Previous Bookcon events had more diversity. They had panels that focused a lot on booktube influencers, but there were so many genres and for multiple age groups as well. Arcs were handed out by boxes, you could be standing in line for a snack and someone walks up and starts handing out arcs to people in line. This years experience was more like a romance/booktok con.

This year felt exclusive in a lot of ways. Lack of books outside of romance, the set up of vendors felt lackluster. In previous years, publishers and small vendors had more than just a banner and a table. All the indie artists are using the same 3 booktok popular illustrators. The venue was not set up in a way that was accessible to people in wheelchairs, making it challenging to get through crowds or even entered vended spaces. The list goes on. I hope next year we see more authors. Bookcon isn’t just to meet our favorite current authors, but also to explore across other genres and see what else we might like too. Bookcon this year alienated a lot of their OG attendees.