or attended ALA? BEA? Let me know in the comments.
have fun!
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