New York Comic Con Expands with BookCon for 2016

One of the fastest growing comic conventions is New York Comic Con, which has also become one of the largest (and sometimes the largest) convention in the U.S. Like San Diego Comic Con, New York Comic Con increasingly has brought in the worlds of TV and movies. This year, they will incorporate another type of entertainment media in a large format. BookCon, a publishing event with notable authors, will be a part of the 2016 New York Comic Con lineup. Attendees of NYCC with a badge will be able to attend BookCon as well.     NYCC has expanded beyond the confines of the convention halls over the past two years since the introduction of New York Super Week. BookCon presents another opportunity to draw in attendees who may not initially have considered going to New York Comic Con. Although there hasn’t been much information released yet on BookCon, it appears that, rather than a wide range of books and authors that one might find at a publishing event like Book Expo America, BookCon will be more focused into genre and YA fiction as well as other areas that are likely to crossover with NYCC audiences.   So far, the authors announced to appear are R.L. Stine (Goosebumps), Ann Martin (The Baby-Sitters Club), Chuck Wendig (Star Wars: Aftermath), Alec MacDonald and Connor Toole (Millennials of New York), Danielle Page (Dorothy Must Die), Naomi Novak (Temeraire series), Lauren Oliver (Delerium series), Rae Carson (The Girl of Fire and Thorns series) and Garth Nix (Old Kingdom series). There are certainly going to be many more added as the convention start date of October 6th draws closer.     While adding BookCon this year may make sense for ReedPOP, the producers of New York Comic, it’s not necessarily an automatic hit. For one thing, BookCon will not be held in the same building as New York Comic Con. Instead, it will be at Hudson Mercantile (500 West 36th Street), a short walk from the Javits Convention Center, the home of New York Comic Con. So it’s debatable whether convention goers will sacrifice time at NYCC in order to trek over and attend a new event like BookCon. It’s possible that the organizers are trying to bring in a new audience, but it’s not clear whether there will be separate tickets to BookCon for attendees who do not want to go to NYCC or couldn’t get tickets.   It’s also possible that BookCon is an experiment of sorts that will start small to gauge if there is demand before becoming its own event. New York Comic Con tickets have not yet gone on sale but fan registration, which was necessary to buy tickets, has concluded. So if you have not registered for the 2016 New York Comic Con, it is probably too late to attend this year. Whether those without tickets to NYCC can attend the new BookCon event has yet to be announced.