RWA Day 3: Social Media Training Snafus and the Readers for Life Author Signing
Morning came fast and furious for the Digital Team and our set up for an all day clinic to do social media training with our Harlequin authors at 8am on Wednesday. Now for some backstory: I’ve been hounding and threatening extinction to asking people in the shipping and receiving department here at the Disney Dolphin for the past TWO days to locate the Kobo Readers we were going to use for the door prizes for this particular session. We also needed entry forms for the draw and a banner.
But without eReaders OR ballot forms etc, we were forced to make do. Without turning a hair, Malle improvised with a plastic envelope and some handy slips of paper repurposed as entry ballots and we soldiered on. I’m not kidding when I say that I have three Front Desk Managers on speed dial on my phone by now, and I have to say that Todd of the Disney staff was outstanding in his assistance. He even provided substitute prizes courtesy of the resort in lieu of the Kobo Readers until they arrived. Which of course they did, just about ½ an hour before our session ended and all was well….phew!
Angela James leading the session on eReader Devices
Jenny Bullough and a happy Kobo Reader prize winner
The group of us then took a much needed break, and decompressed (which is a fancy word for putting our feet up and letting our hair down) We had a great time helping many of our authors get a handle on how to manage their online presence and share tips on best practices on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere.
And then before we knew it, it was time to attend the “Readers for Life” Literacy Signing at 5:30pm. This is something that you really can’t quite describe and has to be experienced to be believed. I took my teenage daughter with me to finally show her the reason WHY mummy comes home from conference every year without a speaking voice.
Jayne’s daughter meeting her idol Maria V. Snyder, author of the Study series for MIRA and more recently of Inside Out for Harlequin TEEN.
Now all of the authors are sitting alphabetically at tables in this ENORMOUS ballroom, so it’s simply a matter of picking who you want to sign your book, and navigating to the correct spot in the room. I’m really bad at this, since it seems I can’t navigate more than three steps before being hugged by an author whom I’ve come to know through participation in our Online Community here at eHarlequin. After all we do have over 200 authors blogging in our network of blogs, forums and events!
Here’s a picture of me and Robyn Carr who sold out ALL her books early, but as a courtesy to her readers, was staying until the bitter end, just in case there were readers bringing their own personal books for her to sign. So you know, she’s not the only one of our authors that shows this kind of appreciation for her readers, and THAT is the reason why Harlequin authors are unlike ANY others!
Until tomorrow and a surprise update…
Jayne
