First off, I promised to show you all my 'swag' so here it is...
What we have here is :
Conference Tote Bag
Badge an Badge holder
Conference Planner
Themed Mint Tin
Collapsible Water Bottle
City Map
Flash Drive
Fan
Pen
and eight (yes eight) Books
These books I got today and one of the book signings. There are to book signings a day, and each signing showcases two publishers. This particular signing was Sorcebooks and St. Martin's Griffin. I didn't go to yesterdays signings because I didn't realize what they were. Basically, you line up, go into the big room where there are dozens of authors from the designated publishers, choose which books you want to read, and get a signed copy--for free. Yes folks, all those books were free, and they don't even represent half of what I could have gotten! The rest however were things that didn't so much interest me so I passed. (Plus, I have to be able to get all these home...) There are two more signings tomorrow and I will be going so my book tally will most likely double.
This is the wall in my hotel room right now. Crazy, right!?
So, as far as what I learned today, I realized it is going to be easier to wait until the end of the conference to talk about that, as there is so much that overlaps, I don't want to be redundant. However, I did get one little piece of info that is a little disheartening--especially if you write YA.
Ever wonder, "Hey, I wonder, if I got a book deal when my book would actually come out."? Well, as of today, I can give you an idea. During the conference, one of the biggest things going on is the pitches, as in you can pitch your book to a pannel of editors and agents with the hopes of being signed. Three of the editors from the panel--one from Sorcebooks, one from Dell, and one from Harliquin--gave us this info: If you write traditional romance, women's fiction, or any other mainstream genre, and you get a publishing contract in the next month or so, you could still possibly land a spot on the 2012 publishing card with a release date in the fall or winter of that year, however, most will see pub. dates of spring/summer 2013, or even into that fall. The ones pitching YA(by 'the ones' she meant the writers who pitched yesterday and today at the conference) unfortunately, are vying for spots on the 2014 and 2015 publishing card. YA is just that full, making it a hard sell.
That's right YA writers, if you were to get a book deal this month, the earliest you book would be on shelves is summer/fall 2014. Now they did say that there are always exceptions to those numbers, but not many. They also said that while they could only technically speak for their own houses, they did say that this scenario is cross the board in the industry.
Yeah, kinda sucks...
Anyway, that's all for today. I go into more detail tomorrow, but for now, going to go eat my dessert from Junior's! Yay!
Oh, and highlight of the day... I actually met Nora Roberts! Like shook her hand and everything! I'm not really what you would call a 'fan' of her's, as I kind of think all her books are the same, but come on, it's Nora freaking Roberts! Fan or no, that was cool! :)
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