Tips for YALLfest (Updated)

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on November 3, 2015 | 7 Comments


1337012544_yall-fest1

 

I posted these tips last year, but I wanted to repost them since it’s about that time again, and I also had a couple things to add!

This will be my third year attending the festival and I am super excited! The past two years have been chaotic, but fun. You can see my recap of the last couple years here.

BOOK A HOTEL IN ADVANCE

If you plan on staying the night, PRE-book. Last year Octavia and I skipped pre-booking because we knew we were going to be driving through the night and checking in super early. That was a huge mistake! We had a hellacious time finding a place that morning. We had to call about 20 different places before we finally found one that wasn’t booked. It was an absolute nightmare! Definitely make the reservations in advance so all you have to do when you arrive is check in. If you plan to do what we did and drive through the night, try calling the hotel to see if they’ll let you check in early.

ARRIVE EARLY

In 2013, we arrived in town right on time. HORRIBLE idea. Make sure to leave yourself at least 45 minutes just for parking. Seriously, it’s a zoo. The closest parking garage has itty bitty parking spaces (in other words, drive a small car if you can!). The first year it took me FOREVER to find a spot I could fit into (and that’s with a G6…imagine a truck or SUV), and by the time I did I was so frustrated I already wanted to leave. Then I was upset for the first couple hours because I missed out on authors I wanted to see. Don’t be like me! (Last year I parked on the roof, it was SO much easier.)

The first signing is at 11, but the lines for the 11 signings tend to start at 10 am. Your best bet is to get there by 9 to find a parking space.

PLAN CAREFULLY

The schedule of panels and signings is INSANE. Know going in that you won’t be able to see everyone. It’s just not possible. When you have 8+ authors in one hour and it takes 30-45 minutes (sometimes more) to get through one line….well, you can do the math. There are 50+ authors crammed into a 6 hour time span. Your best bet is to choose one author per hour. (Unless of course you have someone else with you!)

Print out the schedule in advance and prioritize the authors you want to see. Who do you want to see the most? Who can you miss out on? Be aware that you may wait in line as long as an hour, if not more, for a popular author. Plan waiting time into your schedule. This year I wrote out authors I’d like to see, in order of priority, and chose one author per hour that I want to see the most. After that it’s whoever I have time for!

Something I learned very quickly my first year: It’s signings OR panels. There’s really no going to both, unless you have an hour to spare where there’s no authors signing. I’m always in line for so long waiting for authors that I’ve never actually been to a panel at YALLfest, other than stepping in at the last 10 minutes after all the signings were over.

GET INTO THE LINES EARLY

Get to the lines as early as you can. If there’s an author you really want to see, and they’re scheduled for, say, noon: Get into their line at 11:40. Earlier if you can. If it’s someone really popular, try to get in line an hour in advance. (If you know Alexandra Bracken is signing at 3 pm, be in line at 2!) The earlier, the better. If you’re the first one in line, you can get in and out quicker, and have a better chance of seeing a second author in that hour.

Also, some of the authors have panels to go to, which means they HAVE to leave for that panel at a certain time, no matter how many fans are still in line. The closer you are to the front, the better chance you have to see them!

BRING A FRIEND (OR TWO)

The best way to get more books signed is to split the load. Then you can knock out multiple signings at once! Figure out which authors each of you wants to see the most, and which ones you can get by without meeting (but still get a signed copy, of course). Then go your separate ways and find somewhere to meet after you’re done!

Don’t worry about being alone – there’s plenty of passionate bookish people surrounding you. Even if you’re shy I guarantee you it would take little effort to get a conversation going! (And don’t be afraid to jump into a conversation, nobody will mind!)

DON’T STRESS

Like I said, don’t be like I was my first year. Don’t freak out if it takes you an hour to find a space to park. (If you got there early, it won’t matter!) Go in knowing that you may not get to see everyone you want to see. Don’t get stressed out if you miss an author. If you planned carefully enough, with any luck that won’t happen! But again, keep in mind that some of the authors have panels to attend, so even if you get into the line they might have to leave before you can make it to them.

HAVE FUN!

This of course is the most important part! I had a blast the past couple of years meeting bookish people (including Team Epic Reads and a couple bloggers) and awesome authors and I am SO stoked to be returning this year!!

 

Who else is going this year? I’d love to meet up!

Jessi (Geo)

Posted in: Random Stuff | Tags: ,

Subscribe to Novel Heartbeat to get more posts like this!

7 responses to “Tips for YALLfest (Updated)

      • I have my list of authors picked out plus a few I might try for my friends. But I’m still waiting for YALLFest to post the signing times. Would love to meet up though. Be great to try to get books signed if we happen to share some names.

        • It’s different this year (and really stupid), you have to click on each author’s name individually and it tells you when and where they’ll be signing. It took me FOREVER to figure it out! And yeah, that would be great!

          • Oh thanks for that! Driving me nuts! Of course, now I see two of my authors are gone. Guess they’re not attending anymore.

            Naturally with the remaining ones, two are signing at 3 clear across the way, two at 12 clear across the way, and one at 11. Gotta check my friends books still. Oh this will be challenging. Hardly anyone I want to see is signing Friday.

            • Oh no, which authors??

              Yep, I had the same issues. There were like 6 different authors I wanted to see all signing in the 12 hour, and 3 of them were out of my top 4. Figures! I’m really grateful that Rick Yancey is signing Friday, since he was one of my 12 pm authors. I’ll definitely hit him up, and Rae Carson if I have time. Everyone else I can take or leave on Friday! Although I am tempted to get my Vampire Academy set signed so I can sell it XD

              • Richelle generally has a 3 book limit. Otherwise her line would be endless! LOL. I need to look at the list again, because I noticed more changes. Like one author wasn’t signing on Friday, but now she is. Another was signing on Friday, but now she’s not! LOL! It’s madness!

                Two authors that were attending but now aren’t were Susan Ee, she went last year, so I already have the first 2 books signed, I was just thinking, yay a signed set! But that’s no biggie. The other is Ellen Hopkins, and she was just an anthology I really enjoyed, so another not a big deal one. But since it seems everyone is signing at the same time, it’s kind of relieving!

Leave a Reply to Jessica @ a GREAT read Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.