The year was 2020, when the COVID-19 health concern hit an all-time high pandemic in America. Events around the nation, businesses, and the population as a whole were put on mandatory pause, leaving us all concerned for not only our health but our financial well-being as a nation as well. It reads like a scene from a book instead of real-life, leaving us all scratching our heads and wondering why the toilet paper was the first thing off the grocery store shelves instead of the soap!

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Message to the RSJ Family During COVID-19

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” –Albert Einstein

Hi Everyone,

I pray that all of you and your families are safe and finding a way to remain positive and encouraged during these very troubled times in our country. We want to thank you for your patience as we handled our obligations with our vendors and sponsors before making our official announcement.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much pressure that took off of our staff; you guys are the best. 

I’m sure it comes as no surprise that there will not be an in-person conference this year in light of the seriousness of the current COVID-19 epidemic. We’re taking precautions and postponing the Norfolk, Virginia conference until 2021. Official dates will likely not be the same in that we feel it is in the best interest of our RSJ community to postpone gathering in-person as long as possible. We’ve spoken to the hotel venue, and anyone who had a hotel room booked under the RSJ block will automatically be cancelled. Now, does that mean that the 2020 RSJ Romance Book Conference is completely cancelled?  Nope, find out more below about workshops, refunds, and more.

2020 RSJ – Virtual Book Lovers’ Conference

Workshops for the 2020 Romance Book Conference are officially going online. Welcome to RSJ’s Virtual Book Lover’s Con. Meaning that you’ll still get to:

• participate in many of the workshops online, 
• get chance drawings to win free kindles, 
• have the choice of receiving swag, and . . . 
• authors interested in traditional publishing will still get an introduction to Harlequin and Entangled Publishing if they wish to pitch their book to an editor for publishing.  

We thought it was ever so important to make sure that you got many of the same connections that you would have gotten in-person. As we’re in essence, having to shift gears, 2020 RSJ dates may be slightly altered; Virtual dates will be announced soon.  

With the COVID-19 “Stay-At-Home” actions in place, our mindsets are taking a beating as many in our country are losing loved ones, friends, and neighbors at an unbelievable rate leaving others running scared. Anxiety is hovering over us all as many are also finding both their safety and financial stability at risk. And the reality of not knowing how one will survive the upcoming months makes it even more critical for RSJ to provide support, encouragement, a sense of optimism, and help you find a bit of joy throughout this mess.

The situation of the nation related to the COVID-19’s continual changes has us thinking and rethinking what we should do as we move forward. Here are some of the details so far:  

What will registrants get for participating in the virtual 2020 RSJ Romance Book Conference?

Virtual Workshops:  Facilitators and Sponsors will teach the same workshops as planned but online instead.  Authors will also be placed on either panel discussions, featured book clubs, or in a game. Anyone who pre-registered for 2020 RSJ, will get both the 2020 Virtual RSJ conference experience and the 2021 Romance Book conference as well. Yep, you can consider both paid-in-full. View it as a 2 for one offer. With this being the debut of RSJ virtual conferences, we felt that it was only fair and a thank you for your trust and commitment to RSJ.

Anyone who does not fall into this category will be charged a fee to have access to any of the 2020 RSJ virtual workshops. Scholarships for those in serious financial difficulty may be considered.  So if you have any book lover friends who’d like to join us online, it’s not too late to participate in the 2020 RSJ virtual experience. You’ll get your 2020 RSJ Virtual Box with games and worksheets right before the virtual conference begins.  Dates for 2021 RSJ as of yet are not determined. We’re looking at being well into 2021 before having an in-person romance book conference.  With all that we have planned, this gives our 2020 registrants over a years worth of value.

Souvenir Items and Swag: Any T-shirts, tote bags, books, or physical materials we decide to provide for the conference will ship to 2020 registered attendees at no additional cost. As items should be handled with care, registrants will have the option to choose if they would like to receive physical items or not.   

Drawings and Prizes: 2020 registered attendees will automatically be added to any drawing for prizes we conduct throughout the 2020 RSJ virtual conference experience. We’re sitting on a ton of Amazon gift cards, books, and kindles that are not going to giveaway themselves. Winners will have the option to accept shipments or not.  

Promo Opportunities: We are creating more ways for romance book exposure by creating new media and grouping platforms to work together for more opportunities to get your brand across the booklover network and into readers’ hands. This means more media coverage in search engines like google and more exposure for diversity in literature and romance books. It will be an excellent opportunity for authors, book club groups, entrepreneurs, and industry professionals to stay ready and connected as more and more readers are stuck in their homes searching the internet for what to do and read next. Platforms where you might find yourself featured include:

• RSJconvention.com  – Virtual workshops & games
• STCCbookclub.com – Book discussions with the author  
• Unlimited RSJ – The RSJ souvenir book is going digital. The new digital flipbook will be published twice a year.  Don’t miss the holiday edition.
  
• TheWriteDNA.com – A book lover online magazine featuring an Unlimited RSJ column.
• Bookloverland Blog Tour – Consider this your author table. Vendors welcomed to join.
• The “Market Write Now” Network – A monthly think tank membership created to support authorpreneurs.

Whew! Yeah, it’s a lot, but as Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunities.” We’re reaching out to other networks and bloggers to work with the RSJ brand, which means working with you and for you. Any reader, author, or blogger interested in volunteering as an article contributor should reach out and let us know.  

“Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until much later.” – Bob Goff

Can I get a refund for the 2020 RSJ Romance Book Conference?

For those who have registered for 2020 RSJ, you have the option to leave your registration fee with us and consider your 2021 conference fee paid, which will lock in your cost to avoid paying any additional price for the 2021 conference should the conference price increase. You have the option to refund your registration as well. However, if you are like me, an avid reader and supporter to authors of color or need more exposure for your brand, you’ll want to stay connected to RSJ this year for the diversity in romance books that you crave and the exposure you deserve.

But I’m not tech savvy, what’s in the Virtual Romance Book Conference for me?

As the current atmosphere has caused us to shift quickly and swift into the virtual world, it’s presented some great opportunities to grow. I know that some of you are being dragged into the world of technology, kicking and screaming. Believe me, I completely understand.  But don’t worry, my team is here to guide you along the way. I can hear all my non-techies now . . .

Non-techies: “Go on without me. Save yourself!”

RSJ: “No, I’ll make it one-click easy for you. I won’t leave you behind; I’m taking you with me. We’re going to get through this together!”  

Yet, if you still don’t want to touch a computer, we’ll make some needed options for you as well available straight from your mobile phone to participate and remember, you’ve got your swag and virtual box of goodies as well. 

The changes have caused things to move fast in the planning stages. As such, with your best interest in mind, allow us to alter as needed. Well, I think you’re all caught up about the RSJ conference. I’m afraid that this is our new reality to settle into. And we can choose to wallow in our sorrows or pick ourselves up and be optimistic along the way.

“We may not have control over what happens, but we can control how we react to it.”

Thank you so much for being a part of the RSJ family.

Be Safe and Stay Well.  Let’s keep apart together!

Bonita Thornton
Chairperson RSJ

About RSJ Book Lovers’ Convention

The RSJ book lovers’ convention, also known as the Romance Slam Jam conference, is a book lovers extravaganza for readers galore who love celebrating romance and women’s fiction books featuring multicultural characters. The conference incorporates multiple events and workshops throughout 3-days bringing more stories of multicultural characters onto the shelves of readers while also offering the marketing and crafting help that authors want, the books that readers crave, and book lover friendships for a lifetime.

Want to know more about the RSJ Book Lovers’ Convention?  CLICK HERE