This past weekend I attended Book Bonanza 2023 as Lucy Eden‘s assistant in Grapevine, Texas (Dallas area). If you’ve never heard of Book Bonanza let me tell you a bit about it.
Book Bonanza is the creation of The Bookworm Box author Colleen Hoover, and her sisters Lin Reynolds, and Murphy Rae. They dreamed of an event where readers could meet their favorite authors and also raise money to help others. Through their annual events and raffles, they have raised over $400,000 for nonprofits benefitting women and children.
This year $250,000 was raised and donated to:
-$110,000 to the Michael J Fox Foundation
-$110,000 to Reach Out and Read
-$30,000 to Kulture City
It was absolutely amazing! I feel truly honored to have been a part of this event.
Book Bonanza 2023 was a two-day event, with author meet-ups on Thursday night.
I arrived Thursday evening and since the moment I checked in at the hotel, it was a sprint. I don’t feel like I stopped until Sunday morning. Someone asked me at one point how were my feet and laughed and said “What feet?”
As an assistant, your experience is very different than those as an attendee. While you do get to rub elbows with the authors, it’s a lot of work. You’re on your feet the entire time, you have to set up and break down. You are there to assist your author and meeting others is not something you really have time to do. Put it this way, Lucy’s table was across from author CoraLee June, and I didn’t even get a chance to say hi to her, and we are mutuals on TikTok. It’s ok I took a creeper video instead:
And no I am not complaining at all. It was incredibly and blissfully busy, and as an assistant that’s what you want, your author to be busy. I say all of this so everyone understands that being an assistant at an event this large is hard work. So if your goal is to meet authors and get books signed, assisting is not for you. You’re better off buying a ticket and having a great time.
Now don’t get me wrong, working with Lucy is a dream, she’s super flexible. I did have a ton of fun! I was able to join some panels, do a meet-up, have fun at the after-parties, and even spend time with a few of my friends that attended the event. So not everything is work, but you definitely work, yes you do.
On Thursday, I joined the Latine author meetup. This was so much fun because it was a relaxing environment, and you could actually have conversations with the authors. We were just hanging out, and it was great!
Friday, I joined the Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone panel. And they made me cry. It’s beautiful to see when humans just really love and support each other.
Also on Friday, I had to run back to the room and was able to see the line. It was wild! This is not even the whole line.
Saturday, I did the Sports Romance, and Laugh Out Loud panels. I’m a sports girlie, so Sports Romance has always been a favorite genre.
Speaking of crying, there was not a dry eye, when author (and one of my main Bs) Sara Ney received the perfect and most epic proposal ever at Book Bonanza. Yes, a romance author, living a real-life romance. We can’t write this shite!
Let’s take a moment and talk about the hotel. The Gaylord is MASSIVE. Not only does it have several different room towers and restaurants, there’s also a gorgeous indoor park right in the middle of the hotel. I know there’s a popular outdoor pool, but did I get to see it? No. I’m sure it’s gorgeous.
Here are a few recommendations for everyone:
-Have a portable electronic fan. Yes, even you authors. It’s Texas in June. It’s going to get hot, period.
-Wear comfortable shoes. Most likely your room and convention center are far from each other. So your comfort is key.
-To attendees, even if you think you’re not going to buy a lot of books, have something with wheels. Hours of carrying something can take its toll on your back and body. Make it easy for yourself. Actually, this also applies to authors that need to transport things to and from the convention floor.
-Keep yourself hydrated and bring snacks. You’ll be standing in lines the entire time. You want to make sure you’re energized and excited to meet your authors.
-Take a break. I know time is of the essence but listen to your body. You have two days, it’ll be okay.
-Bring something to trade: stickers, bookmarks, bracelets, candy, keychains, pins, etc. This is new in our world but OMG was it so much fun trading with everyone. I made bracelets and they were all gone. I received so many cool things as trades. My favorites was a Hockey Romance sticker (Thanks Anna) and a fan. So cool!
-There are two places where you can get coffee at the hotel. Both will be crowded, and both serve Starbucks. But you can not use the Starbies app. If you get there early enough, they have hot breakfast sandwiches.
I want to take a moment to thank all organizers, unicorns, volunteers, authors, assistants, Brute Squad, hotel staff, and everyone that helped put BB23 together. I couldn’t have asked for a better event.
And last but not least, I want to thank Lucy Eden. Thank you so much for once again trusting me to assist you. You’re the real MVP.
If you haven’t heard of Lucy Eden before, allow me to introduce you to her and her books. She writes RomCom with a little bit of spice, and all the tropes! Highly recommend starting with Blind Date with a Book Boyfriend which is a love letter to romance readers.
Keeping my fingers crossed that we get to do it again in 2024. Send good juju Lucy’s way!
XOXO
Dee!
Nerd & Lace 
Hi Dee, thanks for the Reach Out and Read mention and link. I was at Book Bonanza as well, representing Reach Out and Read, and agree, it was a blast! If you or Lucy would like to get more invovled in Reach Out and Read, please feel free to reach out to me. 🙂