Romance Book of the Year finalists

The Romance Writers of Australia has announced the finalists for this year’s R*BY Awards:

Short Sweet
Claire Baxter — The Single Dad’s Patchwork Family
Melissa James — A Mother in a Million
Marion Lennox — His Island Bride
Fiona McArthur — The Midwife’s Baby

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Novel Idea Book Vending Machine

Book vending machines come to Australia

Earlier this week, the Novel Idea Vending launched its first book vending machine at Circular Quay. According to Franchising magazine, Booktopia and Dymocks have expressed interest in the concept. According to the article: “Typical outlets for the purpose built vending machines which offer a range of bestselling paperbacks, packed in presentation boxes, are likely to include airports, colleges, schools, hospitals, hotels and military bases” and selling an average of 8 books a day is enough to make the business viable.

Romance Writers of Australia website revamp

RWA launched its new look website on April 1. Go check it out. It has a much more elegant, more contemporary feel than the old one. I wish they had a media mailing list or RSS feed for press releases. It would make it much easier to find new info.

Booktopia does romance

Online bookseller Booktopia now has a dedicated newsletter for romance readers. (more)

This is a round-up of ARRC09 and is not in chronological order. If you want to read more anecdotes, check out the liveblog. Click here for a list of ARRC09 posts and liveblogs .

Gala dinner

I wasn’t sure what to expect at the gala dinner, but there had been some discussion in the ARRC Lounge as to what people were wearing. Opting for a little black dress, I arrived just as the entrees were being taken away. Oh, well. I didn’t have much time to nibble, anyway, because as soon as I sat down I was immersed in book conversations left, right and centre.

I was seated with Vassiliki, my librarian and my fellow blogger Marg from Reading Adventures. Also at our table were authors Jess Dee and Lexxie Couper, two readers from Sydney, one from Malaysia, and another lady who was too far away for me to have a proper conversation with. Obviously, we mostly talked about books. I was seated next to an erotic romance reader, so I asked her for recs. I think she said Anya Bast, and possibly a few others that I can now no longer remember. (more)

This is a round-up of ARRC09 and is not in chronological order. If you want to read more anecdotes, check out the liveblog. Click here for a list of ARRC09 posts and liveblogs .

I’d love to say that ARRC09 started off with a bang, but true to form, I had barely brushed my teeth when Maggie Nash made her welcome address. I had hoped that Wandergurl would be there–particularly since we were supposed to be liveblogging the event–but she sent me an SMS to say that she registered then went back to bed. We are not morning people. Wandergurl did catch the tail end of MaryJanice Davidson’s keynote speech and said that she was funny.

What do academics really think about romance fiction?

I was eager to hear the panel discussion on what academics think about romance, but I only caught the tail end of the Q&A. The panel included Karen Simpson Nikakis, author of the Kira Chronicles and Head of Program of NMIT’s new Bachelor of Writing and Publishing degree. (more)

ARRC update

If you’ve registered for the Australian Romance Readers Convention, don’t forget to vote for your favourite reader review (hopefully you’ll like the review of Claiming the Courtesan in the fifth round *g*). You can read the entries here, and voting ends tomorrow.

The ARRC website has a guest blog for authors supporting the convention. It seems everyone is jealous of our summer. All I can say is that I hope nothing happens to the air conditioning that weekend!

Check out the Melbourne Leader article on the convention: Romantics converge in Melbourne for novel convention. This time next week, we’ll be in Melbourne! *happy dance*

Book events

The National Library of Australia in Canberra is holding a speed dating night for book lovers on Friday, February 20. You’re invited to bring your favourite book to use as an ice breaker and meet other book lovers. The event is open to all book lovers—not just singles. (more)