Conferences

Here are some more tidbits, observations, and thoughts from the RT Booklovers Convention:

Bloggers: One thing I thought was interesting was that authors weren’t the only ones giving stuff away on promotion lane this year. I noticed that several bloggers had set out business cards and other goodies, like the ones shown here by Literary Escapism, Paperback Dolls, and Larissa’s Bookish Life. Blogging is a full-time job, just like writing a book is. I can’t even imagine how many review requests a blogger gets in a month, and I applaud them all for working so hard and doing so many reviews, giveaways, and other events. At the end of the day, we’re all trying to get the word out about books we love.

E-publishing: There was a lot of talk about e-publishing, and I went to a couple of the e-pub panels, which I thought were interesting. I got the same message from a couple of the panels: that covers are important, along with producing a quality story, just like in traditional publishing.

Everyone touts e-publishing as the next big thing, but really, it’s just like traditional publishing. Let me say that again: e-publishing is just like traditional publishing. Some people will be wildly successful, some folks will do okay, and some folks won’t sell enough copies to make back the money they invested in publishing their e-book. I did hear some folks advising people to be careful about scams, which I thought was good advice. Be careful with your money and your time. Do your homework and figure out what’s best for you and what you can afford to do. Really, that applies to whatever you do, not just publishing.

Also, I thought it was interesting that some of the e-pub authors talked about making deals with Amazon, etc. to have their books on exclusive platforms, or exclusive for a set amount of time, and things like that. But if e-publishing is so great and you can make so much money doing it yourself, then why are authors making these kinds of deals? I think part of the answer is because they need a platform to sell their e-books, just like print authors need publishers to print their books and get them into stores. It’s all about getting the word out about your book, whether it’s an e-book or print book.

Print books: Also, there was a lot of talk about print books and whether or not they are dead. Well, you know what? During the book fair, folks were carrying around print books — not e-books. Yes, a lot of folks had e-readers, and I signed several e-readers and e-reader covers, but people still wanted signed, print books, which I thought was cool.

I do think publishers need to figure out how to best marry print and e-books, and how to produce print books more quickly and efficiently, but I think print books are a long way from being dead.

Best moment: One of my best moments was when Spider’s Revenge won the award for Best Urban Fantasy novel. It really was an honor just to be nominated. Like I said before, I don’t remember much of my awards speech, but I just want to say thanks to my friends, my family, everyone who worked on the book, everyone who helped get the word out about the series, and all the readers. I write books to entertain folks, and it’s wonderful to be recognized for that.

Most embarrassing moment: I went to a YA Speed Reading panel where authors were supposed to read from their books — only I didn’t have a copy of any of my books. I thought there would be some copies at the panel, but I was wrong. Also, I don’t have a smart phone or an e-reader so there was no way for me to look up one of my books online and read from that.

Panic time.

So I sat there while the other authors were reading and furiously scribbled down some lines from the books that I remembered, like the first lines and a couple of other teasers. I got up and read those, along with the back cover copy for Touch of Frost (which I got off the back of one of the bookmarks I had with me). But folks seemed to like the little snippets and teasers, so I think I did okay. Anyway, next time, I will remember to at least bring something with me to read. LOL.

And that’s a wrap: And that was my conference. I had a lot of fun, and I hope to attend many more RTs in the future. If you went to RT, what were some of the highlights for you?

Part of my summer break was attending the annual Romance Writers of America conference in New York on June 28-July 1. I always love going to the national conference. There’s just something so inspiring about being surrounded by so many other writers, readers, bloggers, and just folks who love books. Going to nationals always makes me want to go home and immediately start writing something new.

There will be tons of wrap-up posts about the conference in the next week or so, so I thought I would add mine to the mix. I think I’ll also do a post about what I learned. But to start off, here’s a brief day-by-day recap of my conference:

MONDAY

This was mostly a travel day for me and Wheezley, my significant other, although I did meet with Annelise, my agent, that evening. I asked her the question that I always do whenever I see her at a conference: What are editors looking for these days? What seems to be selling right now? She says editors are interested in paranormal, YA, and Amish romances (who knew?). So anyway, there’s a tidbit for all the writers out there.

TUESDAY

I had a breakfast meeting with Alicia, my YA editor, and Alex, the digital/social media editor for my YA publisher, Kensington. We had a really nice breakfast getting to know each other and talking about Touch of Frost. I’m looking forward to the YA blog tour that the folks at Kensington have set up for me and just getting the word out about the book. We also talked a lot about social media and how important it’s become to promoting books these days.

After breakfast, Wheezley and I spent most of the day just walking around the Times Square area and hitting some of the touristy shops, like the M&Ms and Hershey stores. And yes, they smell like chocolate inside. LOL.

Then, of course, the annual literacy signing was that night. Oh, boy. If you’ve never been to the signing, you should go if it’s ever in a city close to you. Basically, it’s about 500 authors in a ballroom signing and talking about books for two hours. It’s hot, it’s loud, and it’s crowded, but it’s also a really fun time. Check out this video from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

A lot of folks came by my table to chat or just say hi, which was really nice, and I loved putting faces with names of everyone that I’ve chatted with online. One lady also asked me for spoilers about the Elemental Assassin series, which was really flattering. (And no, I can’t give out any spoilers about the series beyond what’s on the back cover copy of the books.)

Someone told me that people started lining up for the literacy signing at 2:30 p.m. that afternoon (the signing didn’t start until 5:30). Someone else told me they started lining up at 11:30 that morning. The RWA volunteers came around about 7 p.m. and asked if we could stay longer since there were still about 400 people waiting in line (the signing was supposed to end at 7:30). That amazed me. I stayed until about 8 p.m., when it seemed like things were winding down. Anyway, it was great to be around so many folks who love books. Here’s a view of the craziness that was the literacy signing:

WEDNESDAY

This was my busiest day with four events. The first thing that I did was walk over to the Simon & Schuster offices (the Pocket imprint publishes my Elemental Assassin series) to do a taping with three other urban fantasy authors: Jenna Black, Seressia Glass, and Allison Pang. Basically, we smiled into the camera and talked about why we like urban fantasy. It was a little nerve-wracking, but it was great getting to meet and chat with the other authors, who were all super cool. I’m not sure when the video will get posted, but I’ll link to it when it goes up. Here’s a photo of the Simon & Schuster building:

After that, I got to meet some of the Pocket publicity folks, all of whom are really nice, and then I went to lunch with Megan, my editor. We talked about the revisions and cover art for By a Thread. I’ve seen the preliminary cover for the book, and it’s just as awesome as the others in the series. I hope to share it soon, but all I can say at this point is that it’s green and Gin is in the swamp. How’s that for a teaser? 😉

Next up, I met with my YA editor again and another Kensington YA author, the very cool Erica O’Rourke, who’s YA book Torn just came out. We went over to the 96th Street branch of the New York Public Library to do a YA event. I had a lot of fun hanging out with my editor, Erica, the folks from her agency, and the other people who were there.

From the library, Erica, my editor, and I went straight to the Kensington cocktail party. It was interesting to see the offices, and there was a really cool ice sculpture shaped like a giant K for the party (I wish I’d thought to take a photo of it). Anyway, the party was fun, and it was great meeting all the folks at Kensington. And here’s a view of the books in my editor Alicia’s office. Notice the copies of Touch of Frost on the middle shelf:

THURSDAY

On Thursday morning, I hit some of the YA panels, where someone said that mermaids seem to be the next big trend in YA books and that dystopian books seem to be reaching the saturation point like vampire books. I’ll be interested to see if there are more mermaid books hitting shelves in the next year or so.

I also attended some of the publisher book signings and got tons of great books (for free!). I think I doubled my TBR pile in about an hour’s time. LOL. I’ll try to do a post when I get the books, which I had to get shipped home.

That afternoon, I did a taping for Romantic Times, talking mostly about the Mythos Academy series and a little about the Elemental Assassin series. It was really fun hanging out with the RT gals and Vida, my publicist at Kensington, especially when we started talking about desserts. Yum. Again, I’m not sure when the video will get posted, but I’ll link to it when it goes up.

After that, I went to the S&S cocktail party at a rooftop garden in Rockfeller Center, which was just gorgeous. Below is a photo of the party. Then, it was off to the Pocket authors dinner at a very nice steakhouse. I have never seen steaks that big before in my life. Seriously, they were like four inches tall. A good time was had by all.

FRIDAY

On Friday, I hit some more of the publisher book signings in the morning, then I did the Pocket book signing at noon, where I got to meet and sit next to the very cool YA author Jennifer Echols. I signed something like 50 copies of Tangled Threads in the space of about 30 minutes. Here’s a photo of my corner of the world at the Pocket signing:

That afternoon, I went to the PAN (Published Authors Network) panel about digitizing your backlist books and putting them up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. That was really informative (it could have easily been two hours long), and it’s something I’m in the process of doing with my three Bigtime books. I’ll be doing a post about that as I get farther along in the process.

Also, I did a workshop that afternoon: Writing Outside the Box — How to Create Unique Paranormal Characters. I think (sincerely hope) the workshop went okay, except for the fact that I only had 20 worksheets and more folks than that attended the event. You just never know how many folks will attend a workshop, and there was only so much I could pack in my suitcase. But the worksheet is also available on the RWA flash drive for those of you who went to the conference, and you can also view the worksheet online here. Basically, I went through my worksheet and let folks ask me questions about whatever they wanted to. We covered everything from world building to cover letters.

One lady came up to me after the workshop was over and said that I had given her the encouragement to write the story that she wanted to, so that was really nice. Anyway, I hope folks got some useful tips out of the workshop.

And finally, that night, it was time for the Golden Heart and Rita awards. I sat at a table with authors Michelle Diener and Liz Kreger that I know through author Edie Ramer (who unfortunately wasn’t at the conference) and Magical Musings. Here’s Michelle on the left and Liz on the right:

SATURDAY

Another travel day back home for me and Wheezley. It was good to get home and sleep in my own bed.

OVERALL

Overall, I had a great time at the conference. I met a lot of folks, said hello to people I know online, and got to hang out with people who love books. What can be better than that? 😉