RNC: Day 4

My last full day here in Las Vegas.

It's hard to believe. The time went quickly.

Day 4, Saturday, was the consumer book fair. The first part of the week was dedicated to classes and socializing with other conference attendees. Saturday was all about connecting with, and meeting, new readers.

The Set Up

After breakfast, I headed upstairs to where our books were being stored, and not only found my books, but also to find out where my table would be for the book fair itself.

When I found my books, I got a rather unpleasant surprise. The box of books that I'd sent via the post office had apparently busted opened, and the books had fallen out. They'd shoved most of the books back into the box and not well.

Some of the books were damaged, and at first I thought they'd lost 9 copies of Red Zone. Thankfully I did find them in another box.

The Book Fair

Finally having all my books, I set up my table, laid everything out, and got ready to meet potential readers.

Overall it was a good day. I not only sold some books to new readers, one of which bought Slave, Need, and Truth.






I was also able to meet Brandee, a blogger, who's been a fan for a couple of years now.









After the fair ended, and my books returned to my room, I joined 4 other ladies for dinner. It was a great time, and I've started friendships that will hopefully last many years to come.

Sunday I fly back home to Ohio. It's been a great trip to Las Vegas, but I'm ready to see my husband and cats again.

RNC: Day 3

It was another long yet fun day in Las Vegas here at the Romance Novel Convention. To start today's post, I thought I'd start with a view outside of my hotel room at night. I didn't notice this the first night because my curtains were closed.

Classes

I spent the morning, and most of the day in classes. One of the things that has amazed me most about this conference is the usefulness of the classes. These are things that can help any author, no matter if they are self published, traditionally published, or indie. I've learned something in each one of my classes, and I've met some great people.

Another great thing available to authors at this conference is that a professional photographer was offering author headshots for only $20. It was a deal I couldn't pass up, so I made sure to get mine done. In a few weeks, I should be receiving an email with 10 author headshots. You can't beat that!

Award’s Ceremony

One of the 'classes' this morning was cover bingo. Slave was on the bingo card, so I swiped one so you all could see. The ladies in the room were telling me that the cover got a lot of attention yesterday, which was wonderful to hear. I have to admit, seeing my cover on the bingo card was pretty cool. :)


Tonight was the awards ceremony. The two ladies hosting, TJ Mackay and Catherine Bybee, were hilarious. They had all of us cracking up laughing the entire night.

There were also performers. The first was a belly dancer. Oh my! That woman could move. She did this thing with her torso that had us all Ooo'ing and Aw'ing. It was truly entertaining.


They also had an magic act that was neat. It was a couple, and they ended up doing three separate sets. The first involved quick changing. They would be wearing one outfit, go behind a curtain for maybe 3 seconds, and then emerge wearing another.




It's hard to believe, but I only have one more full day left here in Vegas. The time was past quickly, but I've learned a lot, and it was definitely worth the trip.

Saturday is the book fair, and I'm hoping we have a great turn out.

RNC: Day 1

I made it! I'm here in Las Vegas.

The flight in was good. We had a little turbulence, but nothing too bad. I got to sit between two very nice ladies from Chicago to Vegas. Both of them are readers, and we talked books and writing most of the flight. :)

I was lucky enough to have one of my street team members pick me up from the airport. Let me just say that the Vegas airport is an experience all on its own. Most airports are, while not dull exactly, they aren't all flashy lights and huge billboards either...not unless they are advertising cell phones or something. LOL.

The airport in Vegas not only has huge billboards advertising the shows on the strip, they also have a large TV screen play with those advertisements as well in the baggage claim area. I have to say its a smart idea. People are standing there, doing nothing as they wait for their bags, so they are a captive audience. Why not use that time to entice them into going to see one of the many shows the city has to offer?

The Strip

On the way to the hotel, we took a detour so that I could see 'the strip'. The Strip is 4.5 miles long and it is packed with casinos, restaurants, and all sorts of things to attract tourists to the area. Even on a Wednesday afternoon there were lots of people about. According to my ride, the crowds were nothing compared to what the strip looks like on the weekends, especially in the winter when its not quite so hot here.

When you first turn the corner onto the strip, you see this big statue of the Statue of Liberty. Of course it's not as big as the real one in New York City, but it's decent size. Especially among it's surroundings. And as you can see, the whole thing is made to look like a miniature version of New York City. It's called New York, New York.

A little farther down the strip you come to Paris. LOL. Yep. We're taking a tour around the world.

There is a hot air ballon with Paris in big letters, and then behind it is the Eiffel tower. Again, I don't believe it is as big as the original, but you can go to the top, and see out over the city if you want.


This last one I took a picture of is a little farther down the strip, but I thought it looked cool. The buildings are curved. Apparently the guy who owns it had a wife who loved butterflies. Originally there were going to be 4 buildings in total, and they would be angled in such a way as to resemble a butterfly from the air. A neat concept, but who knows if the last two buildings will ever get built since the husband and wife divorced shortly after the two buildings were completed.

The Hotel

The hotel where we are staying is really nice. All of the staff have been pleasant so far, and the food is good.

There was a little snag in the registration last night, but considering this is the first ever RNC some bumps in the road are to be expected.

Yesterday my PR person was able to set up a phone interview for me with the Las Vegas Review Journal. It's the major newspaper here in Vegas, and they will be featuring me on the front page of their entertainment section this Saturday. The interview went well, and I can't wait to see the article. If I can get my hands on a copy of the paper, I'll try to take a picture of it and post it.

Last night there was a huge kick off party. Jimmy, the organizer of the event, went all out. There was food, drinks, and even an Elvis impersonator.  It was a blast, and I got to meet Jimmy's accounted and a fellow cover model. We chatted while listening to the Elvis impersonator. He was surprisingly good, and looked quite a bit like Elvis. My mom would have loved it!





I'm sure day 2 will be full of lots of fun stuff as well, including a television interview I have schedule with Fox 5 here in Vegas this afternoon. Wish me luck, and hopefully I'll have more to share with you tomorrow. :)