Some highlights from the 2013 Australian Romance Readers Covention (The Mercure, Brisbane — March 1 to 3, 2013).
I apologise for not posting detailed recaps of the Australian Romance Readers Convention in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago. Allison (Decadence), Jen and I attended the event, but we did so as readers first and bloggers maybe second or third—we all wore different hats over the course of the weekend—so I haven’t wanted to put pressure on us to record the event. (You’ll notice that even our tweets weren’t as extensive as they’ve been in previous ARRCs.)
Nevertheless, I know many readers who wanted to come along to ARRC but were unable to do so, and I wanted to share some of the highlights of the weekend with you. Bear in mind that I didn’t go to all the panels and keynotes, so I’m using my Storify stream to fill in some of those blanks. If you’re after a panel-by-panel recap, check the next issue of the ARRA newsletter. I believe a few of the sessions were recorded, so you can also email ARRA to check if they’re releasing an audio CD.
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I’ve compiled the tweets from ARRC 2013 on Storify. If you can’t see the embedded thread below, you can go directly to Storify to view the tweets.
These are mostly chronological order (oldest tweets first), but where a side conversation develops, I’ve tried to keep the tweets together. Let me know if something doesn’t make sense.
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Photo by Kat Mayo
In which everyone played a game called Have A Drink Each Time Anna Campbell Accepts An Award…and everyone ended up drunk.
This year’s Australian Romance Reader Awards was dominated by historical romance author Anna Campbell, who took home the award for Favourite Australian Author, which she has won since 2010*. Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed won Favourite Historical Romance, a category in which Campbell has never lost. She also won all three minor awards for Favourite Meeting Between Hero and Heroine, Favourite Love Scene, and Favourite Cover. Since 2010*, she has not lost an award for she has been nominated.
Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series was awarded Favourite Continuing Series. Singh remains undefeated in this category since it was first awarded in 2010*.
The biggest upset of the night was in the Favourite Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Futuristic Romance, which was awarded to Kylie Griffin for Alliance Forged (accepted by Anna Campbell) and breaks Nalini Singh’s three-year run in this category. In a similar vein, Kaz Delaney won Favourite Paranormal Romance for Dead, Actually (accepted by Paula Roe), beating an impressive list of finalists, including J. R. Ward, Nalini Singh and Kresley Cole. Favourite Erotic Romance went to the only non-Australian winner of the night, Sylvia Day, for Bared to You (accepted by ARRA).
Two categories featured all-Australian finalists. The Favourite Short Category Award went to Kelly Hunter for Cracking the Dating Code, despite three other authors being twice-nominated in category. Rachael Johns won Favourite Contemporary Romance for Jilted and gave a somewhat teary but very gracious acceptance speech.
Bronwyn Parry also gave an emotional speech when she accepted the award for Favourite Romantic Suspense for Dead Heat. She previously won this award in 2010* and this year beat Nora Roberts, who was nominated three times (twice as J. D. Robb) in the same category.
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I haven’t been keeping up with the news posts—in my defence, we’ve been doing pretty well with reviews this year…so far—but I have some exciting new projects that I just have to share with you guys. So here they are: the sekrit projects!
Romance Buzz
The lovely Kate Cuthbert is stepping down as editor of Booktopia’s Romance Buzz, and they have asked me to take on the role. I am so chuffed! This means I get to choose upcoming books to highlight and talk about. I also get to call myself Booktopia’s Queen of Romance, so I may have to go out and buy a pink boa and a sparkly tiara as befits my new station. Our joint issue went up last week. You can read it here.
ARRC panel
At ARRC in Brisbane, I’ll be moderating the Romance Hour (concurrent session 1D) with some fabulous authors: Kristan Higgins, Hope Tarr, Keri Arthur and Anne Gracie. If that doesn’t float your boat, Decadence will be moderating Angels and dragons and banshees, oh my! (concurrent session 1A). It kind of sucks that we’re on at the same time, but hopefully the sessions will be recorded, because omg, Rachel Vincent, Shona Husk, Nalini Singh and MJ Scott!
RWA conference panel
This year, I’ll be doing more than just going to the RWA conference parties—I’ll be participating in a panel! Kate Cuthbert, Sarah Wendell (Smart Bitches, Trashy Books) and I will be running a panel called Navigating the Choppy Waters of Online Reviews. Here’s the blurb:
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BOOKMARKED is the name we gave to our paper.li journal, but since not everyone is on Twitter and not everyone on Twitter likes paper.li, we also run an adhoc compilation of links on the blog to highlight links and news that might be of interest.
ARRC13 reader registration is open
Early-bird registration is now open for readers going to the Australian Romance Readers Convention in Brisbane next year. The event runs from March 1 to March 3 at The Mercure. You can find more details and a link to the registration form at the ARRA blog. Guys, you HAVE to come along! Keynote speakers are Kristan Higgins, Anne Gracie and Rachel Vincent.
Lady Jane Salon at ARRC13
And in related news, New York-based Lady Jane Salon, a monthly romance fiction reading event, will be held overseas for the first time when it comes to ARRC13. The event is open to everyone who has a ticket to the ARRC13 welcome reception. Here’s a teaser from the ARRA blog:
Modeled in spirit on the literary salons of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Lady Jane’s provides guest authors, patrons, industry professionals and members of the media the opportunity to meet, mingle, read aloud, and discuss great romance reads in a free-flowing forum. At Lady Jane’s, we don’t have ‘Q&As’, we have conversations. We don’t have coffee, we have cocktails, or ‘mocktails’ as our guests prefer. The Salon takes place in the evening at a wine bar, lounge, or coffee house and typically includes four guest authors and a break to allow attendees to chat with authors.
Australian Romance Readers Survey
If you haven’t already done so, I’d urge you to fill in the annual ARRA survey. The survey aims to collect some statistics about our reading habits. The survey closes October 18. Note: Australian readers only, please.
Has Fifty Shades of Grey changed your life?
If so, I was contacted by the TV show Can of Worms last week. They’re looking for personal stories and opinions from readers about the book, its characters and themes.
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Yes, it’s the event we’ve all been waiting for—ARRC 2013 registration is now open to readers.
You can find a link to the ARRC 2013 brochure and registration at the ARRA blog. The event will be held at The Mercure, Brisbane from March 1 to March 3. The keynote speakers will be Kristan Higgins, Anne Gracie and Rachel Vincent.
Registration rates
Early-bird — $214/$234
From November onwards — $244/$264
Day rate — $144
Book signing only — $7.50/$10
* Day and book signing only registration will be available in November.
Social functions
Welcome reception — $39/$63
Awards dinner — $58/$92
The cheaper rate doesn’t include drinks.
Have you registered yet? Which events and speakers are you most excited about?
2011 Get Reading! campaign launched
The Get Reading! campaign was launched this week, and the list of 50 Books You Can’t Put Down seems to be causing angst among local booksellers and publishers, many of whom believe that the list includes too many overseas titles. (It would be nice if they updated the website to coincide with the launch so I could include a link!)
Good news for readers who love outback romance. North Star by Karly Lane is included in the list and I believe it has romantic elements. (Lane was a panelist ARRC and is a member of RWAus.) Did I miss any other romance titles?
The list includes I Came To Say Goodbye by Caroline Overington, which I reviewed a few days ago. Also of interest are The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Passion by Lauren Kate and book six of the Vampire Academy series, Last Sacrifice, by Richelle Mead. These teen/YA titles are popular among romance reading circles.
This year the free anthology, which you can get when you buy one of the books on the list, will be available as an ebook.
ARRC 2011 posts
We at Book Thingo have been very slack about posting our summaries. They’re still works in progress at this stage, but they will be posted. One day. In the meantime, here’s a round-up of the ARRC 2011 posts by other attendees. If I missed yours, please let me know!
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You can find the full archive of the #arrc2011 tweets at What the Hashtag?! but if you’re after the live tweets from the author sessions and convention events, here’s an excerpt from Friday to Sunday.
These are in chronological order (oldest tweets first), but I’ve had to strip out the dates and times because WTH uses Pacific time and doesn’t match the time at ARRC. Let me know if something doesn’t make sense. (I was going to format this more prettily, but…it’s long!)
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Demonstrating a distinct local bias, Australian romance readers awarded their favourite authors at a the Australian Romance Readers Convention on Saturday night.
For the second year in a row, historical author Anna Campbell won the award for Favourite Australian Author. Campbell also picked up the award for Favourite Historical Romance—which might as well be called the Anna Campbell Award because she’s won it every year since the awards began—for her latest book, My Reckless Surrender. Campbell is published by Avon/HarperCollins and was one of the keynote speakers at the convention.
New Zealand author Nalini Singh picked up three awards. Singh won Favourite Paranormal Romance with Bonds of Justice, part of her Psy-Changeling series. The series, set in a future featuring humans, psychics and changelings, also won the award for Favourite Continuing Romance Series. Her urban fantasy book, Archangel’s Consort, the latest book in her Guild Hunter series, won the award for Favourite Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy or Futuristic Romance. Singh is published by Gollancz/Hachette in Australia.
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To follow the live tweets from ARRC, search for #arrc2011 on Twitter, or check the transcript at What The Hashtag. You can find all the ARRC-related posts on Book Thingo here.
The Australian Romance Readers Convention started off with an intimate gathering of readers and authors at the Swiss-Grand, Bondi Beach. The Swiss-Grand is a 4.5-star hotel across the road from Bondi Beach. It’s tucked into a side street so there are no noisy crowds spilling over from the mains strip along the water. The rooms are really small suites with a small lounge area.
As expected, it was a much smaller crowd than the one we saw in Melbourne in 2009. The upside to this was that it way easier to chat! By the end of the night, people were having pockets of conversation in small groups. There was a larger crowd sitting outside, and I think it’s where many of the authors were.
A couple of people have reported a Kiss of Snow ARC sighting. But apparently it’s now locked in a safe. So close and yet so faaaaar!
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