RT 2009 Con Report

Well - RT is officially over. I'm now recuperating in Tampa with friends. As always, it was a whirlwind. Too much wine and food and not enough sleep.

The eBook Expo went off without a hitch and the Saturday Bookfair was a blast (note truly terrible picture of me at the booksigning). I was able to connect with readers at both events. That's actually one of my very favorite things about the entire RT experience. That, and the chance to connect with authors friends - both old and new. And Booksellers - mustn't forget them!














This year I had a special bookseller gift made and it was a big hit. There were a few left over that I put out at the signing - so you can see them in the pic above - red bubble bath with a Forbidden style label. Instead of "Bubble Bath" I called it "Blood Bath". I also had Forbidden chocolate bars, buttons, bookmarks, and book plates. The promo I had the hardest time parting with? The little vampire plush that I placed in a basket along with copies of each of the books in my series. It was a numbered edition of the Vamp Angel puppet from the Smile Time episode. He was SO CUTE! Here's a picture of him along with the Anne Rice T-shirt (from the 1996 RT - the year Servant of the Bones was released) a bookseller received in her "special bag" and kindly passed on to me (Yippee!).
















In other news...a new interview posted while I was gone. This one is by Netta Ferguson, the San Diego Erotica Books Examiner!

*hugs*

Sam

Interview on What's Hot in Romance!

For those of you that didn't get the chance to listen live!

What's Hot in Romance - 9:30 est

Tune in tonight! I'll be Cat Johnson's guest on What's Hot in Romance.
www.blogtalkradio.com/Whats-Hot-In-Romance

9:30-10:30 est.

Sam

Tune in tomorrow night!

Tomorrow night I'm going to be Cat Johnson's guest on What's Hot in Romance and I'm already scared sh*tless. Cat's a wonderful interviewer. I listen to the show all the time. So why am I so freaked out? Who knows. Stuff like this always turns my stomach and makes my knees knock together. I so admire performers. I could never get up on a stage on a regular basis in front of people and act or sing. (Partially because I can neither act nor sing, LOL).  I find that it does help tremendously when there are people that I know in the audience. It seems to create an illusion of intimacy. So if any of you are able to listen in, open the chat application on blogtalkradio, wave, and let me know that you're there. I might not be able to wave back at the time, because I'll be busy listening to Cat, trying to sound um...not completely boring, and breathing into a paper bag so that I don't hyperventilate. Okay - the last part is an exaggeration. I've yet to hyperventilate.  Here's the link. Time is 6:30 EST. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Whats-Hot-In-Romance Now, I'm off to the airport! I'll be arriving this evening in Tampa and will be driving down to Orlando on Wednesday for the Romantic Times Booklover convention. Wednesday night I'll be signing at their eBook Expo, which is open to the public and Saturday I'll be signing at the BookFair (also open to the public). So if you're in the Orlando area. Please stop by and say hello! Sam

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Janet W. for winning my special promo pack. I will be taking it to the post office and mailing it along with the couple dozen mini promo packs that were just returned to me from the post office. Apparently when you put a button in the envelope you have to pay more postage because the machine spits it out.  The weird thing is that about 10 envelopes didn't come back and I received a few thank you notes. Did all ten make it through? Who knows. Bottom line. If you requested one and you don't get it with in a week, please write me and we'll try again.  In other news, I started doing some research for the opening scene of The Summoning today. Hubby had the day off so we drove around San Diego looking for just the right setting for the scene and then we spent about an hour at the BMW dealership checking out their Z4 Roadster. I'm convinced that's what Will Carlton drives. What a gorgeous car. I did feel a bit sorry for the salesman though. After hubby and I were looking at it for a while he came up to us and asked if he could show us anything. Without thinking I said, "I don't think so. This is perfect. It's exactly what I want. I don't need to see anything else." Hubby had to jump in and let the poor man down slowly, telling him I wasn't really there to buy a Z4, I was an author doing research. Oops. Sam

The Video Interview is up!

Big hugs to Terry Kate for including me in her new video series! I love having a chance to do readings, but only so many folks have the ability to attend them in person. This new series offers the opportunity for authors to reach out to readers in a really unique way. Take a couple minutes (this is short) and give it a listen. If you go to Terry Kate's site you'll find some other interviews/readings there. Maybe you'll discover someone new!





Sam

Come visit me on the island!

Author Island, that is! If you haven't entered the Author Island contest, you still have a couple weeks left. While you're over there checking that out, check out the new interview they just posted.  http://www.authorisland [dot] com/index [dot] php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2057&Itemid=602 remove the spaces and replace [dot] with . I don't mind saying that I'm SO glad it's friday and I'm even more happy that next week is Spring Break for my son. In other fun news, I received my copy of Forbidden: The Temptation today. I'm really pleased with the layout of the book and the cream colored paper. The publisher did a fantastic job IMHO.  I've spent the past 2 days polishing The Sacrifice. I've got about 40 pages left to go and just decided that I need to cut a character. Ack! I was hoping to finish this tonight, but I may end up getting up early in the morning to tackle that. Tomorrow we're supposed to work on taxes. Then in the evening we'll be celebrating out God-daughter's birthday. Did I mention taxes tomorrow? *groan* Sam

Romance in the Back Seat - Teaser

Terry Kate sent me a link this morning to a Teaser that she's posted from my Romance in the Back Seat interview. The full interview should be up in a couple days. I have to tell you that I was SO nervous doing this. I'm not very comfortable in front of the camera. Like most writers I'm much more at home sitting in front of my lappy. Terry was fabulous though, she really put me at ease. I've listened to the interview twice and I can't hear my knees knocking together at all!



Hugs

Sam

Thank you to Amazing Audrey and Super Cool Kendra!

I just wanted to say thank you to Amazing Audrey and Super Cool Kendra! And I can't forget My Emma. Thanks to these wonderful ladies I am resurrecting my newsletter. My database blew up some time ago and the idea of starting from scratch was so daunting I buried my head in the sand.  Audrey is going through hundreds and hundreds of old contest entries and emails in order to try to put a database together and she's going to help me send the newsletter out each month. We've got the content all sorted and we're really excited about some of the columns that I'm going to be routinely including. There will be eco-friendly tips, recipes, contests, and a bookclub pick in addition to author news. We hope to keep things fresh and interesting.  Kendra is working to update all of my social network sites with Sprout so that folks can easily sign up. To sign up copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:Join/signupId:56104  Before I go - I also wanted to let everyone know that I was in the spotlight today on the Romance eBooks Blog:  http://romanceebooksspringsummernewsletter.blogspot.com/ Check it out if you have a chance. AFTER you sign up for the shiny new newsletter! Sam