WOW! What an experience I had attending Austin Book Fest 2016. I was so excited that I was literally shaking from all the nerves. It was my first author signing and I didn’t really know what to expect. I had a feeling it would be crowded but I never imagined there being as many people as there were. I knew people would get to registration early and I was one of them. Although, in hindsight, arriving 1.5 hours early isn’t all the early in comparison to most everyone else. Some people were at the venue as 5am!
The event was supposed to run from 12-4. After seeing the number of people in line with me, I knew it would be almost impossible to get to all the authors I wanted to in such a short time. I stood in line to register for over 2.5 hours and didn’t even get into the event until after 1:15pm. Feeling upset that I already missed 75 min of signing time, I started wondering if I would even get half the books I brought signed. It was a complete madhouse. Complete chaos. There were people everywhere and it was hard to maneuver my book filled suitcase around the room. The lines for the authors were so long that I didn’t even know where to start.
Armbands were given out for the most popular authors and by the time I got mine, my numbers were so high that didn’t I didn’t think my numbers would be called before the event ended. Feeling discouraged and down, I jumped into the first line I could find for an author I wanted to meet. Waiting in that line for 40 min was not necessary a problem except that by the time I had only 5 books signed (by the same author) it was already approaching 2:15pm. I started to stress out that I would not be able to get my books signed which made me all the more antsy and frantic.
Thankfully, I met some really great people who were more than willing to help me out. They saved my spot in one line so that I could jump in a short line and get a book or two signed. One person was especially great and saved a spot in line for one of my favorite authors. It was the first time meeting other book lovers and I was so impressed with how nice everyone was! There were also some awesome women who talked to me about blogging and gave me tons of pointers!
I definitely fan-girled and was so nervous when I approached the authors tables. Every author I met was down-to-earth and so sweet. They were all wonderful to talk to and I had time to chat with them about some of their books. There were over 40 authors at ABF and I was so fortunate to meet 15 of them – Kristen Ashley, Renee Carlino, Alice Clayton, Tillie Cole, Claire Contreras, Jay Crownover, Karina Halle, Amy Harmon, Colleen Hoover, Christina Lauren, R.K Lilley, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Mia Sheridan, Tara Sivec, and K.A. Tucker.
At the end of the day, I met some AMAZING authors, was able to get all my books signed, and met some great ladies!! I had a wonderful time and am looking forward to the next event I am able to attend, the Emerald City Author Event!!