Top Tips For YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention)

You’re probably already aware that I am book obsessed. If so you probably know about my love for book events. And my favourite book event of the year is fast approaching: YALC!

What is YALC?

YALC is the Young Adult Literary Convention which takes place alongside the Film and TV Comic Con. The event usually happens across two days in November at Kensington Olympia.

It’s a convention style event with everything bookish you can imagine. There are stage panels featuring some of your favourite authors, signing opportunities, workshops and loads of retail exhibitors including a lot of publishers. Everyone is there to celebrate all things YA books, although there will be some adult books dotted around.

The first YALC took place in 2014 as Malorie Blackman’s major project when she was Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2013-2015. And the rest is history.

The logistics of attending

When you buy tickets you’ll also get access to the London Film and TV Comic Con. But buying YALC specific tickets will give you access an hour before anyone from comic con. And this is essential if you want to do any signings (more on that later). And then you can access comic con downstairs after the first hour.

There’s a train station right next door also named Kensington Olympia which is accessible via the overground and district line.

My top tips for attending YALC

I went for the first time in 2022, so this year will be my third year going, and my second full weekend. And I’ve learnt a lot over those two years, so here are my top tips if you’re attending this year, or want to in the future.

Make a plan ahead of time

Before you go check out the programme of events and signings to work out your priorities. Some things may clash so you’ll have to figure out what you can’t miss.

If you want to attend any signings have a priority order as you’ll need to pick up tickets for these, and that’s where you’ll want to head first.

Follow publishers on authors on social media

A lot of publishers will post about giveaways or special events on the day so make sure you’re following them. Closer to the time YALC will release a list of all the suppliers and publishers going so I tend to follow everyone from that list.

Not only that but outside of the event your feed will be filled with bookish awesomeness.

Queue before the doors open

You don’t have to, but I highly recommend queuing before doors open. If I remember correctly doors opened at 9am but we started queuing around 8am.

They usually open the outside doors around 45 mins to an hour before official opening. So your ticket will be scanned and your bags checked. Then you can queue the rest of the time inside.

It can get super busy when it comes to getting signing tickets so it’s worth heading early to avoid missing out.

Head straight to get your signing tickets when you enter

For signings at YALC you join virtual queues which basically means you get a raffle ticket showing your number in the queue.

Then when the time comes for that signing they’ll say numbers 1-25, then 1-50 etc. So the lower number you’ll have the earlier you’ll get to go to the signing, and the most flexibility you’ll have. For most authors you’ll be able to get a slot quite easily, but for some more in demand they may cap the number of spaces. For example Holly Jackson and Jennifer Lynn Barnes are both attending this year and I expect they’ll be pretty busy.

So if you want to go to a signing get there before doors open to get straight in. And get your top priority ones first.

Get your talk seat early

Some talks get pretty busy so if there’s something you really want to see get there early for a good spot.

In 2022 I wanted to see the Jacqueline Wilson talk and actually went in during the talk before. But I know last year for some events they made everyone leave when one event finished and you had to re-queue to get back in. But that may have only been for the bigger talks.

Stay until the end of the day on Sunday

Yes you’ll probably be knackered by 4pm Sunday but stick it out as that’s when prices get good!

Most publishers have deals on books such as 2 for £10, or 3 for £10, or just random sales. But as the day gets later on the Sunday a lot of publishers reduce prices further. In 2022 I never paid more than £3 for a book!

Grab all the merch and enter all the prize draws you can

A lot of stalls had freebie samples of upcoming books which you can pick up. Or small bits of merch like stickers and bookmarks. After I’ve got my signing tickets I like to walk round to every stall and see what they have.

And lots of publishers will have giveaways and prize draws to win ARCs (advanced reader copies) or other bookish goodies. So enter as many of them as you can for higher chances of winning.

Have you ever been to YALC?