worlds collide in slow motion, 2 visits to LA
In 2008, I headed off to LA for my first ābigā signing. I was writing for Elloraās Cave and the signing was part of BookExpoAmerica . The book expo was huge, filled with (maybe) hundreds of publishers that were there showing off the books they currently had available and the books to be published in the upcoming year. The idea was to connect with booksellers and other book distributers in order to get the booksāold fashioned paper booksāon the shelvesāold fashioned actual shelvesāin the storesāold fashioned brick and mortar stores. At the time I was new to publishing. The posts I wrote about the trip were among the very first posts I published on my blog. I was, obviously, excited to be in LA, signing books and being part of the sparkling excitement that is LA and the buzzing excitement that was BEA. BEA doesnāt exist any longer. COVID, no need to say more, right? But I attended a couple times, and it was always Big Fun and attending often made me feel like Iād Made It. I was, obv...