This weekend I attended the Reader & Writer Get-Together that Lori Foster and Dianne Castell host every year in Cincinnati, Ohio. If you’ve thought about going but hesitated, let me give you ten reasons why you should go next year:
1. Readers and writers mingle in a casual, unstructured atmosphere. I think this promotes a lot of conversation and visiting.
2. If you are like me, you have plenty of books you want to give away but don’t know who’d appreciate used/gently loved books. The book exchange is the perfect answer.
3. Instant Friends! No, seriously, they are instant! At this event there are several fun women who are designated ‘instant friends’. If you attend and don’t know anyone, these women will gladly take you under their wings. I wish I took a picture of Joni (who’ve I met once before and she’s so much fun). Joni greeted me while I was waiting in the registration line and I immediately felt welcomed.
4. The event was held in the Cincinnati Marriott North and I really enjoyed my stay there. The staff was friendly and helpful and the hotel was clean and comfortable. Lori and Dianne truly found a wonderful location for the event.
5. The book fair was organized in a unique way. Barnes & Noble bookseller Linda Keller had the books available for purchase throughout Saturday. This allowed readers to buy the book at their leisure and they could approach the author for a signature at any time. No rush, no set times, and if you couldn’t find the author (or had spent most of the day chatting, ahem) you could find the author at the designated time during the public book signing.
6. The price at this event is definitely reasonable for many readers (and you can then blow your budget on the books!! Just kidding. Or not.) And this event gives you a lot of bang for your buck.
7. How often do you get to have breakfast or dinner with some of your favorite authors? These meals are a great way to get to know more about authors and fellow readers. And the groups that go to these meals off-site aren’t that large, allowing you plenty of opportunity to talk at length.
8. I enjoyed listening to Michelle from Romance B(u)y the Book and Barbara Vey from Publisher’s Weekly. I wanted to know their opinion about the blogosphere just as much as they wanted to know what we thought about the online romance community.
9. I didn’t attend any of the publishers or agent workshops, nor did I do any story pitches, but this chance was available for those who are working toward publication and representation. They had publishers talk about their companies and what kind of manuscripts they were looking for.
Lori and Dianne also invited Sue Grimshaw of Borders Group and Sheila Clover of COS Productions. They talked about the business and author promotion.
And (of course) we wanted to know what Michelle, Barbara, Sue and Sheila had been reading lately because they get advance copies of upcoming releases. We needed to know what to keep an eye out for!
10. There were many, many raffle baskets and door prizes. A lot of people won wonderful gifts and a few won multiple baskets! But more important, all the money raised went to charities such as The Animal Adoption Foundation and The Conductive Learning Center of Greater Cincinnati. That’s not including the continued fundraising to send care packages to the troops and the charity anthology by Lori Foster and friends, with proceeds going to the Battered Women’s Shelter.
Whew! These romance readers sure know how to give, how to share what they know, and how to have fun!
