The second annual Book Con this year will be held at Manhattan’s Javits Center on May 30th-31st. BookCon is, as its title suggests, a book convention that provides an immersive experience  which allows readers to interact with famous authors, publishers and celebrities. Attendees get an exclusive glimpse at books that have yet to be released and up close and personal Q&A sessions during authors’ panels.

BookCon and BEA, or BookExpo America, are commonly confused with one another since they are both held in the same building. However, Bookcon is more geared towards consumers and people interested in seeing sneak peeks of new books, while BEA is for publishers and people in the literary business. Bookcon last year for me was extremely overwhelming. It was way more crowded than I initially anticipated. There were long waits to enter a panel. Due to the insane lines and my unwillingness to wake up two hours earlier than usual, I was unable to attend John Green’s panel or meet Grumpy Cat, something I am still distraught over. However, I was able to see attend the brief Q&A of Tumblr’s creators, as well as Brandon Staton’s panel, where he spoke about his popular photoblog, Humans of New York.

Coming home with over twenty free, autographed books definitely made up for the unnaturally, long lines. But if you are planning on going to BookCon this year, I recommend you plan out your time there so you won’t miss out on anything you were hoping to check out. All time slots with its respective events are listed on the site. In addition, I would recommend arriving an hour or so before it opens so you aren’t last in line or caught in the mass of fellow readers. (This will also lessen the chances of you getting trampled by crazy fangirls.) A couple people to look forward to seeing at BookCon this year is Julianne Moore, Nick Offerman, Rainbow Rowel, Sherman Alexie, and Gayle Forman.