RT

I tried to come up with something to talk about other than my recent experience going to a large book convention, but I quickly discovered that nothing else compares to it. I attended the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago. The flight to Pittsburgh went smoothly, but the shuttle from the airport to my hotel was less than fun considering I was dropped off in the middle of a construction zone and had to walk through it toting way too heavy suitcases. Promo alley was amazing. This was literally tables upon tables filled with free author promo stuff for the taking. I have a huge duffle bag stuffed full of bookmarks, postcards, and CDs, which I still need to go through. I have a list of e-books I want to order which would wear down the numbers on my credit card.

Wednesday’s RT was spent with me playing stalker…er, fangirl. I met Lisa Jackson, Jade Lee, Marjorie M. Liu, Colleen Gleason and many others. Thursday I attended workshops all day. There was a particularly interesting one with a Harlequin editor, which unfortunately, I cannot remember her name, and Kate Duffy from Kensington. The general consensus was that historicals are not dead, that they’re making a larger than life come back with edgier plots and hotter sex.

Thursday night I went to the famous “Fairy Ball” dinner and dance. I did not dress up, but boy the costumes went from beautiful to the outrageous. I had the chance to sit with a table full of librarians, one from Boston, who said her trip was all expense paid by the library she worked for. Talk about your dream job! I learned so much about what criteria make them order books and the main one was cover then the back cover blurb, but they said cover was the ultimate deciding factor. All interesting stuff.

Friday it was more workshops, one on blogging, two more editor panels, another on e-book marketing which I learned I was already doing everything they suggested. I didn’t go to the famous Heather Graham “Vampire dinner” Friday night because I was completely worn out. A friend once told me large conventions were intense, and I never really understood what that meant. By Friday, I knew.

Thanks for reading!

~ Nancy
http://www.nancyhenderson.com
http://www.nancyhenderson.blogspot.com