2012 Romantic Times Conference Report

       I want to tell everyone how great the Romantic Times conference was on 11 - 15 April 2012 in Chicago! The conference was held at thebeautiful Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont, IL. I drove there because I live less than two hours from Chicago, and arrived just in time to meet the gang from my publishing house, Sourcebooks, my editor Leah (left), my publicist, Beth (right), the owner of Sourcebooks, Dominique, and a host of young, forward-thinking, awesome people who have made Sourcebooks one of the most innovative, successful publishers out there today. I'm including lots of pictures so you can share the fun of the R.T. conference with me!

       Sourcebooks drove us to their facilities in Naperville in a very fancy limo-bus, and when we arrived we were taken on a tour of "the works." Wow! We take a lot for granted when we buy a paperback book or order an e-book, not thinking about all the work that goes into getting that book published. We toured the editing department, the layout department, the cover art department, publicity, marketing, sales, packaging, and they even have a complaint department.

       A terrific amount of hours and thought go into how to present and market each book they publish, and as opposed to most publishers, every single new book coming out receives their full attention, including advance reading copies to all distributors and primary book stores and libraries. There are no favorites here. All authors, from big sellers to smaller sellers, get the same treatment, with the goal being to make ALL their authors best-sellers. I have never worked with a publisher who operated this way, and it's probably the reason that Sourcebooks is far out-selling all other publishers!

       The tour was followed by a wonderful lunch on-site, after which several authors were interviewed individually. Soon those interviews will be available for all you readers to view when you go to Sourcebooks.com. My particular interview will be made available here and on other sites of my social networking, so watch for it!

       The best news that came out of Romantic Times and my meeting with Sourcebooks was learning that I have SOLD A NEW BOOK! My readers can finally read a new story from Rosanne Bittner. It's a western romance called PARADISE VALLEY and is set in 1800's Wyoming and parts of the famed Outlaw Trail. PARADISE VALLEY is my 58th book, and when my deal is settled with Sourcebooks I will post a short synopsis of the story so everybody can see what it will be about. It will be published both in mass paperback and as an e-book next spring (2013)!

       Another bit of great news from the conference - I was presented with Romantic Times' PIONEER AWARD, for longevity and for having 57 books published over the last 30 years and still selling! I felt very honored to receive this award.

       I conducted a workshop at R.T. called THE POWER OF PASSION, and it, too, is posted here on my website for you to read. I attended other workshops and a great party Sourcebooks held at the hotel. (Click here to read THE POWER OF PASSION.)

        R.T. held a HUGE book signing in the grand ballroom that Saturday. I'm sure at least 2,000 readers and booksellers came through! By the time it was over, I could barely talk because I'd been talking all afternoon. I handed out every piece of publicity I'd brought with me and met a host of current readers and prospective new readers.

       During the festivities, I met many other of Sourcebook's authors, including famous western romance writer Leigh Greenwood (left), who also now writes for Sourcebooks. Leigh has been writing about as many years as I have. I also had the chance to get to know Crystal Donnie Flannery (right), an avid reader who had driven a very long way to the conference just to meet me! What fun to sit and chat with this new "old friend!" I always enjoy hearing my readers' perspectives on my stories.

       All in all, it was one of the best conferences I have attended in years and I will probably go again next year! Not sure what city will host next year's convention, but if you go to RTBookReviews.com, I'm sure they are already posting information on next year's event.

Hope to see you there!