Blog tour: Tuesday I’m being interviewed at Long and Short Reviews (LASR). I’ll be back there tomorrow on their loop for an Author Chat. You need to join the LASR e-mail loop to attend the author chat.  The Pink Heart Society Book Club is also discussing Butterfly Swords today–come by to see their review and give your thoughts and questions about Butterfly Swords.

Also, my friend and fellow Authors of Asian Novels member, Victoria Dixon, is featuring Butterfly Swords all week with a review, giveaway, and interview. Come on over to the Ron Empress blog.

Reviews and mentions: All About Romance gave Butterfly Swords and A- Review and marked it as a Desert Island Keeper. That one had people so excited that they were e-mailing me to see if I’d seen it. On the same day, Barbara Vey of PW’s Beyond Her Book blog blurbed Butterfly Swords. They don’t review, they blurb, and it was a nice one. I remember Barbara explaining the blurbing process to  me. 🙂

Sarah from Smart Bitches gave Butterfly Swords a nice mention on her inaugural blog for Kirkus’ new romance blog. Victoria Dixon also posted a review at Historical Novel Review.

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Sorry it took so long to get to the meat of the post. The mentions last week and this one are a nice hurrah to end my debut release month.

I was at the New Jersey Put Your Heart in a Book conference last weekend. It was so nice to go to so many workshops. I really miss that about Nationals since things are so busy. Saturday was an all day string of classes, all about writing. I’m a student at heart and I gobbled it up. Now I have ideas about how to ramp up the worldbuilding in my paranormal after attending Jessica Andersen’s workshop and Sherry Thomas’ workshop on chemistry has me refocusing and rethinking how I handle romantic progression.

Here’s me and my CP Amanda Berry, being suitably nerdy

One of the best parts was the signing, where I had several unexpected meetings. The most memorable was when a woman came up to me with a big grin. “I won the swords!” she announced.

Professional Romance Reader, Stephanie Hyacinth

It was Stephanie, self-proclaimed professional romance reader, whose name was drawn as the Grand Prize winner of the butterfly swords. Of course, she didn’t have them with her since I’d just shipped them. She didn’t realize I’d be there at the signing, but I’m glad she sought me out.

The wonderful ladies from VFRW were there as well. Several bought the book in preparation for next year as Butterfly Swords was their book club selection. Many other members who already had the book came by say hi and congratulate me. “We’re claiming we discovered you,” they told me excitedly. Claim away.

And author and reviewer Katie Babs also stopped by so I got to thank her for reviewing Butterfly Swords. She had a little stuffed sheep that was adorable. That was completely non-sequiter, I know. My Little Sis loves sheep.

Jeannie with author and book blogger, Katie Babs/KT Grant

A couple of readers at the signing did say that they were buying my book because of review sites. Specifically cited: Dear Author and Mrs. Giggles.

Of course, the lovely Romance Divas as well as the Ruby-Slippered Sisters had a presence at the conference. Autumn Jordon won the Golden Leaf award for Best First Book for Evil’s Witness. We were all so proud. This is the first published award a Ruby has won, I believe.

Autumn Jordan with her Golden Leaf award for Best First Book

The NJRW conference committee even had little gift bags for the signing authors. I got me a book horse.

I think I would have sold the last 3 copies for sure had the horse been with me from the beginning

Wonderful conference! I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants an alternative to RWA Nationals. Because of the proximity to New York, the editor and agent panels rivaled what you’d see at Nationals and the speakers were first rate. They even had several tracks for published authors which focused on promotion and the business side of publishing. A well-organized conference, good for writers for any level.

Lesson learned: Experienced authors lure readers with candy at signings.