A Comparison Of Two Inaugural Book Signings On Two Consecutive Weekends From A Reader's/Blogger's Perspective
I have had a crazy-busy few weeks. I wanted to take some time after two weekends in a row of book signings to pull my thoughts together and offer a comparison from a reader's/blogger's point of view.
Charm City Romanticon
Charm City Romanticon held its inaugural event on the weekend of March 25th. Tickets for this event cost $130 plus fees and included all panels and events on March 25th. Ticket price also included lunch and dinner on that Saturday date. Limited to 24 signing authors (including 2 author duos) and 140 reader tickets, this was a small and intimate event. It was held at the Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, Maryland. As a golf resort, it is slightly separated from town, but we found it was a short ride to all the city things one might need. There is a spa on the property, which I did not sample this time unfortunately, but I heard wonderful things about from others. There is one full service restaurant as well as a lounge with food and drink.
My daughter and I arrived on Thursday evening and were able to enjoy some time before the event meeting and visiting with other readers and authors. On Friday, we spent the day exploring Old Town Ellicott City. We relished in the history of the area and the quirky shops. We also enjoyed a casual lunch with two of my favorite attending authors (Jami Albright & Jess Bryant) and some other readers at a wonderful Mexican restaurant. During our stay we had breakfast and dinner at the restaurant and one dinner in the lounge on Friday night. The food at the resort and the service were exceptional. We were especially impressed that there were vegan options for my daughter who was fasting vegan for Lent. Food included in our ticket on Saturday was also delicious. Organizers were considerate prior to the event and made sure they had gluten-free and vegan options available for both meals. We were especially happy with the Saturday night food options. There was a cocktail and appetizer hour followed by a buffet. The appetizer hour included fruits and veggies for my daughter as well as some amazing dips and meatballs for me. The buffet offered both a taco bar that included a tofu protein option and a pasta bar with veggie options. All of the food was amazing. There was a cash bar available also beginning with the cocktail hour.
Readers Take Denver
Readers Take Denver held its inaugural event March 30th through April 2nd at the Grand Hyatt in Denver, Colorado. My ticket, purchased early, cost me $250 and included all panels and most events. There were a couple of events that had an additional ticket cost. There were also several included events that I was required to RSVP to attend. (Unfortunately, those RSVP tickets were not checked on admission, leading to very crowded events with not enough seating.) With nearly 200 authors scheduled to sign and close to 1400 tickets sold, this was a very large event. The Grand Hyatt hosted a lobby bar, and one full service restaurant.
The event had catered grab-and-go lunch and dinner options available for purchase. Friday's lunch drew a huge crowd and it was impossible to get through the single line in a timely manner. They made some changes for Saturday lunch though the food options were the same. I opted for another food source instead of the grab-and-go that day. I found the lunch option decent. A pizza party which included 2 slices of pizza was available on Friday night. I found the quality of my two pieces to be almost as good as a basic frozen pizza. I ate dinner in the restaurant on Saturday night and I found the food to be acceptable but the service slow. Cash bars were plentiful throughout the event in several locations. There was also an oxygen bar in the second building during set hours for anyone adjusting to Denver's high altitude.
The event was divided between two separate floors and several rooms in the Hyatt, and the 38th floor of the building next door (555 building), also utilizing several rooms.
I decided to break down each event into parts and pieces for comparison purposes below.
Charm City included a free keepsake autograph book in the swag bag I received at registration. It included each attending and sponsoring author on their own pages listed alphabetically. It boasted a short author bio, a list of that author’s books with check boxes, a picture, and a QR code to the author's page. There was ample room for stickers and author autographs. There were also several lined pages at the back of the book to make notes as I spoke to authors.
I had plenty of time in the 2 1/2 hours of the signing to meet authors and get everyone's signature. I adored this. It was absolutely on of the favorite things I have ever seen at a signing and it will be a cherished memento for me. The only thing I would have added would have been a page with a schedule overview to reference.
Readers Take Denver offered an autograph book for sale through Amazon before the event and in several places at the event. I ordered mine in advance at a cost of $25. It gave two pages to each attending author listed alphabetically. Aside from the author's name, it was blank leaving a lot of room for signatures and stickers. There are also several blank pages included at the back of the book for notes and a section titled memories.
Due to the size of this signing, I have a whole lot of blank pages in my book. In hindsight, I probably would have been better off with the 9x14 cardstock I usually have signed since I didn't come close to seeing all the authors. I will talk more about this later.
Panels are one of my favorite parts of a signing. Charm City offered three panels labeled A,B,C. Readers choose a starting point when they purchase their tickets and rotate through all panels. Because I purchased C tickets for this event, I rotated C, A, B. The rotation to the panels was clockwise and the rooms were close together. There was a 15 minute break between panels allowing plenty of time for a restroom or refreshment break. The authors were divided into the three groups and every reader got to hear every author on a panel before the signing. They were moderated with general questions as well as questions garnered from the attendee group leading up to the event. There was an appropriate number of microphones and the sound system was perfect in each of the three panels. I never had any trouble hearing either questions or answers.
My adult daughter attended this event with me as her first signing. Though her go-to genre is not normally romance, she loved the panels. She left them knowing a little bit about each author and had already selected authors she just had to meet and learn more about their books. She purchased several books at the signing as a result of the panels.
(She was especially intrigued by Suanne Laqueur, a last minute author addition who I have not read yet. She bought books from her and had a wonderful conversation. I spoke to my daughter last night, two weeks after the event. She was currently 2/3 through one of Sueanne's books and absolutely loving it.)
Like a lot of big signings, Readers Take Denver offered many panels. At times there were up to six panels in a time slot from which to choose. These panels were divided topically so readers could hear a topic or see an author that interested them. There were 15 minute breaks between panel sessions, which allowed readers to change locations (if needed) to get to the next panel. Choosing what panel or event to attend was sometimes difficult. Often there were several in a slot I wanted to attend. Other times, my first choice was overflowing and standing room only by the time I got there, and I moved on to a different panel instead. I am unsure if there was not an adequate sound system or perhaps the rooms themselves were overly large, but in each panel I attended it was very difficult to hear the questions and the answers. In addition to FOMO in selecting panels, this lead to some frustration for me. What I could hear was enjoyable. Panels are always a fun way to learn more about authors, and in one case the narrators. I would say that the Aural Candy narrator panel was my favorite of the weekend.
Some of the panels also overlapped with other events. For example, the Mini-Signing Cocktail Event included pop-up author signings. It ran two hours and completely overlapped with twelve panels.
The Charm City signing room was well organized but a little crowded once readers entered the room. Speaking with organizers, this has already been addressed for next year with a larger room for the same amount of authors and readers. I loved getting to meet and speak with every author. I am pretty terrible about getting pictures, but I know this and I promise to do better. Lines were not an issue and ticketing authors or having wristbands was completely unnecessary. It was the most low-to-no-stress signing I have ever attended. Ellicott City is known as Charm City and organizers included a bracelet in our swag bag. Authors were encouraged to bring charms for readers which represented something about them or their books. As a reader it was wonderful to collect the charms as I met the authors and build my bracelet after the event. There was also a free option for readers to leave their bracelets and charms with the volunteers and pick them up completed at the evening Pajamaramapalooza. Organizers also included a Slipper Bingo sheet which included a pair of slippers that related to each author as a talking point. Many authors and readers are introverted and this was an excellent ice breaker. For every BINGO obtained, a reader received an additional ticket to place in the door prize drawings. And there were a lot of them. Readers also had the option to purchase additional tickets to the door prize drawings. All of the profits ($650) were then donated to a scholarship fund for WKD Karate 4 Girls.
I wanted to include the pictures I took with authors at the signing as well as my bracelet. Since my daughter has a match, this is a special thing for me.
At Readers Take Denver, there were two ballrooms open for the entire signing event on both Friday and Saturday. Each day's signing was 2 1/2 hours. At registration, readers were assigned a number for each building's ticketed author sections. Ticketed authors were divided between three rooms on the third floor of the Hyatt and three rooms on the 38th floor of the 555 building next door. Organizers used groups on What's App to notify attendees of the numbers being called to each area. I thought that the app notification worked very well. This did not completely eliminate lines for ticketed authors though. Even though organizers asked that readers limit signed items to five for each turn in line, several authors chose not to enforce this. Once I made my way to the 38th floor, it was to stand in lines to pick up my preorders and meet authors to sign anthologies I brought from home. By the time I had successfully navigated that, Friday’s signing was over. Some authors also left the ticketed area before the actual end of the signing, which was frustrating. All of the thriller/crime authors were on the ticketed floor and I feel like they probably did not get the traffic they might have otherwise had if readers had had more access to them. I would have loved to meet some of them and learn about their books.
I began Saturday on the Hyatt third floor since my number had been called at the end of Friday while I was still next door on the 38th floor. After more than half of my time of Saturday’s signing was spent between ticketed authors on the third floor and the narrators, I scrambled to see authors in the main rooms. I also opted to skip some panels to attend the mini-signing event in the afternoon in an attempt to meet more authors.
I counted 213 authors on the seating charts. There were several last minute cancellations, so I know the actual number of authors was lower than that. I met and got signatures from 59 authors. Rounding up, that is only 28%. In all of the Southern Belle events I have attended, and the past two years at Indies Invade Philly, I have been able to meet every author and narrator. Even at Book Bonanza last year, I saw more authors and narrators (nearly double) than I did in Denver. I found that though I was able to get all my preorders and anthology signatures, I missed getting time to meet new-to-me authors and to buy books from their tables. There were several authors I wanted to meet that I never saw at all. This was disappointing for me.
I have given a lot of thought to the contributing factors to my low number of authors met. One factor was definitely the elevators. There were crazy lines for the elevators and a lot of lost time waiting. I discovered late, and not from the organizers, that there were escalators from the first to the third floor of the Hyatt. I feel like if this had been more well known it could have cut down on elevator traffic in the main building.
I did a better job taking pictures in Denver. I was thrilled to see Christina Hovland again. She was the very first author I met in person after driving to Grand Junction, Colorado, for a small signing at Barnes & Noble in February 2020. I am one of her biggest fans so seeing her again was a real treat. I also got to meet Catherine Bybee (who is much taller than I expected). She was a unicorn author for me to meet. When I started reading romance again in 2017 while my mom was sick, I found her. I binged everything she had. She holds some of the responsibility for my romance addiction today. I also loved meeting Delancey Stewart for the first time. She was so nice! Speaking of nice: Elsie Silver was adorable! She was incredibly sweet and accommodating. I also finally met S. Jones after corresponding with her on her last release. I love meeting people in person after I “meet” them online. I did wait in lines to meet Kristen Ashley, Meghan Quinn (always wonderful to see) and T.L. Swan. It was a joy to see Amy Daws again and get my preorder on the heels of the release of her book Wait With Me (my first book I read of hers) being released on PassionFlix. The cast was also there and it seemed like they were all really enjoying the event. At the mini-signing I met Chiquita Dennie. What a wonderful lady! I could seriously hang out with her all day.
Charm City had one organized event outside of the panels and signing. It was a gala that included dinner and dancing but also encouraged everyone to dress comfortably. Pajamas of all kinds were welcomed. Casual clothing and comfortable shoes after a long day was a fun and relaxing way to mingle together. Because the atmosphere was so relaxed, it allowed readers and authors time to talk together while eating or over drinks in an unstructured environment. It was my favorite extra event at a signing to date.
At Readers Take Denver, extra events included welcome events, two dance parties, a casino night, two movie premieres (one with a red carpet event), and a VooDoo Donut goodbye party. There were also two private wine tasting events with authors that required additional purchased tickets. Other events that required an RSVP but not additional cost were Cupcakes and Champagne with Kristen Ashley and Crumbl Cookies & Chats with Meghan Quinn. The event included a Book Cover Breakfast Cakes and Coffee event. This was actual cake at 8am. Though they were pretty, eating any of that would have been a very bad start to my day so I went back to my room for breakfast instead.
A couple of thought on the events:
- There was Author, Narrator, and Influencer Mixer on Thursday night prior to the Welcome Party. When I inquired about attending I was told that it was an application process and only influencers with more that 15,000 followers were accepted. My little blog is chugging away but I will be shocked silly if I ever hit 15K followers. Just sayin'.
- The breakfast cake idea was terrible and wasteful. I know I am not the only one who did not want cake at 8 am.
- The dance parties, especially Friday night, were not well attended. Having Saturday's signing in the morning most certainly impacted the Friday event.
- The Red Carpet Premiere was a mess. I was with a group of ladies. We all dressed up to get a group shot on the red carpet. We stood in line a long time. By the time we got to the photo-op section, we were rushed, not given a chance to be together (they split the group into two sections), not given a chance to hand our phone over, and the final pictures were AWFUL! After the chaos, we opted not to see the movie. Instead we had dinner at the hotel restaurant and made our way back to the red carpet after the crowd cleared to get our picture.
- Casino night looked fun but there were not enough tables for everyone to play. We watched for a while though and it was entertaining.
- Kristen Ashley's Cupcakes and Champagne event was one of the events where RSVPs were not checked. Though my friend and I had our tickets to the event, there was no seating. We opted to miss the event once we saw that. Instead we retired to our rooms to do some packing.
- I also missed the Crumbl Cookie event. I heard from other readers that it was crowded chaos.
- The VooDoo Donut goodbye party was better. Unfortunately, the sound system issues persisted and hearing the speakers was very difficult. The donut was delicious though.
- There was a silent auction to raise money for Julie's Friends. This organization offers financial aid to low-income families whose pets need non-emergency medical care. I never knew were it was or how to participate.
- Having events that overlapped was not fun for me. That might be a me thing.
I loved the casual atmosphere at Charm City. Meeting authors and other readers everywhere I went was a blast. I loved introducing my daughter to the romance community in that setting.
Some of my favorite things:
- Authors stopping by my dinner table to say hi.
- Catching up with a group playing tourist and having lunch
- Breakfast conversations with reader friends.
- Having my daughter meet so many of the people I interact with every day online and recognize them for the important roles they play in my life.
Casual time in Denver was a little different. We had to squeeze a lot of it in during events we were missing.
Some of my favorite things:
- Exploring the hotel (and finding all of my friend Emily Silver's book ads)
- Making friends while standing in line
- Catching dinner with a group of old and new friends instead of watching a movie premiere
In Conclusion:
Both events are being planned again for 2024. Next year they will also be only a short time apart from each other. After two consecutive weekend signings this year, I am not sure I want to do that again. Both the financial and emotional wear and tear on my introvert soul was a lot. I found value in it this year for comparison purposes. I learned a lot about myself too. I learned what was important to me when I attend a signing. I went into Charm City with less stress than any other signing I have ever attended. I went into Denver with more stress than I had going into Book Bonanza last year, and that was a lot. I was terrified I wouldn't get all my preorders.
Charm City Romanticon will be held April 6. 2024 at Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, Maryland. Tickets are on sale for $130.
Tickets are available here:
Readers take Denver is planning to be held April 18-April 24, 2024. They are changing locations to the Gaylord Rockies in Aurora. Tickets are starting at $300 for the main events with additional events that will require a purchased ticket. So far an optional dinner with an author can be purchased for $125. I am hopeful that the new location will remedy some of the issues caused by having the signing spread out to so many areas this year.
Tickets are available here:
Personally, I enjoyed Charm City more by far. The volunteers were helpful and ever present. I always know where to be and when. Communication was excellent. I loved the intimate and small atmosphere. It felt more like a gathering of friends than an event. I felt like the value for the ticket, even with the smaller number of authors, was money well spent. I have already purchased my ticket for next year.
Denver was huge. One advantage of a big signing is that it can pull in some big name authors like Kristen Ashley and T.L.Swan. Readers who want to meet a unicorn author may have to attend a big signing to do so. Catherine Bybee signing at RTD was influential on my attendance of this event. The volunteers were not always as helpful as they should have been. I witnessed and heard of some atrocious behavior by some of them. Many had no idea how to answer questions by readers or authors. I blame this on volunteer training. Table charts had last minute changes that were not well advertised. This placed some authors who should have been easy to find in places that were difficult to find. Overall, communication for the event was primarily done through the Facebook group. Though this can be effective, in this case the page was so incredibly busy that important information was often buried and next to impossible to find. Speaking to authors in Denver allowed me to hear some of their frustrations too. I am hopeful that the organizers take their feedback into consideration for next year's event. Financially, I felt like I laid out a lot of expense for a minimal return.
My hope in this comparison is that readers will consider what is important to them when choosing to attend a signing, and to hopefully help them find a signing that is a good fit for them. Let me know if you have questions about these events. I will do my best to answer them.
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