Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

While I was wandering around at RWA National in San Francisco this year, I ended up helping set up one of the lunches and placing books on chairs for the free giveaway. After the many, many mini piles of books were distributed, I found myself chatting with The Super Secret Behind The Scenes Staff of RWA National. You might have recognized them by their really spiffy teal blue cardigans, or by the tired and somewhat exhausted expressions some wore at the end (conferences are hard to manage, y’all. I’ve been there, done that, and have much empathy). 

One of the most interesting conversations I had at RWA this year was with Carol Ritter, who kicks ass and takes names. Literally. That’s her job. So I begged for an interview. 

All those who say that RWA doesn’t do enough for authors and those aspiring to be so, please take note of Carol Ritter. Srsly. 

Can you tell me a bit about your job at RWA, the responsibilities involved, and the more challenging aspects? 

Carol: I am the Professional Relations Manager at RWA. At the moment my job responsibilities include reviewing contracts submitted by Publishing companies and Literary Agents, gathering monthly market updates from same and maintaining updated information on RWA’s website and RWR magazine.  Adding new Publishers and Agents to the RWA Recognized Agent list, RWA Eligible Publisher and RWA non-Subsidy, non-Vanity list.  Prior to adding any new company or agent to the list I review contracts, company information, etc.  I apply RWA’s definitions for recognized agent, eligible publisher and non-Subsidy, non-Vanity publishers to the company to determine if they should be on the list.  I also check our files for any previous history that might preclude a company or agent from being on the list. 

A small sample of dinner conversation with Sarah and Hubby, where, like the dorks we are, we talk about blogs:

Hubby: I bet more people read romance than vote.
Sarah: could be.

Professor- type at next table: Haurrumph!

Early Saturday morning, at about 830 am, at the RWA national conference, I volunteered at the Workshop Booth because it was the only volunteer assignment I thought I could do. It didn’t involve unloading boxes or moving things around, and it did involve sitting and telling people where to go. I can totally do that! So there I was, bright and early, caffeinated and somewhat chipper, sitting in the Workshop Booth, attempting to steer people to different conference rooms.

I totally made up answers, I think. The Hyatt divided their ballroom in to a groundhog’s maze of rooms, and some were accessible from the main ballroom entrance, and some you had to go wander down a ways. There was one room that I swear you had to go down a hall, around the back, through the kitchen, down the street, under some railroad tracks, across a field, and then back through a really weird grimy door to find… a relatively nice ballroom. This was where the Nora Q&A was held, and the room was packed despite being totally hidden somewhere in west Texas.

But back to me! There I am in the Workshop Booth, hanging out and telling people where to go for various things, when the folks from RomanceNovel.TV come by. They want to film a segment of two conference attendees finding their way around, and can they stop by and ask us questions on camera? Sure! I might even still have lipstick on, but who knows.

And behold: a Smart Bitch Cameo. If you go to RomanceNovel.tv and click on “Jenna and Jaquie Part 1,” at about :44 seconds in, you’ll see me, looking COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY BEFUDDLED because Jenna and Jaquie asked directions to things we had not been asked about yet. The PAN retreat? Hur? Spotlight on Avon? Huh? Sure! Let me pretend I know where you’re going!

Ah, my few minutes of RN.TV fame: I look confused and really dim because I had NO idea where any of those things were. The look of dismayed horror on my face is cracking me up. 

Kate Rothwell posted some rather interesting reactions to the presence of bloggers and reviewers at the RWA this year. One author noted:

...that kind of bothered me at this conference. Stuff like [the costumed writers] and all the blog reviewers being there. It just started to feel like it was maybe turning into a fan conference rather than a professional organizations’ annual meeting.

I just think the two should be kept separate. You want to have a time for authors to meet the press (or reviewers)—like the librarians thing or the booksellers thing, great. But being a part of everything just didn’t seem appropriate to me. Like a conflict of interest. It’s our conference and a time for us to discuss our industry.

Conflict of interest was a rather interesting term to use, and I don’t think it’s accurate. Us bloggers (OK, I can speak only for Sarah and me specifically) went to the conference to a) report back on what goes on behind the scenes to the readers, and b) meet a whole bunch of people we’ve been interacting with on-line for ages, both authors and readers. I’m not sure what sort of conflict of interest there’d be in what we did, especially because all of us were pretty up-front about who we were and what we did. A lot of readers are curious about what goes on at Nationals, and they want to see it from the perspective of other readers, and that’s what we tried to provide. And to my mind, engaging the readers is a GOOD thing.

The authors-vs-reviewers divide is not a new one, but I really wish authors would see that we’re the biggest champions of the cause they could ever, ever have. Lookit, we love the books, and we love the genre. We love them SO MUCH, we’re willing to fly hundreds of miles to MOTHERFUCKING DALLAS in JULY just so we can observe and report on another aspect of the enterprise.

I can understand wanting to avoid turning the RWA into a circus, but despite my Ebil Plan to completely disrupt proceedings with my purple-streaked hair, my magnificent rack and my army of invisible midgets, things were pretty tame. Not even a single explosion, and certainly no limbs severed, nor any blood spilled. (Note to self: next time, more dismemberment, less re-enactment of silly Youtube videos for the benefit of people at the bar.)

And come, now: how many bloggers/reviewers were there vs. published and aspiring authors? Jane, Sarah, me, Sybil, Kristie, Wendy the Super Librarian and a couple of reps from AAR (I finally got to meet Anne Marble) were the ones I knew about; I doubt there were a whole lot more, because it’s a pretty small community. We’re a pretty small gang, folks, and unless you knew what to look for, we didn’t even register as a blip on the radar.

The overall impression I got from what was expressed on Kate’s blog was that the author wanted the conference to be more of a writers’ retreat than anything else. I know it feels like we’re invading a sort of safe haven, but based on the fact that the RWA allows non-members and associate members to join the conference, it’s a good bet that this isn’t what it was meant to be in the first place.

There was also a bit of a to-do about people like Marianne Mancusi dressing up like the characters for their Shomi books. I looked at the photo, and I honestly don’t see the big deal. The costumes look tarty and fun, and frankly, I want to steal those pink thigh-high stockings from Liz Maverick, because I have a similar-looking pair but they refuse to stay up. I wish I could grab the people who are worried by the cosplay, shake them gently and say “LIGHTEN UP. They’re having fun. A mini-skirt and flashing a bit of cleavage ain’t the end of the world, and we’re honestly not expecting this from everybody.”

We bitch quite a bit about how the genre is afraid of change, how much stagnancy there is, how we’re not drawing in the next generation of readers--but when somebody does something that will actively engage younger readers, that will help explode the myth that romance authors and readers are middle-aged housewives in terrycloth bathrobes and curlers in our hair, people throw up their hands, go “Lawksamercy!” and cluck worriedly. I know, I know, there’s a lot of anxiety regarding publicity and marketing, and the PR machine is indeed an ugly beast sometimes, especially for the authors who just want their books to speak for themselves without them having to put on any sort of a spectacle, but seriously: LIGHTEN UP.

Much to discuss in Post-Dallas ranting, it seems, and I’ve had a few moments of putting my feet up to enjoy that rare luxury - blog reading.

*ahhhhhhh* Air conditioning and high speed internet? There’s nothing better!

Most of my feedback about the conference so far that I’ve noted has been directed to the hotel and the manner in which the conference “fit” into the hotel, and what suggestions I’d have for future conference sites. But since this was my first national, I didn’t process and synthesize a lot of what I noticed until I started reading the feedback of experienced conference attendees.

Allison Brennan’s rant on RtB yesterday brought attention to something I’d noticed in the book signings - the mass acquisition of a LOT OF BOOKS.

This is one of the people I saw with a big ol’ cart full of books. Now, if you are this person, and you’re reading all those books, more power to you. I’m using the picture as a sample, since I saw several people with carts, boxes, and suitcases, filling up with books.

I myself took home a suitcase of books, half of which I plan to read and half of which we shall be giving away as bootylicious prizes on this here website. But if I did ask for a book signed as a prize for contests, I always asked the author if that was OK with them.

Brennan’s problem focuses on something I saw a few times - people skipping the line, grabbing two or three copies of a book at a signing, shoving them into their cart, and moving on. Seems these people make no secret of their intention: resell on eBay or in stores. Free books for reselling at entire profit? 

Oh, my. Surely Miss Manners has something to say about that.

So here’s a question: what’s the best way to stop them? Marking the books “RWA Only” so anyone with a book marked as such is fingered as a book snatcher? Would a buyer even care?

In the comments to Brennan’s entry, Walt, master of the CuppaCafe, suggested RFID tags for entrants to control access, though that may drive up the cost of admission to the conference on the whole and create a logistical nightmare for everyone involved. Jane rightly pointed out that volunteers are already thrown into the deep end at times (I volunteered Saturday morning and had someone with me at the workshop booth who knew the answers - thank heaven because I knew none of them) and serving as tech police as to who gets in and who doesn’t would be far, far less than fun.

But even then, the folks I saw loading up the luggage looked like they were conference attendees, and I saw them every day, at every signing - taking one book or more than one without waiting in line to get them signed. So you can’t block attendees from attending, or even getting multiple copies - again, if the line was short and I wasn’t going to be robbing someone else of their copy, I’d ask for more than one for giveaways or for a friend.

So what’s the solution? Aside from tripping them and running off with their crate on wheels?  I know a lot of Bitchery readers are professionals in other fields, and I know I’ve been to tech conferences back in the day where my access was controlled. Hell, try getting into the Democratic National Convention. I practically needed to give them a molar, and I was an intern with a fully-functional, holographed, laser-readable, and watermarked press pass, and that was over ten years ago. What options do you see as viable for discouraging the thievery of books from author tables?