The 30th RT Booklovers Convention

A couple weeks ago I attended the RT Booklovers convention, which celebrated its 30th year of existence. It was a grand party over the five days I was there, with parties every night, sometimes more than one, and seminars during the day. I met readers, fellow writers, a few publishing professionals, and basically had a great time.

Every year I go to this convention I ask myself: "Is it really worth the money?"

The cost isn't cheap. Between the the hotel, travel expenses, the convention fee, the promotional items I bought and gave away, not to mention my meals, I spent a lot of money. Will I make that up in extra sales? Hard to say, but I think it's unlikely. I did raise awareness of my brand and my books, and I did find some information at the convention that will help me manage my writing career, as well as get the latest information on what industry professionals think. Every year I learn more about about how the business is going and get useful information.

But all that is not why I go to the convention. I go because I have a good time. After all, where else could I get away with something like this:

Yes that's me, wearing a safari outfit and carrying a toy elephant. The Samhain Safari was one of the parties and since my latest Gaian novel, Beloved Stranger is published with Samhain, I decided that when on safari it was important to bring your own elephant. Which is to say that I visited a local toy store and bought the cutest elephant I could find before the party, then decorated him with a flashing light on his trunk. One thing about it, if you carry around an elephant with a flashing light on his trunk, you will get attention. I talked to a lot of readers at the party who all said they liked "Blinky", my elephant.

And that is part of this convention, getting the attention of readers. Did it sell any more books? Maybe not but today I have a nice new elephant and a big smile remembering how much fun I had. Some days that can be enough.

Does anyone else have any convention stories?

Cheers,
Janet Miller
The second Gaian novel, Beloved Enemy - now on sale at Amazon, Nook, and Kobo.
See more at http://www.cricketstarr.com