Wednesday, August 22, 2012

RWA conference & Destiny Launch

I've been away at the Romance Writers' of Australia conference, and I thought I'd share some photos. It was held in the QT hotel on the Gold Coast, so while it's cold wintry weather where I live, on the Gold Coast it was warm and balmy. This was the view most days from my room. Nice, eh?

And since it's the east coast of Australia, each morning we woke to bright sunshine streaming in the window. A couple of mornings I even woke at dawn and snapped a few pictures of the rising sun.
It was a busy conference for me, even though I'm no longer involved in any organizational work. On the Thursday we had Author Day — for published authors only — and a very informative day it was indeed. The first panel was on self-e-publishing, and that was brilliant. After that was a presentation by Louise Sherwin-Stark on Google hangouts and . . . all I can say is expect more of these hangouts from me in the future. I did one on the Saturday following with Eloisa James and Christina Brooke and some others and it was fun, even though I was battling with server problems and kept dropping out. I'll write more about it in a day or so — I'm limiting my time on this — need to be working on a book. See the hangout here.

In the afternoon, Penguin Australia organized all their authors for cover photos, with hair and makeup professionally done. That was equal parts of traumatic and hilarious — I am not photogenic! Some people were also interviewed for the Destiny website (see below)

On Thursday evening we launched the new romance digital-first line for Penguin Australia, Destiny. It was a brilliant launch, with pink champagne and strawberries, and yummy nibbles, and a few brief speeches, and then the four launch authors and I read a 2 minute excerpt from our stories. It was lovely — you could have heard a pin drop in the crowded bar.
Here are the launch titles. I've read the first one—Wish—and it's fabulous.

 And then they gave us each a beautiful bunch of flowers! How nice was that?
A friend of mine came up afterward to congratulate us (a famous author whose initials are AC) and she  SAT ON my bunch of flowers! Right plop on top of them!  
I shrieked and shoved her off them and . . . amazingly the flowers survived. LOL.
And why was I up there? I'm not a launch author, but my Scottish story "The Laird's Vow" will be given away free with the launch titles in the first month of launching. 

Here are all the Destiny authors who were at the launch, along with Sarah Fairhall and Carol George from Penguin Australia, the commissioning editors.
Thanks Penguin, for a brilliant launch.

Tomorrow I'll put up some pics of the cocktail party, which is always a mad dress-up affair. The conference theme was Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend, and there was a 50's theme for the cocktail party, and it was all huge fun.

21 comments:

  1. Great photos, Anne. The conference this year was wonderful, so upbeat.

    I think everyone had a great time at the Destiny launch. A credit to all involved.

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  2. Love the photos Anne. It was wonderful meeting you and such an honour to be on the same stage reading with you at the Destiny Launch. I am still laughing about your flowers and so glad it wasn't me who sat on them.

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  3. Love the pictures. Wish I'd been at the conference! It sounds like it was wonderful. "The Laird's Vow"? I'm looking forward to it.

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  4. Anne, I've just seen a Amazon UK listing for a new book of yours that is being published in February 2013. It says that it's the first one in the Chance Sisters series. Does this mean that there will be no book for Marcus Renfrew? I'm gutted if that's the case. I've been lurking around your website on and off for months waiting for news of his book. Do please say that this is his book!

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  5. Thanks, everyone. I had a lovely time at the conference, meeting new friends as well as old.

    Judy, The Laird's Vow is the story that was in the Mammoth book of Scottish Romance. having lived in Scotland for a year when I was a wee girrrl, and having Scottish ancestors, I have a fondness for Scotland and all things Scottish, so I loved writing that story.

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  6. May, I'm sorry, but it's not Marcus's story. His story hadn't been in the original contract — he was meant to be a distant, slightly villainous presence, but he arrived on the page and quietly showed himself to be a hero-in-waiting. So I asked my editor could I write his story, and she said yes, so I started on it. But then she and my publisher decided I should start on a new seasonal brides series, and that I should put Marcus aside. So I did, and that's the new book.

    BUT I'm still determined to write Marcus's story. It's just a matter of finding the time.

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  7. hello , Marcus Renfrew 's book has already been written ? I'm a fan of his work.

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  8. Hi Ana, no, Marcus's story has not yet been written. If you sign up to my newsletter I will let you know when it's published.

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    1. I am interested in Marcus' story, too. Thanks! I'll seek out the newsletter... Robin

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  9. Oh please, i'm a brazilian fan and waiting for Marcus story too. Congratulations for your books!

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    1. Thanks, Nayana -- Marcus's story hasn't been written yet. If and when I do write it, I'll let people know via my newsletter, so if you want to be kept up to date, sign up.
      By The way, I don't use this blog anymore. You need to look at my new one.

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  10. Oh please, i'm a brazilian fan and waiting for Marcus story too. Congratulations for your books!

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  11. Greetings from northern Germany! My mother is longing for Marcus's story as well. We will keep an eye on the newsletter.

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  12. I am vietnamese and I want to let you know that i do love your works. Also, i waiting for marcus's story.

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    1. Thanks. I love how many fans Marcus has, even though he doesn't have a book yet.

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  13. I absolutely love your books!
    Was looking for Marcus book and found this blog. I hope you'll find time to write his story. He is a prominent character.
    Is there a possibility for crossover with other series? I though George might be a good match for him. She loves horses and is so not suited to be Marcus'wife that it just has to be a perfect fit!
    But that's just an idea. All your stories are so great. I purchase all of your books as soon as they are published

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    1. I should have added, I love the idea of a crossover book, but I have a heroine in mind for Marcus, too, and she's already living in my head.

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  14. Thanks so much. I'm delighted you like my books. I will find time eventually for Marcus's story, but he won't be getting George, I'm afraid. She's already spoken for — but no spoilers here. You'll know, though when you read Marry in Secret. If you follow me on FB or BookBub or Amazon, you'll be kept up to date, or you could subscribe to my newsletter and hear about all kinds of things. BTW this blog is finished -- I have a new blog -- see my website. Thanks again for writing.

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    1. Thanks for answering!
      I look forward to Rose story and will wait for Marcus and his heroine.
      I'll definately check your new blog. It's really great when the author actually answers readers'questions.
      Thank you so much!
      Liya

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