BEA ARC Etiquette

So with the count down to BEA well on its way, it's time to talk about whats going to happen. When you go there are going to be so many books there, there are going to be BOOKS EVERYWHERE, its really hard to imagine if you haven't been there before. When considering that you're going to be getting all these books and things there are a lot of things that need to be considered.

1. Don’t be greedy  

You see all these fancy book and you think,”OMG FREE BOOKS I THINK THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING.” and then you take the shiny book sitting there on the counter thinking that you’ll read it. Along with the 50 others that you thought you might be interested in. Fast forward 6 months and you’re still drowning in books. I’ve read about 45 books out of my 200ish books that I grabbed. Currently, I still have a little less than 100 to read because a lot of them I realized I wasn’t interested in. I also went with my mom who saw free things and just grabbed them. I only just managed to get rid of a frisbee that she got...

Anyway, my point is that take it only if you’re really going to read it because if you aren’t I’m sure someone else that is there does want it, and does want to check it out. This event isn’t just for Bloggers, there are librarians who are going who are going to be making decisions about what books to buy. (also other people like booksellers and publicists and so many more people.

2. Don’t get nasty with others. 

Hannah pointed out in another post about a group of girls that divided and conquered and grabbed books for one another. I will admit that I was part of that group. We couldn’t all be in once place at the same time, and so rather than have to miss out on a book that we really wanted we made it work between all of us. Maybe I’m just oblivious, but I must have missed all the dirty looks that people gave us for doing that. You never know who is there grabbing books or why they are. Am I going to deny that there are people that grab books solely for their personal gain? No way. (Just see number 1 AND 3) But also realize, you're going to be getting so many more books! Don't get upset about the ones you missed, enjoy the ones you got!

3. No selling ARCS.  

If you’ve read any of Hannah’s posts you saw that it can be really frustrating to see books that wind up on Swap Group when you were there and it was a book you missed and then these people had multiples just for the swapability. That really sucks, but at the same time, its going to bloggers who are hopefully going to read and review the book and help promote it.

So after BEA last year, not sure why, but I check E-Bay. No clue why, women’s intuition maybe? But someone was selling all of their BEA ARCS saying “RIGHT FROM BEA!” In the title. Books by Deborah Harkness (which I was bummed that I missed) or The Diviners by Libba Bray. All hot titles, all on Ebay. That shit just ain’t right. Not only is it unfair to the people that paid to go to this and wanted those books, but its also against everything that ARCS are.

4. Pay it forward.

Its okay if you do wind up with an extra ARC, Its going to happen, and don’t fret. I had stopped by the HMH booth to see if they had any more copies of The Last Dragonslayer because I had missed it during the day, and it turned out that they didn’t. As I went to my mother to tell her this, a woman had overheard me and pulled the book out of her bag and told me she had an extra and that I could have her copy. I was so appreciative that I couldn’t find words.

At one point I grabbed an extra ARC for my friend who was in the hall because she really wanted it and I wanted to make sure that she got it. She wound up getting a copy of it for herself and so there I was with 2 extra’s (because another friend also had it who I had grabbed one for). So while waiting in line, I wound up chatting up a girl that was there as a Power Reader on the last day. She was telling me about how she missed getting Fathomless by Jackson Pearce because she didn’t know how Galley drops and things worked when she got there. So, I reached into my bag and said “I wound up with these extra’s, here you go.” I gave my two extra’s to her and her friend. Its going to happen, and the more nice things you see happen at BEA the better off everyone is going to be.

While this wasn't part of #BEABlitz, it has everything to do with BEA which is why you can see our fancy banner!