Did you go to Apollycon? Did you have a blast? I certainly did. Exhausted as all hell but I had a blast. If you came by Sarah J. Maas' table either during the VIR signing or the Public signing, you would've seen me. I was assisting her & had the time of my life.
But let's back up. I got there Friday at 8:30 in the morning to help Damaris with whatever she needed help with. It was utter madness with the amount of books she had around her room for the online orders. I bow down to Ren for keeping that all so organized. Authors stopped by the room throughout the day on Friday to take care of those orders. And registration started for anyone coming to the hotel early. I helped worked the table a little later on Friday but I went out to lunch with some of the authors & the lone man, Seth...I mean, Drew. He was really nice & a gentleman. He held the doors open for all us women. You don't see that very often anymore & I appreciated it.
Friday ended with a lot of the authors going in to the city for dinner but most of the staff & some authors decided to stay in. Let me tell you how much fun it was to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant. We were lucky to have Jamie Shaw, Megan Erickson, Sophie Jordan & Katie McGarry join us for dinner & they are a hoot. Apparently we were having such a great time that there were a few people watching us. When I heard about this I laughed. The fact that we were that entertaining to people four stories up. Or the fact that we were that loud. That was mostly our table, too. Oh man, I've never laughed so much.
But we weren't done for today. After dinner we got to go check out the ballroom where the signing & later, the after party would be held but also where Barnes & Noble was going to set up shop. There may or may not have been some twerking going on in the ballroom. It was a lot of fun and we really liked the set up for the next day's signing. By time we got to the Barnes & Noble set up, they were there with all the books so now came the fun part; setting up all the books. There were so many books, you guys don't even understand but we had a blast doing this (also note, by this point, most of us were in our PJ's already). Jen from Jenuine Cupcakes & I set up Sarah J. Maas' books and the amount was overwhelming (there were like 10 other boxes hidden). I took pictures of other people's stacks but they all turned out blurry :(
This ended Friday and then it was time for sleep for tomorrow's big day - APOLLYCON!
The support for Barnes & Noble was overwhelming in the best way possible. We were all blown away by the amount of people going in there to buy books; most people bought more than one. There were people who had massive piles of books and it made me smile.
Then it was time to open doors for VIR pass holders. I actually found the VIR signing to be more stressful than the public signing. I believe it may be because we didn't have as much time but it definitely prepared us for what was to come.
The public signing was amazing. The crowd was insane but completely thrilling. There were so many people - so many excited book fans. Seeing the smiles on these readers faces as they came up to meet Sarah was amazing. The surrounding authors, Alexandra Bracken, Cora Carmack, Jeanine Frost, Sophie Jordan & Katie McGarry were all lovely to be near. Especially Jeanine since I kept going in to her space to get out of photos. She was really nice (makes me sad I haven't read any of her stuff, though).
While every other author got out of there by 3:30, the amazing and absolutely brilliant, Jennifer L. Armentrout along with cover model, Drew Leighty stayed signing books until nearly 7:00 pm. It was insane to see but Jen would never let fans walk away without getting their books signed. While she was still signing, we started setting up for the after party. Building the parts was a lot more fun than I've had at work (I work at a movie theatre so we build standees all the time). Unfortunately, I missed most of the after party. I was starving and our dinner didn't come until nearly 9 PM. I came down to help judge for the costume contest and then we back to my room to finish eating. It seemed like a lot of fun & I wish I would've seen more of it but I'm glad to see so many people having fun.
LOOK! My picture was made in to a meme! :D
There was a lot of work involved but it was totally worth it. I met some fantastic people that weekend. Damarais had amazing people helping her out & it's always a pleasure to help JLA out. Seeing so many authors I adore was a blast & I can't wait to do it again, if Damaris will have me.
I was lucky enough to win a few of the raffle's, too. Hannah from the Irish Banana was a wee bit jealous. I entered two raffles and somehow won both of them. She really wanted to Cora's book (but it's okay cause I'm lending it to her).
Thank you to everyone involved. The authors were amazing & I wish I could've spoken to more but it was a bit hectic. Damaris, you are a rock star & I love you. Any help you ever need, just let me know & I'll be there!
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My ideal book signing would have at least these ten authors: Jennifer Armentrout, Mia Sheridan, Colleen Hoover, Amy Harmon, Tammara Webber, Tarryn Fisher, Ginger Scott, Karina Halle, Lauren Oliver, and John Green. Thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteKim Harrison, Darynda Jones, Rachel Vincent, Tahereh Mafi, Tarryn Fisher, Ann Aguirre, JLA, Richelle Mead, Sarah. J. Maas, Cassandra Clare
ReplyDeleteSarah J Maas, Paula Stokes, Wendy Higgins, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Cassandra Clare, Veronica Roth, Richelle Mead, Tahereh Mafi, Rick Riordan and J. K. Rowling.
ReplyDeleteJK Rowling, Anne Rice, Christopher Paolini, RL Stine, Dan Handler, Cornelia Funke, Lia Riley, Jamie McGuire, SE Hinton, & Stephen King.
ReplyDeleteSarah J Maas, Victoria Szwab, Jennifer Armentrout, Beth Revis, Maggie Stiefvater, Kristan Simmons, Cassandra Clare, Colleen Hoover, Mia Sheridan. Thank you for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteSarah Maas, Susan Dennard, Marie Rutkoski, Cassie Clare, Sara Raasch, Jodi Meadows, Maggie Stiefvater, Kiera Cass, Morgan Rhodes, Leigh Bardugo
ReplyDeleteNatasha Boyd, Jim Butcher, Jennifer Echols, Maggie Stiefvater, Sarah Dessen, Sarah Ockler, Huntley Fitzpatrick, Stephen King, Stephanie Perkins, and Tahereh Mafi
ReplyDeleteLaurell K. Hamilton, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Beatrice Small, K.F. Breene, Kailin Gow, JA Huss, Kym Grosso, JL Armentrout, Cassandra Clare, PC Cast.
ReplyDeleteI'd pick: Nora Roberts, Dean Koontz, Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs, Neil Gaiman, Dave Barry, Nalini Singh, Stephen King, JK Rowling, and Ann Aguirre. All authors I'd love the chance to pick the brains of :) Thanks for the fun giveaway!
ReplyDeleteAL Jackson, Belle Aurora, Mia Sheridan, Tillie Cole, Aurora Rose Reynolds, Bella Jewel, Lara Adrian, Madeline Sheehan, Karina Halle and Colleen Hoover
ReplyDeleteJanet Evanovich, James Patterson, Laura Lippman, Tami Hoag, Tess Gerritsen, Karen Rose, Stephen King, Lee Child, David Bell, John Grisham. Thanks for having this giveaway.
ReplyDeleteMichelle A. Valentine, Nikki Worrell, Jennifer Foor, Tara Sivec, Toni Aleo, Melissa Collins, Brandy Nacole, Taylor Dean, P.T. Michelle and Katie French thanks for the awesome giveaway!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had an AMAZING time!! I love those pictures, bitchy resting face LOL and that picture below it hahah hilarious "clique" :D
ReplyDeleteIf I could meet top authors at an event i'd have to include terry pratchett (sad i never met him before he died), page morgan, april genevieve tucholke, bethany griffin, josephine angelini, jk rowling, rick riordan…etc. etc
Thanks for sharing about the event! My coblogger went and got some amazing stuff! I wish I could've been there.
Dee @ Dee's Reads
In no particular order - JK Rowling, Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Tahereh Mafi, Stephen King, Christina Lauren, Veronica Rossi, Richelle Mead, Stephenie Meyer and George R. R. Martin.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway!