For a first time visitor
What I learned before my first visit to YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention) in 2024 from scouring blogs and social media and what I learned during the event that I wish I’d known in advance. Aka a handy guide for anyone planning to attend in November 2025.
Logistics (aka the venue)
Entry to YALC versus Comic Con
In case you haven’t realised yet, YALC is held in association with London Winter Comic Con, your ticket to YALC or your ticket to Comic Con will give you access to the event as a whole, but people who buy a YALC ticket join the YALC queue and get the first hour of the day exclusively in the YALC area (which is upstairs in Olympia – you get filtered up stairs, so if you have mobility needs head towards the staff at the edges to get directions to the lift), after that hour you are free to wander comic con and take part in the stuff happening there – likewise people who buy a Comic Con ticket join the Comic Con queue and spend the first hour at Comic Con, and are then free to come upstairs and take part in YALC stuff.
Bag search
Like any venue of this size, bag searches are standard. If like me last year, you are taking a suitcase with you might want to consider how you pack this, as you will have to put your bag or case onto the table and let them see whats in there, even if its books for signing and your undies. Pack wisely!
Queueing for tickets for signings
If you want to get a book signed by one of the attending authors you need to get a queue ticket first thing (I’ve heard these referred to as ‘Virtual Queues’ just today) authors are limited in how much they can sign in the time frame and the more popular author tickets go fast. Then later in the day the signing tables are set up and again, depending on how popular the author is you are usually called forward to queue in groups by number (eg ticket number 1-20, then 21 -40 – this stops the signing area from getting too clogged up with people just waiting around). You can get pretty much anything signed if you don’t have a book, last year I saw people getting YALC tote bags signed for example.
Cloakroom
Unfortunately the cloakroom at Olympia is downstairs from the ground floor so whilst you can get a lift down to the ground floor, there is still a short yet narrow staircase to the actual cloakroom (which is very awkward with a suitcase and not very accessible). I’m still not 100% if the cloakroom is open when the doors are based on this photo I snapped last time, I suspect not – its also worth noting that it actually closes before the event finishes, so you need to grab your stuff a bit early, they also had electronic ticket system where you get emailed or texted your ticket so beware that you’ll also need your phone charged by the end of the day!
Refreshments
I was warned it was expensive for food and drink in the venue (to be expected) and to take snacks but wasn’t quite prepared for how thirsty I would be. Or how long/slow a queue for a simple coffee would take. Be prepared and take a meal deal or something, and unless anything has changed in the last year, Olympia does not provide free drinking water which for me makes it in this day and age, not a great venue (especially with the afore mentioned queues).
Carrying books
A trolley or wheeled suitcase maybe required to save your shoulders from carrying endless tote bags, last year I had my suitcase with me as I arrived directly to the event from Oxford then went home from the event on Sunday. I did leave my case in the cloakroom for most of the day but it was handy having something wheeled when needed. This year I’m staying in a hotel Friday to Monday so I won’t have to cart all my luggage plus books around for 2 days, but I’m still taking a fold up wheeled trolley thing to make carrying those books easier.
All things bookish
Bargain books
This was something I was excited for, I was told by several people about how discounted books get by Sunday afternoon (and I am hard pushed to resist a bargain book), publishers will reduce the price of their books in order to get rid as no one wants to lug them back to the office or wherever, and although they’re often quite discounted anyway, it generally ended up being multibuy offers eg 3 paperbacks for £10. However anything fancy (remember that several book subscription boxes will be there as well as stall holders who create special editions of popular books), if you want it, don’t wait and see if it will reduce in price, it’s way more likely that you’ll miss out!
Buying books (especially for signings)
I feel like this is something massively overlooked! If an author is attending as a speaker/signing you can only purchase their books from the Waterstones concession at YALC – not directly from any of the publishers present, however the stock carried at WS is from one of their stores nearby the venue and they usually only bring the author’s most recent release and quite often only have standard editions so if you’re after getting a particular book/edition signed bring it with you! For example I wanted to get Sarah Underwood’s first book Lies We Sing to the Sea signed but didn’t have a copy (I already owned a signed copy of her most recent release) and wrongly assumed I could pick up LWSTTS at a publishers stand and then had nothing to get signed, similar for Lindsey Kelk which was even more surprising given how many books she has under her belt! On the plus side, you can use national book tokens and collect/use Waterstones stamps at their concession, I think they also had a double stamp deal when spending over a certain amount but can’t remember for sure.
ARCs
Ahhh the beloved treasure of book festivals! So most people go to YALC thinking it will be ARCs for everyone *confetti* therefore I can only say, be prepared for coming away empty handed unless you are super lucky. Several people I spoke to during the event said in previous years it was fairly easy to get multiple arcs as they were just handed out to people first come first served at the various stands and were surprised at changes, but basically it seems to be a lottery system.
In many cases that I witnessed just pure chaos – eg a publisher will hand out raffle tickets for the opportunity to win whatever book and say ‘be at XXXX stand at 2pm’ – however if you’re not there as they call your number (pretty sure I missed a few because I couldn’t remember or find the stand), they just move to the next one so having a ticket doesn’t guarantee a chance to win (so if you’re in an author signing queue or watching a talk, you generally need to make a choice). Also, I say chaos because when pulling the numbers several publishers would just have a hoard of people around them, whipping up excitement to the point where people couldn’t hear the numbers and other people couldn’t get through the aisles to other stuff. I’m sure it could be better organised in future (any publishers reading this, take note!). As a side note I spoke to someone last year who queued up for around 2 hours to meet an author as they were told that the publisher was holding a signing with arcs on a first come first served basis, then when the time came, someone else from the publisher changed their mind after seeing the queue and implemented, yes you’ve guessed it – another raffle system, just what you’d want after standing in a queue for the best part of an afternoon! I really felt for those people who got stiffed with that – again, publishers if you happen to be reading this, don’t do that to people!
I actually bought way more books than this as my YALC partner couldn’t make it last minute so I ended up buying books for 2 people which was almost double the amount of books, I think my suitcase still hasn’t forgiven me, I did snag a couple of tote bags (who doesn’t love a free tote!), stickers and a pin or two. I had to eat a tube of pringles in order to have somewhere safe to store a print – if you like buying art prints, take a tube!!
Edit:
One thing I forgot but I was reminded today as I saw someone say ‘cash is king’ about YALC – in my experience cash is not king, in fact cash is not even at the table in the palace. Someone also said this last year and I literally found one stall that was cash only and although I had some cash on me they didn’t have anything I wanted to buy, however – many stands were card payment only (including Apple / g-pay, if you’re coming from abroad I’d ensure you have a chip n pin ready card), and as a business at an event like this you’d be really limiting your sales by being cash only.
If you think I’ve missed anything from this list let me know in the comments!
Culturenator 