This past weekend, I attended the debut author/reader event, ROMANCE in CNY, in Utica, New York.

And I have a few thoughts…

For a debut event – and let me repeat that for those in the back of the room – DEBUT EVENT, the entire day was perfect. The event was extremely well attended by readers of all romance reading ilks; the authors were varied in their writing genres within romance, and plentiful – I think over 60 were in attendance. Two of the hotel’s ballrooms were used, so the authors were able to spread out and not feel like sardines in a can. This made it a more enjoyable experience for the readers as well as they were not pushing and shoving around one another to get to their fav’s table. If you’ve never been to an author booksigning, you can’t imagine what carnage ensues when rooms and tables are packed to the hilt and you can’t get to your fav author. As an author, I never want to disappoint a reader who is looking to speak to me or buy a book, and at some events, this happens due to cramping the room.

There were multiple vendors who were in attendance as well, selling everything from sweet treats to tote bags. I gained weight just passing one of the tables featuring cupcakes, cake pops, and other delicious baked treats!

The Podcast SEX. LOVE. Literature was in attendance for the day and hosted two author panel discussions on romance tropes, one of which I was honored to participate in as a guest.

The event organizers provided a light breakfast/snack fare for the authors – which was so thoughtful – and the myriad of volunteers were constantly walking around asking if the authors needed anything. You have no idea how wonderful that is unless you’ve spent 5 hours on your feet without a bathroom break or a bottle of water in a hot, overstuffed room filled with too many authors and readers and all cramped together because the event organizer oversold the event. I have, and do know what that feels like. It’s not pleasant in the least!

The volunteers were all wonderful and truly wanted to be there – another plus!

A local tattoo artist was in attendance and I saw many readers walking around with seran wrap on their arms to protect their new – bookish themed – tatoos from NEVERMORE TATTOOS

One of the highlights of the day were the puppies. Yes, I said Puppies! A local pet adoption group, ROVER’S SO OVER RESCUE AND RETREAT had 4 puppies come in and love on everyone. The pups were up for adoption and if I could have – I would have taken all 4!! Here’s one of the little darlings, Enzo:

Many of you may know that I was using this booksigning as an attempt to raise money for a dear friend of mine whose house burned to the ground on Easter Sunday. There is a Gofund me page set up for her and her family and I wanted to use the proceeds from the sale of my books to help her. Unfortuntately, I didn’t sell as many books as I wanted, but I am going to continue using my book sales this month to help, so if you want to offer assistance in any way, you can donate to the GoFund me page, or order books directly from me on this website and I will donate the proceeds.

All in all, the event was a top five author signing for me – maybe even top 3! I have already filled out and submitted a request form to come back to next year’s signing!

Brava Chrissy Kullman and all the wonderful people who made this event happen. Thank you for an amazeballs day!