Today was a pretty quiet day for me in terms of planned book signings, and I still hadn’t really made my mind up about which of the LFCC actor signings I wanted to attend. So Day 1 was about scouting out the stalls and YALC and LFCC, entering as many of the giveaways as I could, buying books I wanted (more room in the bag to take them home), and catching up with blogger friends!
You can check out some of their blogs and Instagram accounts here:
Steph – @bookslovereaders
Emily – @emilys_book_corner
Katie – @herpaperworld
Vicky – @whatvickyread
Ben – @bookswithben
The Journey:
Naturally the trains were a shambles. Engineering works on my train line meant the trains were all off timetable, and when I finally made it to Earl’s Court (expecting to be able to get a district line train) I was told I either needed to get the replacement bus or the Overground. So I walked to the Overground station – I much prefer trains. By this point it is raining – hard. Nevertheless I make the trek only to find the train is cancelled, and the next one more than 30 minutes away, I can walk to Olympia quicker than that, so that’s what I go for. Luckily this is when the rail replacement bus stops almost right next to me, so I get on it and finally know I’m going to make it to YALC before 10am.
Getting into YALC:
Unfortunately YALC were really late opening the doors, and I hear there was priority given to those people with single day tickets for first entry? I really don’t understand why this happened; if they were to do this every day those people who had paid for the entire weekend ticket would never stand a chance at getting in first. With a significant number of the giveaways and ARCs being dropped at the start of the day this was majorly unfair, and there’s nothing more disappointing than sitting in that queue, watching twitter, and seeing those ARCs you had your heart set on disappear.
I get a first come first serve basis for some of the arc drops (though I much prefer raffles or competitions where at least everyone has a fair chance) but at least wait until you’ve let everyone into the venue?
YALC Stalls:
First we got straight in the line for the Illumicrate and Fable & Black stand. I made a slight error in thinking that their rosiethorns prints were going to be very limited, but actually it was the signed ones that were limited rather than the prints themselves. Thank goodness because they were BEAUTIFUL, I’m so glad I was able to get both; there was a ADSOM/ Vicious one that was set out like a playing card, and a Priory of the Orange Tree one that had the dragons posing so that they created a Ying and Yang symbol.
Author Line-Up and Signings:
Signings didn’t start until 12pm today, and to be honest I wasn’t really prepared with the whole virtual queue thing, by Day 3 this had improved massively but the first two days it was kind of like they were figuring out what to do.
I had planned to get books signed by Akemi Dawn Bowman, Tom Pollock, and Zoe Marriot (I managed all but the first – again, not prepared for the VQ). But I did manage to get a free proof of Wild Savage Stars (a stall was running a buy-one-get-a-proof-free offer), and also managed to win a proof copy of Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo!
Other authors signings on Day 1:
• Emma Smith-Barton
• Holly Bourne
• Sara Barnard
• Ben Aaronovitch
• Mary Watson
• Kristina Perez
• Anna Mainwaring
• Clare Rees
• Dan Freedman
• Kate Mallinder
• Renee Ahdieh
• Kiran Millwood Hargrave
• Zoe Marriot
• Alice Oseman
• Laura Steven
• Savannah Brown
• Tom Pollock
• Yasmin Rahman
• Derek Landy
• Eoin Colfer
(I saw Kristina Perez later in the day walking around and was able to get my new Wild Savage Stars ARC signed then – another signed book to add to the pile!)
ARC Giveaways:
This was actually a result of really fortunate timing; Katie and I knew something was going to be announced but all we hear was “find the rubber [X]”, seconds later I notice a rubber bat (as in the animal) on the floor and more on the table opposite, so we picked them up and hoped for the best! Turns out, this gamble paid off and we each managed to get a copy of the book. I’m a huge fan of To Kill A Kingdom; I think it’s a really cool concept and an absolutely gripping story (I wrote a review here).
So that was win number one for the weekend!
Famous Faces and LFCC Signings:
And of course we have our annual sighting of Jason Momoa, I think the only day I didn’t see him was Sunday!
Later in the afternoon I decided to go down and see what the deal was with getting actor signatures at LFCC. Again they operate a VQ system, with ticketers at the end of each line and a sign indicating which numbers they are up to currently. Somehow I managed to get the nicest ticketer ever who first off just gave me a ticket for Jason Isaacs’ VQ but then ended up just letting me join the line anyway! – I didn’t get your name but thank you! And thank you to Ben and Vicky for accompanying me in the queue and being my “backing singers” – Jason’s words not mine. Yes we are on first name terms.
The downside of going to meet some actors is that they are straight up – “no photos”. You can pay to have a photo session with them of course but I’m not the most photogenic individual and I’m terrified that I’d pay for a picture and hate it. By getting an autograph it’s something I can’t not like! So of the actors I ended up meeting only two said no photos at all, one said no posed photos, but the other two were happy to stand up and take photos with fans also getting autographs which was awesome.
Summary and Random Thoughts:
So by the end of Day 1 I had seen nearly all of the authors I wanted to on the day, got one Harry Potter cast-member signature already, and won a proof of a book I really really wanted!
One thing I noticed was how much more chilled out I was compared to last year. 2018 was my first ever YALC and not really knowing what to expect, and having never met anyone from my bookstagram group chats I was super nervous and only bought a day ticket for the Saturday (I have found this to be the busiest day by the way). Trying to fit everything in on one day is impossible, you have to prioritise. You still have to prioritise if you’re doing the entire weekend, and of course you have to pace yourself, but I found it so much more relaxing to have more time to explore rather than just going to signing, signing, signing, signing…
So when I go again in the future I’m definitely going for more than one day, whether I get the entire weekend ticket will of course depend on work holiday and line up but it was so great to actually have time to wander around and just see what was what.
If you’d like to see my pictures and videos from the day I have three story highlights on my Instagram! One for merch, one for books, and one for photos taken over the weekend.
Sammy's Shelf 