YALC Tips & Tricks

YALC tips and tricks, and Guides to YALC are some of the best posts you can read to prepare for the UK’s biggest book festival. This is because you’re getting helpful advice from people who have experience from attending the event before. Which I have! I’ve been attending YALC since 2016 and every year has been an absolute joy.

I won’t lie guys, YALC is a lot, it’s busy, it’s exciting, it’s exhausting. But, most of all it’s ridiculously fun. I can guarantee it’ll probably be one of the best weekends of your year.

As I said before, I’ve been attending YALC since 2016, so I definitely have my fair share of experience with the event (check out my Guide to YALC here) and over the years I’ve found some tricks (or hacks, if you will) that will help you get a bit more prepared for the weekend. Some of these tips you may not have come across before and others are small, but as Tesco says, every little helps!

Prepare your books beforehand

This is definitely handy if you’re planning to go to an author’s signing with a lot of books. There will be YALC helpers on hand to provide post it notes to stick in the title pages of your books so the author knows who they are personalising the book for. But, if you set some time aside before you pack or before the YALC day begins to post it your books, I promise that you will save yourself a lot of hassle in the signing queue.

Take this advice from someone who was infamous for dropping all their books in the signing queues (multiple times) in 2016. It’s always handy to carry an extra set of post its too just in case you buy books at the event that you would like signed.

Wear comfortable shoes

I cannot stress this enough.

Wear comfy shoes or you will regret it! That’s all.

Take a reusable water bottle and a packed lunch

This one is essential! YALC has a place for you to refill your water bottle, so I highly recommend taking a reusable bottle so that you don’t need to leave the event to go to the shops across the road or spend those precious £££ on overly priced water at the shop inside the hall.

This year I’ll be taking a bottle that will keep my water cool, if you’ve been to YALC before then you know how ridiculously warm it can get, so I will be taking my water in a chilly water bottle.

I also recommend taking a packed lunch with you, trust me, you’ll save so much time and money if you do. There are shops across the street from the hall where you can go get food, but I recommend you do this in the morning before the YALC day starts, because these shops tend to get cleared out pretty fast with both YALC and Comic Con attendees buying their food there.

Portable chargers are a necessity

At YALC, pretty much all giveaways and arc drops are announced via the publisher’s twitter accounts. So make sure you are following them with notifications turned on! And, of course if you’re constantly using your phones to check Twitter or text friends at the event your phone will eventually run low on charge. This is where a portable charger becomes a lifesaver.

Whenever I’ve got a spare ten minutes, I will plug in my phone to increase the charge just so my battery never reaches that dreaded red zone. It also provides peace at mind that if your phone does hit low charge, then you know you have a charger right in your backpack.

Booksleeves. You need them. 

So, YALC is in full swing. You have a lot of books in your bag. You’re pulling one out to be signed by the author when tragedy strikes.

Your book is damaged. Gasps in bookworm.

This is where booksleeves come in ridiculously handy. Use them to keep your books in good condition. They’re also handy to help organise your books too. When I go to YALC, I pack my books in the book sleeves so they’re constantly protected throughout the day.

Have tote bags at the ready

Tote bags are a very handy thing to keep on you, because you never know how quickly your bag/suitcase will fill or how much you will leave YALC with so it’s good to keep a couple of extra bags on you. I always make sure I have at least two extra totes on me in case one bag get’s too heavy and I decide to transfer some books to another bag to balance the weight.

Keep a pen handy

This is a very simple little tip, but hear me out. Last year, publishers introduced giveaways as a form of doing arc drops. This way it’s kept fair for everyone, but, it means by the time you visit multiple booths you’ll have a plethora of raffle tickets in your pockets. Use the pen to write the name of the giveaway on the back of your ticket so you don’t confuse them and potentially miss the chance of getting a prize.

Referring back to the first point too, you can use it to write out names on post its for your books! Some booths have quizzes that you can fill out too and win prizes, so it’s handy to have a pen for those.

Seating

Chances are you’ll be at YALC from 10am to around 4/5pm, so you will get tired throughout the day. If you don’t, then please share your secrets.

What you probably didn’t know is that you’re actually allowed to take your own foldable seating with you into the event. But, you need to be willing to carry it about with you and it’s important to set it up somewhere you won’t be blocking any booths or queues.

YALC does have a seating ares, but last year it was very small and really only provided beanbags to sit in which can be comfy but don’t offer a lot of support. So if you know you’ll want a seat to rest, maybe consider taking a small foldable chair with you.

Wear a lanyard or name tag

Now this is completely optional, but very helpful if you’re a blogger, bookstagrammer or booktuber. It’s also helpful if you’re going by yourself and you want to show some form of identification so friends can find you, and it lets publisher’s at booths know your blog handle without having to tell them.

I hope you found these YALC tips and tricks helpful! If you want to read even more about YALC, then definitely check out my Guide to YALC which will tell you everything you need to know about the event, including some things that I haven’t mentioned in this post. If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments below.

I also highly recommend checking out Beth, Lauren, Vicky and Connie’s YALC posts. They’re very informative!

Are you going to YALC this year? If you are I’d love to know what authors you’re excited to meet and if you have any other tips or tricks for getting through the weekend.

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