Australian Romance Readers Association Book Signing 2020

By Jayne Kingsley

Last August—post Romance Writers of Australia conference when I was all inspired with my bucket filled to the brim—I took the plunge and filled in an expression of interest form to do my first book signing. A wonderful and jolly good idea when one has a glass of champagne in hand and no real commitment on the table. But with that gusto in mind, I was thrilled when I was emailed my acceptance and officially committed myself to the ARR20 Sydney and Melbourne signings.

As life goes, I kept writing, did bits and bobs towards organising myself for what I thought I might need at a signing and tried to keep the anxiety that kept creeping up on me at bay. A room full of romance readers? I mean how scary could that concept be … really?

 

Image courtesy of Giphy.com

Regrettably I had to pull out of the Melbourne signing due to family commitments but on Saturday the 7^th March, I jumped on a train and sped north into the glorious depths of Sydney and dived headfirst into my first ever book signing event.

It was absolutely amazing. Inspiring. Thrilling!

Was I still nervous? You betcha! I was a discombobulated ball of sweat as the time drew closer. But with my writing buddy sitting beside me, I knew I was in good company. I have made new author friends, saw some familiar faces and met loads of lovely new readers. One popped past to tell me she’d read my book just the prior night and loved it. Talk about walking on cloud nine!

Book Signing Table ARR20 Sydney with Megan Mayfair

The ladies who run the ARRA event are organised, delightful and all-around superstars in my mind!

In addition to the book signing, I attended the awards dinner the night before along with loads of other wonderful authors and readers. I was thrilled to have been nominated for three different awards and whilst I’d never imagined I’d win any, I was delighted (okay – I was literally in shock) when my book, Loving Lucas, was awarded the ARRA Favourite short or category romance 2019. Author dreams made.

My very pretty trophy and award winning book :)

I *may* have ended up buying more books than I sold at the signing, but I can honestly say it was the most wonderful experience and I’d highly recommend it. I’ve come away feeling proud of myself for overcoming my introvert tendencies, have made new friends, won an award and increased my TBR pile. What’s not to love about that!

How about you? Have you ever been to a book signing as an author or reader? I’d love to hear about it!

Love to Love Hanging out with my fellow writing buddies. 

Love to Laugh At the crazed toilet paper shortage. 

Love to Learn About other authors and their journeys to where they are today. 

How Easy is it to Add to Your 'To Be Read' Pile?

Miranda's May Musings

Hello beautiful readers, welcome! I have a very serious question to ask this month: how big is your To Be Read pile? Ha, stop laughing... Is it like mine? Enormous? Even if I live to be eleventy billion years old I'll never finish. Such a thrilling dilemma.

Today fellow BITB blogger Alyssa J Montgomery and I went to a wonderful High Tea run by the Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA), and it was divine. Held in a beautiful boutique hotel in Sydney, there were three tables, each hosted by an author: Kandy Shepherd, Shannon Curtis, and my table's lovely hostess Avril Tremayne.

You know where this is going, don't you? Yes, more books! I don't care that I've got a trillion books at home (slight exaggeration only). I staggered home full of tea, scones, sandwiches and cake, with a bag of free books and divine swag (unicorn pen! tiara! chocolates!) from Avril. So now, deliciously, these books are on my TBR:

                   

Photo credits: amazon.com

Here Comes the Bridesmaid is a beautiful hardback (isn't the cover sumptuously bridesmaid-y pink? I adore it!), and of course both books are signed by Avril. Swoon. Thankyou, Avril, thankyou.

...But wait, there's more. Our recent guest blogger Melanie Milburne was also at my table (read her recent column here). Congratulations Melanie on your 75th book (wow!). These are now on my TBR:

                     

                      Photo credit: amazon.com

Photo credit: amazon.com

Somehow or other I missed getting a book from Kandy Shepherd. I love her sweet romances, they are gorgeous to read, and Kandy is the nicest person to meet and chat to. So I've pre-ordered her latest, which sounds right up my alley and has a divine wedding pic on the cover. I love it already.

Photo credit: amazon.com

I did get this book from Shannon Curtis, quite outside my normal genre picks, which will be interesting to read. Shannon suggested I read Lycan Unleashed first, to get the gist of the world building. Alrighty then.

Photo credit: amazon.com

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand there was more: some books by Penny Reid in the Knitting in the City series. And so many others to choose from - I honestly couldn't carry them all home, such a tragedy. Everyone staggered out from that High Tea with happy tummies and books spilling out of their arms, adding to their TBRs with gay abandon. Alyssa's bag was just as heavy as mine.

It is so, so, SO easy to add to the TBR, isn't it? Life is sweet! ...I'm off to read.

Until next time, my friends,

Love from Miranda xxx

Love to Love:

Free books! High teas! Meeting new authors and old friends! Thankyou ARRA.

Love to Laugh:

...at how dead easy it is to add to one's mountainous TBR. Awesome.

Love to Learn:

Has something fabulously wonderful like this happened to you? Free signed books poured your way? Or are you disciplined (unlike moi) and finish your TBR before you add more? (But seriously, does such a person even exist?!) 

Miranda's May Musings

How Do You Choose What To Read Next?

Part Two!

Miranda is currently overseas. She hopes to reply to any comments but may not be able to (internet access being difficult at times). Meanwhile, she sends all her lovely regular readers her very best regards, and hopes you enjoy these suggestions for some great Book Review Blogs. 

Darlings, if browsing bookstores or having romance author friends isn't doing it for you with reading recommendations, where next to turn?

Dear reader friends, look at book blogs! I do recognise the irony of writing this on a blog - but hey, it works for me. I get heaps of book blogs handily funnelled into my email. Sometimes, particularly on the first couple of days of the month, I get severe reader envy... You've read all that? In ONE month? You know about all these others? But I am (usually) fairly adult about this reading jealous-ness and move on to peruse the book lists. Which is how I discovered Sally Thorne's The Hating Game after about five billion people recommended it - and having read it, decided it was going to be 'my' pick on The Breathless List which you can see again here:

Picture Credit: www.amazon.com

Which book blogs, you ask? If I wrote them all down you'd be still reading this next week, so let me give you a few examples and you can surf in and check them out. First, I have to give a big shout out to the Australian Romance Readers blog here. You are one click away from romance book paradise. So many authors, so little time! If you are also a writer, look no further than the Romance Writers of Australia blog. A lot of Aussie romance authors also contribute to blogs with colleagues overseas, and the links are on their websites. Let your fingers do the walking.

Romance blogs that feature highly on my read list:

All About Romance. I think I've been reading this since - er, maybe (whispers) the 90's.
RT (Romantic Times) Book Reviews. I also subscribe to their online magazine, and have since (whispers) the 90's. All the hot goss, all the reviews, every month, and the blog more often. I usually want to read everything they top star, so have to whittle it down to a few hundred or so (heh)...
Booktopia's romance blog. Love the Nine Naughty Questions they ask authors, and love the info and new romance releases they feature.
Amazon romance editors get to pick the Best of the Month, and this link also takes you to romance best sellers for the month. Once you get started you'll discover a very pleasant hour - or two or three - has passed.

Picture Credit: Picjumbo

Last but certainly not least, and these are a blast, I *must* mention the entertaining:

Heroes and Heartbreakers, and
Smart Bitches Trashy Books, which I love and adore and giggle over.

Both lead to endless - I repeat, ENDLESS covetous book thoughts from me, plus much amusement at their fun reviews and hilarious comments. It's so easy to get their newsletters and blogs straight into your inbox, or streamed. I highly recommend them both.

Phew! Enough information for now. Now go, get started.

And do share, what reading blogs are in your Top 5?

Love from Miranda xxx

Love to love:     reading romance book blogs. No brainer, really.

Love to laugh:  at some of the snarky comment on the above, especially when I agree.

Love to learn:   about more book blogs. Share your faves with me. Please?

Miranda's March Musings About ARRC17

Hello darlings, and I am so thankful for this cooler weather. Didn't you just die in all that heat we had over summer? But I did venture forth over the last weekend in February, to the fabulous Australian Romance Readers Convention 2017.

It was held in blissful comfort at Rydges Melbourne Hotel. Lovely room, super comfy bed (like sleeping on a cloud), great food, excellent company and just so! much! fun! After the Canberra ARRC15, when I drove home with a smile on my face and a car boot full of books and goodies, this time I took two 3kg post bags to post my loot home. And wow, wasn't that a good idea. All the freebies and prize books arrived at my place just a few days later without me having to lug them onto the plane. Fantastic, thanks so much ARRC17.

We kicked the weekend off with a High Tea at Zumbo Cafe, in Richmond. Oh. My. Goodness. This wasn't your traditional High Tea with the gorgeous triple decker plate packed with goodies. This was plate after plate of the most unconventional, unusual, delicious food ever. It looked like works of art and tasted even better. I thought we were going to roll out on a sugar high, but I suspect the food was naturally sweetened with fruit and yogurt and other such yummies. The savoury food was also amazing.

Fuelled by the High Tea and then welcome drinks in the evening, my Trivia table went on to win the Trivia Night. To be fair, not many of us knew the answers (I know you're shocked by that) and at one stage we were actually coming last, then the plucky Maggie Nash acted out a magical charade we guessed correctly, and bingo! we were in the lead. Our prize? Books, of course. And chocolates. By that stage most of us had eaten our body weight in popcorn and ice cream sundaes, so nobody really minded who won or who lost, it was such a great night. 

Then followed a weekend of bliss: talking books, laughing a lot, reading books, meeting authors and other readers - is there anything nicer? The Awards Night was star-studded and sparkling with bling (with a dazzling Bling-Off Competition, aha). Congratulations to all the award nominees, what fabulous books you gave us. Below is a sample of one of the awards - won by the very lovely Anne Gracie (who blogged for us just two weeks ago here), and who scooped the pool for several awards.



Photo credit: Helen Constan & ARRC17



The weekend finished with a lovely lunch cruise from Melbourne Docklands. Such a relaxing and pleasant way to enjoy excellent views and commentary from our very novel 'Tramboat' operators, a nice lunch, and time to cement new friendships.

I cannot imagine what work goes into planning such a weekend. All I can say, fervently, is thank you Australian Romance Readers Association, for a brilliant, wonderful convention. I was in reader heaven, and I look forward to your next fabulous event. Why don't you join me?

What's been your best 'booky' event?

Love from Miranda xx

Love to Love:    Weekends away, talking about books, books, books.

Love to Laugh:  With friends at Trivia, not having a clue about answers but making them up.

Love to Learn:   About new authors, which I certainly did at AARC17.

Romance Readers Unite!

with Debbie Phillips from ARRA

When we established the Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA) in 2007 we had just 17 members. Having all met online, we started the association to organise an event for Australian romance readers. Who better than romance readers and authors to put on an event that met our needs? We didn’t know if it would work—nor have any idea of how much work would be involved—but we decided to have a go.


ARRC09 in Melbourne was truly awesome! Along with the hard work of our committee members we had support from the amazing community of romance authors. A number of international guests—Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dianna Love, MaryJanice Davidson, Susan Grant, Liz Maverick—came to the event (at their own expense)—and we were delighted to welcome them as keynote speakers. Add in a host of our favourite local authors—such as Keri Arthur, Stephanie Laurens, Anna Campbell and Melanie Milburne—and we ended up with about 30 romance authors attending. There were speeches, panels, giveaways and a mass book-signing event—the first of its kind in Australia. And, of course, we held our inaugural awards. (australianromancereaders.com.au/2009.html) All in an environment that celebrated romance—where not one person sneered at another person’s choice of reading matter.

Inaugural Australian Romance Readers Convention

The huge success of that convention boosted our membership; by the end of 2009 we had over 150 members. We had also established a monthly newsletter, regular lunches in some cities, and we had started planning our first RWA/ARRA signing event. But in the meantime we had to consider what to do about our annual awards—they could hardly be annual if only held at our biennial convention.

People's Choice Awards 2013
Anna Campbell, Amy Andrews, M J Scott, Anne Gracie

Each year ARRA members nominate and vote in their very own awards. That’s right—not only do they vote for the winners, but all nominated titles are put forward by ARRA members. When the awards started in 2009 there were 5 categories. That later expanded to 9, with an additional 3 ‘fun’ Members’ Choice awards selected by members each year.


The second awards night was held in 2010 at the gorgeous Cello’s Restaurant in the Castlereagh Hotel, Sydney. Nalini Singh was our dinner speaker (and scooped up a good portion of the awards). We have also been back to Cello’s for the awards dinner in 2012 and 2014.

Shannon Curtis (top), Kat Mayo

The next awards dinner will be held on 19 March, once again at Cello’s restaurant, with Shannon Curtis as MC and guest speaker Kat Mayo from Book Thingo. If you haven't got your ticket yet, follow the link:
australianromancereaders.wordpress.com/2016/01/16/awards-dinner-tickets-on-sale-3/


But in amongst all that we have been doing a lot of other things too. We’ve held three more romance reader conventions
2011 in Sydney http://australianromancereaders.com.au/2011.html
2013 in Brisbane http://australianromancereaders.com.au/2013.html
2015 in Canberra http://australianromancereaders.com.au/2015.html


And we’ve had some phenomenal keynote speakers—Cindy Gerard, Anna Campbell, Nalini Singh, Kristan Higgins, Rachel Vincent, Anne Gracie, Sylvia Day, Helene Young, Kelley Armstrong and Victoria Dahl.




Book Signing Event 2015

We’ve held 9 group book-signing events with as many as 90 authors attending, some held in conjunction with our convention, and others in conjunction with the RWA conference. We’ve held special reader events in Sydney and Melbourne with Julia Quinn, Sylvia Day, Maya Banks and Nalini Singh.








Today our membership has just passed 370 members. So we’re making progress reaching readers. But we are constantly looking for new ways to find and engage with romance readers. Our plan is pretty simple: more events, more promo, more competitions, more engagement.

Regency Fashion Parade 2015

Would you enjoy the opportunity to discuss romance books with other romance readers who ‘get it’? Why not come and join the Australian Romance Readers Association?

You can find us at www.ireadromance.com.au. Or chat with us on our Facebook group or Twitter.


We love to love ... romance books!


We love to laugh ... while reading romance books!


We love to learn ... about new romance authors!