Whew! What an exhausting and wonderful weekend! There were so many great things I enjoyed about the SoCal RWA Conference. First, of course, is spending time with a bunch of other romance writers talking shop and sharing ideas. That always feels like a good use of time. 🙂
The surprising thing for me was that for the first time, I batted 1000 when it came to workshops. There was at least one thing in every workshop that I needed to take home and use right away. I almost wasn't able to say that because one workshop was definitely for newbies but it didn't say that in the description. I was bored but kept my friendly interested face in place out of respect for the speaker. Then the very last sentence this speaker uttered, I thought, oh my gosh, I completely needed that! The last sentence – LOL!!
Of course, the most exciting part for me was Sunday, my first public book signing! Woo-hooo! It was good that it was small-ish so I could see if I'd prepared properly. Some things were awesome – like my Square Reader on my iPhone for taking credit cards. Quick, easy, and the money was in my bank account the next day. Wow!
Other things I figured I'll have to make a change. I had the two anthologies on the table to show more books you could purchase with my stories in them, but I didn't have copies for sale. Plus I had a pile of four-color flyers showing covers for the three books available, the book cover for Unexpected Superhero that's coming out next month, and a coupon for buying an ebook of Little Miss Lovesick at a reduced conference price. But all of those things altogether took up a lot of table space.
For the next conference, I'm taking an idea from Barbara Vey with Publisher's Weekly who mentioned that Dianna Love created Keeper Kase Cards. She made 4×6 postcards with the book cover on one side, and on the other side a short blurb with a big blank space. Then people who buy digital books can get her autograph on the postcard and keep all their postcards in a kind of autograph book.
Even though this conference was trying to “go green” by having the least amount of paper products, readers were asking for a bookmark or postcard. So I'll create postcards for each book. That will save space on the table, and I can offer them to my readers who buy ebooks. I'll let you know when I have them ready. 🙂
Here's a look at the conference through pictures. Enjoy!
![I stalked author Christie Craig, who is also YA author C.C. Hunter, throughout the conference. Thank goodness she didn't mind!](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_0723-224x300.jpg)
![I bought a shirt to show off Little Miss Lovesick. On the front it says, Listen to Your Voices.](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_0730-224x300.jpg)
![And on the back is the book cover. Fun!](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_0734-224x300.jpg)
![Barbara Vey from Publisher's Weekly and me. She is nice, nice, nice!](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_0738-300x224.jpg)
![Me and my friend, author Elise Scott, who is also in the Romancing the Pages anthology with me.](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2201-300x200.jpg)
![Elise always makes me laugh!](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2202-200x300.jpg)
![My friend and fellow author Jenny Hansen and me.](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2204-300x200.jpg)
![Signing a book for my friend Lori. Way fun spending the weekend laughing with her.](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2205-200x300.jpg)
![How cool is this?! I'm signing a reader's Kindle cover!](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2206-300x200.jpg)
![Me and my book table.](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2207-200x300.jpg)
![Making friends with a new reader! Fun!](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2209-200x300.jpg)
![Trying to keep my handwriting pretty while not making people wait.](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2210-300x200.jpg)
![The ballroom full of more authors and readers.](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2214-300x200.jpg)
![Outside the ballroom, more tables of authors. This is where I was.](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2215-300x200.jpg)
![Sydney in Little Miss Lovesick LOVES Godiva truffles, so I gave a box away. Mary B is the winner!](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2216-300x200.jpg)
![I love talking to people who love books!](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2217-300x200.jpg)
![Almost over.](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2218-300x200.jpg)
![I promised I'd upload at least one embarrassing photo. I can't believe this is my "I'm completely interested in what you're saying" face. Maybe I should practice a new expression. LOL!](https://kittybucholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_2223-300x200.jpg)
Thank you to the conference committee for putting on such an excellent conference! Thank you so much to all the readers who came to the book signing! And a special thank you to John for taking pictures all day. You all rock! 😉