Giveaway: Romance Author Swag: Historical & Contemporary

Tweet me a historical tidbit by 11:59pm Tuesday the 21st and I'll randomly choose someone to get a box of author swag.

I have historical and contemporary author stuff and a bit of Romance Writers' of America stuff.

Authors included:

Nalini Singh, Debbie Macomber, Lisa Kleypas, Tessa Dare, Eloisa James, Elizabeth Hoyt, Julia Quinn, Jane Porter, Courtney Milan, Elizabeth Boyle, Jeannie Lin, Candice Hern, Sabrina Jeffris, Susan Mallory, and Brenda Novak.

Swag included:

Eloisa James Bag

Rare Squawk Radio Postcard

Some bookmarks and coverflats are signed, some are unsigned

Different types of coasters

Pens

Lip Balms

Buttons

First Aid Kit

Purse-sized Vanity Mirror

Book Excerpts Booklets

Lined Notebooks

3-D Glasses

I also have a Clinique 3-Step sample pack.

Romance Conference at the Library of Congress

"What Is Love? Romance Fiction in the Digital Age," an international, multimedia conference, will be hosted by the Library of Congress's Center for the Book on February 10 and 11, 2015.

The conference is free and open to the public and is being sponsored by Harlequin. Additional support is being provided by the Popular Romance Project, created by the Center for New History and Media at George Mason University; the Nora Roberts Foundation; the Romance Writers of America; and Berkley/NAL.

The conference agenda will include panels moderated by Pam Regis, professor of English at McDaniel College and president of the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance; Bill Gleason of Princeton University; Mary Bly of Fordham University (who writes as Eloisa James); and Riptide editorial director Sarah S.G. Frantz. Special author appearances include New York Times best-selling authors Robyn Carr and Brenda Jackson. The Popular Romance Project, led by Laurie Kahn of Blueberry Hill Productions, will include the feature-length documentary film "Love Between the Covers," as directed by Kahn.

Details about the panels and talks are HERE.

New RITA & Golden Heart Contest Guidelines by Romance Writers of America

The Romance Writers of America has published their new 2015 RITA & Golden Heart contest rules for published authors and unpublished writers, respectively. Some of the highlights for the RITAs, include:

1. Entrants are required to judge. Entrants will not judge in a category in which they are entered. Judges will be allowed to opt out of two categories.

2. Only the first 2000 entries are accepted.

3. A book may not be entered in more than one category, but there's is no limit to the number of eligible books that may be entered for an author in the same category.

4. Categories with fewer than 50 entries will not be judged.
[Given the currently defined categories, this is not something that will come to pass.]

5. Preliminary-round scores will be determined using a trimmed mean: the highest and lowest scores will be discarded and the remaining three scores will be averaged.

6. The top scoring 4% of each category’s entries will advance to the final round, excepting that no category will have fewer than 4 finalists or more than 10 finalists.
[Finally, a sensible solution to this year's comical situation wherein there were 17 finalists in the Historical category.]

7. The Contemporary category has books set from 1950 to present date and is to be subdivided thusly: short (40,000–56,000 words), mid-length (56,000–84,000 words), long (more than 84,000 words).

8. The Historical category has books set in time periods prior to 1950 and is to be subdivided thusly: short(40,000–89,000 words) and long (more than 89,000 words).
[While size works well to demarcate groups in the Contemporary category, time periods would work better in Historicals. There are far more books set in the extended Regency period (1800–1837) than are set in other time periods. Expecting those other books to compete with the Regencies is not feasible.]

9. There are no New Adult or Stories with Romantic Elements categories.
[I don't know enough about New Adult to judge—I'd put them in contemporaries—but the SwRE is a serious loss to the contest; some of Romance's best books are written in this category.]

Jaipur Literary Festival

Every January, the glittering literati from the world over gather in the fabled Indian city of Jaipur to exchange ideas, present their thoughts, engage in heated debates, and discuss everything under the sun from fiction to biography, from history to music, and much, much more. Music concerts, art displays, and a wide variety of food forms the esthetic nourishment for the literary discussions.

And best of all, the Jaipur Literary Festival is completely free to the general public. As you scroll through the 2014 program by venue or by date (January 17–21), you can watch videos of most of the sessions. The organizers and sponsors of the festival have really gone out of their way to support the idea that knowledge is meant to be shared widely and freely.

The main themes for 2014 were: Crime and Punishment, Democracy Dialogues, Women Uninterrupted, and Endangered Languages.

For a festival that is still in its infancy, started in 2006, it still featured over 240 authors, some of them very big names. Consider these: British celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Mauritian Francophone writer Ananda Devi, Indian historian Urvashi Butalia, Iranian-American religion scholar Reza Aslan, British historian William Dalrymple, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, British Roman scholar Mary Beard, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, British author Geoff Dyer, Harvard professor Homi Bhabha, American novelist Jonathan Franzen, Olympic gold medalist boxer Mary Kom, and on and on.

I have stars in my eyes just reading that program. What would it have been like to have been there. So listen to these talks amidst the splendor of the Diggi Palace, attending "The Greatest Literary Show on Earth!," according to Tina Brown.

Romance Writers of America Has Announced their RITA and Golden Heart Award Finalists

Today generated a lot of excitement in the romance industry, among writers and editors. The Romance Writers of America announced their RITA and Golden Heart Award Finalists.

According to the RWA, the RITA award is the highest award of distinction in romance fiction, and it recognizes excellence in published romance novels and novellas. The Golden Heart award recognizes excellence in unpublished romance manuscripts.

The winners will be announced at a fancy Oscars-style black-tie ceremony at the conclusion of the RWA annual conference in San Antonio, Texas on July 26, 2014. I attended this ceremony for the three years that I went to the conference. It's such a glam affair, with women in long gowns, up-dos and makeup courtesy of salons, fancy-schmancy shoes, a witty host for the ceremony, thank you speeches by the winners, and so on and so forth. It's a night to remember, whether or not you're a nominee, a winner, a big-name writer, or an aspiring writer. The atmosphere in that ballroom is as fizzy and euphoric as champagne.

This year, for the first time, a writer whose book I edited has been nominated. She's none other than the really fabulous historical author Courtney Milan. She's nominated for her book The Countess Conspiracy.

Below please see the RITA and GH nominees in the Historical Romance category. Note that two of the RITA nominees are self-published. This is a big step forward for self-published books.

RITA Awards

Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare
HarperCollins Publishers, Avon Books
Tessa Woodward

The Autumn Bride by Anne Gracie
Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley Sensation
Wendy McCurdy, editor

The Chieftain’s Curse by Frances Housden
Harlequin, MIRA
Kate Cuthbert, editor

The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan
Self-published
Robin Harders and Keira Soleore, editors

Darius by Grace Burrowes
Sourcebooks, Casablanca
Deb Werksman, editor

Dark Angel: A Gothic Fairy Tale by T J Bennett
Entangled Publishing, Edge
Liz Pelletier and Shannon Godwin, editors

Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt
Grand Central Publishing
Amy Pierpont, editor

The Lady and the Laird by Nicola Cornick
Harlequin, HQN
Ann Leslie Tuttle, editor

Love and Other Scandals by Caroline Linden
HarperCollins Publishers, Avon Books
Lyssa Keusch, editor

The Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas
Berkley Publishing Group
Wendy McCurdy, editor

Never Desire a Duke by Lily Dalton
Grand Central Publishing, Forever
Michele Bidelspach, editor

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean
HarperCollins Publishers, Avon Books
Carrie Feron, editor

Plaid Tidings by Mia Marlowe
Kensington Publishing Corp., Zebra
Alicia Condon, editor

A Rake’s Midnight Kiss by Anna Campbell
Grand Central Publishing, Forever
Amy Pierpont, editor

The Rogue’s Proposal by Jennifer Haymore
Grand Central Publishing, Forever
Selina McLemore, editor

Sins of a Ruthless Rogue by Anna Randol
HarperCollins Publishers, Avon Books
Tessa Woodward, editor

Sonata for a Scoundrel by Anthea Lawson
Self-published

Golden Heart Awards

Charlene and the Duchess Factory by Lenora Bell

The Earl Next Door by Charis Calhoon

A Haunting Desire by Julie Mulhern

Much Ado about Scandal by Jillian Lark

The Seer by Gwynlyn MacKenzie

A Soldier’s Serenade by Ellen Lindseth

The Unseducible Earl by Sheri Humphreys

Wicked Things by Laura Trentham

A Wild and Wicked Wind by Laura Trentham