RT Convention Giant Book Fair Newbies

This year, the Romantic Times Book Reviews Convention, or RT Con for short, runs from Apr 11-15, 2012 at Chicago. Here is the hotel address:

The Hyatt Regency O'Hare Hotel
9300 Bryn Mawr Avenue
Rosemont, Illinois, 60018
(847) 696-1234

There are three events open to the public. All are book signings.
1) The Ebook and Graphic Novel Expo
2) YA Alley (young fans are welcome!)
3) The Giant Book Fair (which is the most popular, held on Saturday, between 11-2pm, with hundreds of authors)

Here are common questions for those who have never attended the Book Fairs before and have emailed me about stuff to bring/do/etc.:

1) Who are the authors attending?
The list is long! Here is a link with all authors signing at the book fair:
http://www.rtconvention.com/2012-book-signings

2) Is it free?
Yes, all book signings are free to the public. They get to go in AFTER the convention attendees (maybe an hour later?).

3) What can I bring into the book signing(s)?
Besides $$$ to buy books, you can bring in a few of your favorite authors' books for them to sign. They need to be shown to those in charge at the door so they can stamp some kind of invisible ink of them to let the cashiers know those books are yours. These stamps will NOT damage your precious keepers :).

4) How do I buy the books?
There are cashiers set up at the exit doors. Many of them! You can't miss them.

You go into this giant ballroom and stand there looking at rows and rows and ROWS of authors with piles of their books in front of them. These authors are smiling, eager to meet you! They have bookmarks and candy. Some have posters and leaflets.

We're seated alphabetically, so you can find Gennita Low by following the rows with the letter L. I'm usually beside or near that rascal with the magical imagination, Marjorie M. Liu. Ignore the tall Asian beauty and look at the short dumpy one beside her. That's ME. Ignore her and talk to me because everyone ignores me once the gawgeous Marjorie smiles at them. :)

5) Can we talk to the authors?

No! You can only approach us, take the books from the table and back away. You AREN'T allowed to say one word to us.

JUST KIDDING.

That's why we are at the Book Fair. To meet YOU. Come, my dears, approach and chit-chat. We're a friendly and shy lot, always eager to talk about our books. Most of us will take pics with you. Some of us will bribe you with chocolate. SOME CAN BE BRIBED WITH A GLASS OF WINE. Preferably Zinfandel. Or a glass of Toasted Almond might get a certain author to reveal to you the Secrets of Jed. Maybe.

6) What will you be signing, Gennita?
At the Ebook Expo, I'll be signing Virtually His and Virtually Hers. I'll have PRINT copies of those books as well as HUNTER (the new re-issued edition) and maybe MikiSquirrel's books to sell.

At the Giant Book Fair, I'm signing SEAL of my DREAMS and will bring in some other books for those who are interested too.

7) Other advice?
 Well, some readers buy MANY books and I've seen them roll in carry-on luggage. I think this is an excellent idea because you just pull the thing around while you gawk at the crowd. And you will gawk, trust me. The noise is almost unbearable at times, with squeeing and chattery echoing through the huge ballroom. You'll find yourself speaking louder than usual. Some strange woman will be shouting raffle ticket numbers on the microphone; the winners get huge baskets of books. There's a giant screen advertising some paying authors' trailers and new books.

Any other questions?

See you there!

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Rooferauthor Is Wielding Nailgun & Pen At Same Time

This is the first time I am asked to bring my own table and chair to a book signing. That's because it's hosted by a small and newly-opened book store and there's no way the owner can find 15 tables and chairs to accommodate all the authors.

Anyway, I don't own a small/card table, so I started asking around to see if I could borrow one. The first people I approached were, of course, people I work with--construction workers. My partner didn't have one. The contractor neither. The electrician said he did but he lived too far away to make it an easy drive to his house to pick up a table (I mean, I'm not driving 120 miles round trip to borrow and return a card table, okay?). The stucco man's idea of a small table was an office desk the size of dining room table, LOL.

Finally, during break and kidding around, I told them that this was starting to be an emergency, so they all suggested for me to build myself one, since we were at a construction site, with available thrown-away materials scattered around us. Hey, they were right. I could pick up the used electrical spools and fasten two with a nail gun, one on top of the other. Hmm, 2 is too short for a chair, so maybe 3, but then I'd need a bar stool.

For the table top, I could use one of the odd-shaped plywood leftovers in the trash pile. I could make sure the books won't topple it from the connected-spools by drilling a big bolt right in the middle, through the spools. There you go, a GLow Original! A nice table cloth to pretty it up, of course.

The trouble was, I pointed out, the whole contraption was going to be quite awkward to lift up by myself. Besides, it wouldn't fit into the car, so I'd have to use the work truck. I was going to need help to carry it out of the truck bed, across the parking lot, to the book store front.

So the men came up with the brilliant idea of just loading the parts into the truck and going to book store and unloading them all in front of the place. Then I could just nail everything together and build the table right there and then, so I won't have to awkwardly drag this thing all by myself across the parking lot. Brilliant!

But, but, wait! I'm going to need the tools now! The compressor! The nail guns! The 100 foot hose! So I'm going to have to load these items up before balancing the spools and plywood in the truck bed, the bar stool, my tool belt, along with...yes, let's not forget, my books and gift basket. Heck, why not throw in the ladder? Just in case, you know?

So if you see this woman, with a tool belt and hat on, busy hammering and putting together what look like empty electrical spools and plywood in front of 14 bemused looking women sitting at their very Pretty Normal Looking Tables, it's just me, rooferauthor, Gennita Low, doing her part to make the book signing more interesting.

:-)

What, that's not a good enough incentive to get you to drive to the signing?!!

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Florida Author Signing

I'll be at signing extravaganza this Saturday in Edgewater, FL.

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 4
at The Book Rack,
108 W. Indian River Blvd.,
Edgewater.

At last count, I heard fifteen authors will be there, including Roxanne St. Claire, Marianne LaCroix, Cheryl Norman, and Daniel Norton. Local businesses are sponsoring cookies and drinks and there will be gift baskets for raffles, so do drop by and say hello to so many fabulous authors :-). I look forward to seeing some of you there.

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