The More Things Change...

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”

(Semisonic, Closing Time)

It’s been a weird few years in publishing. Although maybe that’s always been the case and I just haven’t been paying close enough attention until recently. I attended a talk (at last month’s Romantic Times Booklovers Convention—more about THAT in a moment) titled “How to Have a Twenty Year Career” in which the authors reminisced at length about all the many changes they’d witnessed over the course of the LAST twenty years. 

And, yes, in case you were wondering, there were A LOT of changes.

I don’t know that I got what I was hoping for in terms of a way to plan for the future because my main take away from the event was “the more things change…the more they change.” Yeah, IMO the French got it totally wrong with the original saying. 

As I may have mentioned in a blog post or two, there have been a lot of distractions in my life recently. As a result, I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot of trends and mini-dramas, so one of my main reasons for attending the convention this year was to learn what’s new and what's hot, and to get a feel for what’s going on.

What’s going on, apparently, is a lot of changes! Seriously, that should have been this year’s theme. It was kind of ridiculous.

For example, at the welcome breakfast the first morning in we learned that this was to be the last RT convention. Great way to start off the week--NOT! Both the magazine and the convention are going away. Lori Perkins announced that she was going to be starting a site called Romance Daily News to (in her words) continue Kathryn Falk’s legacy. And Jo Carol, who’s been running RT’s conventions for years, is branching off with her own (multi-genre) Booklovers Convention, which is set to debut next year in New Orleans.

Btw, I’m noticing a trend away from big conventions like RT and toward smaller, invitation-only gatherings. Something I figure is guaranteed to not gladden the hearts of authors unlikely to score an invitation. Just sayin'

As always, there were mixed signals. Mark Coker, founder and CEO of Smashwords, continued to insist that longer books and bonus content are big sellers. Meanwhile Radish, an app that specializes in what they refer to as “bite-sized serial fiction stories”, was the new hot thing. And, just this past week, Amazon changed its TOS to try and cut down on (or eliminate) most bonus content.

In general, however, publishers seem to be looking for RomComs and HEAs, and most seem tired of dark romance, psychological thrillers, and books featuring motorcycle clubs. I guess when real life is grim, people want to escape to a happier place. That certainly seems like a good plan to me.

How I Spent My Spring, the Belated Edition

Nope. No reason. 

It’s about that time again when authors and readers scramble to purchase tickets and secure hotel reservations for next year’s RT Booklovers convention. I won’t be going next year—honestly, I don’t think I’ve fully recovered yet from this year’s RT in Vegas. That’s my own damn fault though. I think RT is kind of an every-other-year-or-so thing for me.

Anybody with half a brain would know that a week in Vegas or an RT convention would wipe a person out. This was both. But wait, there’s more! That’s right. We went to Disneyland for a few days right afterward. And then we drove home through the desert. Slowly.

We packed so much into two weeks, it was a wonder we made it home. My husband and I are no longer in our twenties (or thirties, and barely our forties at this point) and, to be honest, we’re a couple of slugs. So, yay us for surviving this crazy trip!

That was way back in April, and we’ve had half a year come and go since then. And yet, I never shared any of it with you. I took a lot of pictures. Sometimes of weird stuff. So, since I’m still working on a deadline for a project that’s due to my editor next week, I thought I’d share a little of the weirdness.

First, let's talk a little about the hotel room. It really was lovely. Lots of open space, a window that took up the entire length of the room and looked out at the city lights.

But do you see those pictures? The one on the left is the bedroom wall. Pretty etched glass, right? Especially on the tiny window in the middle of the mirror.

The second picture is the other side of the window. It's in the bathroom in the shower wall.

Two problems with this. 1) The toilet is right next to the shower, so yeah. Wow. No. 2) This is a wheelchair accessible room and that window was way too high for my husband to be able to look through it. So...what are they saying? People in wheelchairs can't be pervs? So insulting. (I fully realize those two points are at odds with each other.)

Mostly, I stood in the shower and watched him, but I'm not sure what all the fuss was about. I can watch him watch television at home. I don't need a special window.

There was a Zoltar machine in our hotel. How cool is that? If you have no clue why this would be interesting, go now and watch the Tom Hanks movie Big.  Do it. It's wonderful.

If you totally know why a Zoltar machine is important, high five for nostalgia, my friend! You rock! (The rest of you will rock and get high fives once you've seen the movie.)

I did not, in fact, wish I was big when I stood before Zoltar. However, the wish was granted, nonetheless. Zoltar's a bit of a bastard. Yeah. That's right. I'm blaming Zoltar, not my lack of exercise. He can take it.

This is me at the big book signing event. Throughout the afternoon, my lovely Carina Press balloons floated lower and lower until they nearly touched the table. I wish I'd moved them out of this shot. It's hard to get a picture of me. I hate doing it, so once I discovered the ribbons were in the shot, it was too late. Taking another picture wasn't going to happen.

See those tiny bottles in the front? They're Transmutational Thought Transference Bubbles from the Muse department at the Mt. Olympus Employment Agency. No, really.

It only just occurred to me now that my books were in the right order from my side of the table. From the reader's side, they're backwards. Pfff. I wonder how many signings I've done that in?

The craziest part for me came toward the end of the trip when we were heading through Amarillo, Texas. In my fourth Monster Haven book, Golem in My Glovebox, Zoey and her friends follow a trail of bloody clues across the country. In Amarillo, they end up finding a body at the Cadillac Ranch, a place in the middle of nowhere with a line of old, stripped Cadillacs with their noses buried in the dirt.

While we were driving through Amarillo, I watched for the Cadillac Ranch out the window, not mentioning it to my husband why. Had I remembered, I'd have stopped looking, since it's on the west side of the city. But you know what's on the east side? The Bug Ranch, which is where the clues sent my characters next.

So, there we were, when all of a sudden, we HAD to pull over. We'd accidentally come across the Bug ranch, an homage in smaller scale to the Cadillac ranch.

I'd researched it. I'd looked at pictures. I'd

Google Street-viewed it. But I have no words to tell you how amazing it was to come across something I imagined so vividly and set my characters into. It almost felt as if I'd made up that place, and there it was in front of me. It was magic.

Sure. We took a lot of pictures at Disneyland and in Sedona. But you've seen those in some form or another. So have I. But the weird stuff (plus a rare photo of me in the wild) is the stuff worth sharing.

See you at RT in...2018?

Rachel writes stories that drop average people into magical situations filled with heart and quirky humor.

She believes in pixie dust, the power of love, good cheese, lucky socks and putting things off until the last minute. Her home is Disneyland, despite her current location in Kansas. Rachel has one husband, two grown kids and a crazy-catlady starter kit.

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Here Be News

Jeffe Kennedy received the RT Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Fantasy Romance of 2015, for THE TALON OF THE HAWK, at the RT Booklovers Convention last weekend in Las Vegas. Here's a bit of her acceptance speech.

Dispatches from an RT Virgin

I’m writing this from the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in New Orleans. (Actually I’m writing it sitting on the floor in my bathroom, because my roommate is asleep. Shh….) Needless to say, it’s been a fun convention.

I’ve been going to the national conference of the Romance Writers of America for several years, but this is my first RT convention. Maybe it’s the fact that the convention is being held in New Orleans, but WOW--it has been insane. Here are my top five reasons for loving RT:

1) Meeting fellow authors

I admit—I had a bit of a fangirl moment in front of Kevin Hearne. And I finally got to meet Diana Rowland, one of my favorite UF authors, who I’ve “known” online for years, but never met in person.

2) Meeting fellow readers

One of the cool things about RT is that a lot of readers come, something that doesn’t happen as much at RWA. It’s awesome and valuable to talk about the business and craft of writing, but it’s been a lot of fun to also talk about books from the reader perspective. I’ve met readers I connected with online as well as new readers, and it’s a blast to hear about people's favorite books and how much their taste varies.

3) The costumes

I should have been prepared for this. I was warned. But I still wasn’t expecting the crowd of wings and horns and halos at the Sinners & Saints party last night. I’m not much a costume girl myself, but author Debra Dunbar passed out these fun devil horns to folks on the first day, and they worked out fine.

Yes, I took a devil-horn selfie.

4) The information

There have been some amazing panels at RT. I went to one on sex and spirituality yesterday, and it turned into an amazing conversation with the audience about how to talk about writing sexy romances with people you fear won’t approve—and sometimes being surprised by their positive reactions. I’ve been to some fantastic panels on diversity in fiction, too. There are so many great conversations to be had.

Amber Belldene, Christa Soule, Tiffany Reisz and
Alice Gaines talking about sex, romance, and spirituality

The food

I’m from a small town about an hour outside New Orleans, so I was expecting a lot of great food. But it’s been better than great. Gumbo, red beans and rice, fried catfish poboys, cochon de lait… I’ve had to try all of the favorites from my childhood. And when I get back home, I’m going to have to eat nothing but vegetables for a week.

Have you been to RT as a writer or a reader? What are some of your favorite moments?

Why RT? Why Now?

It's September, and you know what that means...

Back to school?

Uh. Yeah but...

Sweater weather?

Yes...

Hot apple cider with a shot of Fireball?

Dude. Stop! I'm not making this post drunk, damn it. 

September means that RT registration will be going live any day. For those not in the know, RT is the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. May 2014, a bunch of romance authors and readers will be invading the beautiful city of New Orleans. 

I'm sure as soon as you saw "New Orleans," a lot of you clicked on the link to the convention information. And then you balked. First off, the main hotel is sold out. Second, you clicked on registration and saw dollar signs flashing before your eyes. That's what happened to me the first time too. I mean, that's a lot of money to shell out, especially if you aren't possibly going to "make money" from the con. I get it. 

I also know you should go anyway. 

Take away the awesomeness of New Orleans and you should still go. (My first RT was in Columbus, OH, and I've gone every years since.)

No, RT isn't cheap, but of all the cons I've attended, it's the best one for meeting and talking to agents, publishers, and more authors than you can count. And the best part? Most of those people are happy to talk to you. We see "aspiring author" on a tag and you automatically become a sister or brother in arms. "Reader" or "book seller"? You are officially on my favorite people list (especially if you know who I am--that makes me get teary). 

Those people you meet? It's not just cool to meet them, it's professional networking. My first RT, I went as an aspiring author. Within a couple months, I submitted to a couple publishers I'd met there. A few months after that, I had contracts with both of them. Now, it doesn't always work that way. Entangled rejected a few of my manuscripts before I signed with them, but that connection at RT made me realize how badly I wanted to work with the company. So I learned more details about what they wanted and I kept subbing.

It's those connections that can make your career. 

I'm sure some of you are sitting there thinking, "But I don't write romance." 

Go anyway. 

Romance has so many sub-genres that one of them is sure to appeal to you. There's an urban fantasy/paranormal romance track, a steampunk track (I'll be spending a lot of time there), a historical track... the list goes on and on. There is a lot to learn that can apply to non-romance as easily as romance. In addition? Those contacts I mentioned? Not all of them are going to be romance-centric. The agents take other genres. Many of the publishers have non-romance lines. The authors? They run the gamut from romance only to romantic elements to the likes of James Rollins (2012) and John Scalzi (2013)! (Trust me, I fan-girled over Rollins and made an ass of myself in front of Scalzi--I would never forget them. Also...both great guys.)

Besides, where else could you have the opportunity to see EL James (50 Shades of Grey) face off with Andrew Shaffer (50 Shames of Earl Grey)? And yes, I'm still kicking myself that I missed that, however short it was. 

The question always comes back to "is it really worth the money?" I can't answer that for you, but for me, it's always been a resounding yes. The connections you can make and the amount you can learn can't be measured in dollars. But of all the cons I've attended, this remains the most worthwhile and the one that I've never questioned whether or not I'd attend. 

Plus, hello? New Orleans. Bourbon Street Bar Crawl. Enough said.