National Book Festival: follow-up

I attended the National Book Festival in Washington DC on Oct 9 sponsored by
the Library of Congress and Mrs. Bush. A few points for collectors who may wish
to attend in the future:
1. if you want to get copies signed, plan on standing in line at least an hour
before the author is scheduled to begin signing. This varies, of course, on the
popularity of the author. Some had no waiting lines; others has lines forming
3-4 hours in advance and still didn't get books signed as the volunteers cut
off the lines after signing started if it looked like there were too many
people waiting.
2. if you want to get a first edition signed, better buy it some place else
ahead of time. I like Lawrence Block and wanted to get his latest signed. The
book selling tent (run by Barnes & Noble) only had fourth printings available.
3. likewise, if you can get your copy before attending, you'll probably save
money. B & N was charging full retail price on their books.
4. go early. There were many freebees (sample books on CD's, LoC info CD, and
many neat posters) but they go fast. Last I heard, many sponsor tents had
inventory on hand for about 8,000 attendees; estimated attendence was over
10,000.
5. is it worth it? YES! This was the first festival my wife and I had attended.
Even though I'm the one who collects books, my wife enjoyed it very much, and
now wants to schedule some of our trips around other festivals/fairs. Plus, how
many times to you get to stand in a line with a view of the Capitol in front of
you and the Washington Monument behind you??!
Les

FYI - Mark your calendar ... next year's National Book Festival is
scheduled for Sept 24, 2005.

I also spent the day at this year's NBF - some notes on my experiences
and photos are available at http://www.bookthink.com/0029/29par.htm

Regards, Tim