I survived my first 20BooksVegas!
So many wonderful people and sessions took place, my head is still spinning from being apart of it all. Though I feel like I could go days without speaking to another person right now. I’m still at the hotel (thank you late check out, lol) and wanted to take this time to try and talk about everything while it was still fresh on my mind.
Industry Day was on Monday and it was the second busiest day for me, as I was assisting with a vendor booth the whole time. Lots of fun at first, meeting people and talking about all the different products and services, but ya’ll…when I made it back to my room –
I let myself forget how much interacting with people in person can take out of me. To be fair, I hadn’t done it in some years now, and with my excitement about being in Vegas for the event, I overworked myself. But it was a good day – I got to meet Voices by Veronica, who was on my ‘must meet’ list and several other key vendors that I look forward to working with over the next few months.
Tuesday was a slower day, only two sessions that I really wanted to attend were happening, so after going to those I made sure to get lots of rest.
Wednesday was THEE DAY. I spent the entire day bouncing from room to room because there was a session that I wanted to attend every hour. And if you did not get to the room in time, there was a good chance that you’d be turned away due to it being at capacity, so a few times I gave up socializing in favor of a restroom break. But the info from those sessions was so worth it!
With all that being said, I still have a few sessions that I’ll be watching over on YouTube later this week, because there was just that much good intel being shared on Wednesday.
Thursday was a bit slow, and I was able to get my author photo taken in between sessions while grabbing a bit of extra swag (as well as some much needed chocolate).
The last session I attended was the indie panel being hosted by Craig Martelle and the panel was fantastic! Hearing them share their stories, successes and failures along the way to becoming the best in publishing, writing, and everything in between was more than motivational – it really made me evaluate where I was in my authorship and where I wanted to be before the next conference.
Friday was author signing day, and I am so glad that I didn’t have a booth. It gave me more time to mingle with other authors, help out fellow authors, and get an idea of what I wanted to do next year (if I decided to get an author booth). After wrapping things up there, I went back to my room (with some seriously sweet swag, lol) and made sure to pack. Then read a little before bed.
And now, here I am, Saturday morning – still decompressing (slightly, because I have a red eye to board soon) and looking over my notes from the whole experience. All in all, I am beyond grateful that I received a scholarship to take part in this conference this year. So ready to go back to WV and get my write on for November and see that I have the best launch possible for A Dove’s Cry!
Now…
If you plan on attending 20BooksVegas next year, working with a tight budget and fall somewhere on the introvert spectrum, then this section is for you!
The next conference will be held at Bally’s (as it was this year) and it is scheduled for Monday, November 14th until Friday, November 18th, 2022.
Tickets will go on sale Saturday, January 8th, 2022, so that means you have two months – 8 weeks to come up with the $300 fee. Start saving $40 a week now!
Also, if you are in the 20Booksto50k Facebook group (you really, really should be), add another $40 to your weekly savings budget – especially if you want to stay at Bally’s where the event is taking place on the strip. I’m sure that those who are in 20Books that want to stay at the hotel during that week will receive a code, but something I learned this week was that the hotel charges you at the time of check-in for the full stay.
The deposit made only holds the room – PERIODT.
And if it had not been for the person that I was rooming with, I would have not been able to pay for the week’s stay. So please, set up your weekly budget and have funding set aside for that.
I’ll be sharing more tips as the registration date for 20BooksVegas 2022 appraoches, but the NUMBER ONE thing I’d recommend is you start saving your funds and keep them separate from your main account.
Please make sure to schedule your ‘recharge’ time well. The days are LONG, and in between sessions folks like to network. It’s okay to block off an hour (or two, if you feel it is needed) of the day to do what you normally do to decompress. I’m an advocate for silent time and naps.
Protect your peace and schedule that recharge time! I was not so good about doing that during this year’s conference and by Thursday I wanted to hide out in my hotel room on mute from everyone. You’ll get excited about seeing everyone and taking part in meetups and sessions early, so I strongly suggest setting alarms and sticking with them. That way you’ll really be ‘present’ when you are conversing with everyone and in attendance for your sessions later.
Also, if traveling with others, find out what they’re ‘bougie’ about. What I mean is, find out which things they absolutely love to take part in and see how compatible you all are with doing those things together. For instance, I’m bougie about airlines, beds, sightseeing and music. The folks I mainly attended the conference with love food, horseback riding, and sightseeing.
I’ve always wanted to go horseback riding and expressed an interest in doing so on this trip, but when it came time to sign up for the event, I declined. It was scheduled to happen early in the morning – time I’d rather spend in bed. And even though brekkie isn’t my jam on most days, arriving on time and not starving during the morning sessions for 20BooksVegas was, so I made sure to attend a few morning breakfasts meetups. Which turned out to be some the better highlights of my trip.
Again, I’ll be sharing more tips and advice as the registration for 20BooksVegas 2022 gets closer, these are just the main points in my opinion.
Feel free to ask me in questions in the comments, and I will do my best to answer them!
Let’s hear it for 20BooksVegas – hope to see ya’ll there next year.
“Continue reading, continue writing, continue loving the process.”
K. McCoy
Author K. McCoy 