Australian Romance Readers Association

The Australian Romance Readers Association is not only about readers. We are also a resource for authors - a way to reach romance readers in Australia. Here are some of the promotional opportunities ARRA offers to authors:

Newsletter

In August 2009 we launched the ARRA newsletter, Romancing the Tome, which is a mix of author interviews, reader reviews, profiles of authors, readers and bookstores, industry news and general romance articles. If you would like to have a peek, you can download Issue # 7.

If you have new releases coming out, have signed a deal - or have any other exciting news to share - our readers would love to hear about it. Please send details to our newsletter editor. And if ARRA Inc can help promote any book-signing or similar events you might be planning in Australia please let us know. We would be more than happy to get the word out to Australian romance readers to ensure a good attendance.

Romance reader survey

In September 2009 we ran the very first survey of Australian romance readers. We were really pleased by the number of people who completed the survey and the results were very interesting. You can read an article by Kat Mayo discussing the survey here. If you are interested you can also download full results of the survey.

Romance readers convention

The Australian Romance Readers Convention will continue as a biennial event. (If you missed ARRC09, check out the wrap-up in Issue 1 of our newsletter to see just how much fun you missed.) The next convention will be held in Sydney in 2011. We are already talking to potential keynote speakers and searching for a venue. We hope to be able to announce a date soon. If you are interested in attending please let us know. For those who aren't able to make it to Australia, there will also be opportunities to advertise in the program handbook, place gift items in the goodies bag, or send bookmarks and other promotional items for the goodies room.

Romance readers awards

The popular Australian Romance Readers Awards (first held at ARRC09) will continue as an annual event. Winners for 2009 were announced at the Awards Dinner, held in Sydney on 15 May 2010. You can view a full list of the finalists and winners here.

Guest blogging

We have introduced a guest blogger program, and hope that authors will join us to talk about their views on romance reading. Please contact our webmaster if you would like to be added to the guest blogger schedule.

Bookmark program

We are also trialling a bookmark mail-out program, where our members send us a stamped self-addressed envelope and we send them out a selection of the bookmarks we have received. If you are interested in sending us bookmarks or other promotional items please contact us (include 'Bookmarks' in the subject line) and we will send you further details.

Membership

For any Australian authors interested in joining the association it is still only $10 a year. All romance readers, including authors, are welcome to join. Membership entitles you to discounts on all ARRA Inc events, discounts at a number of independent bookstores, plus our exclusive monthly newsletter. Author members are also entitled to one free ½ column advertisement in the newsletter each calendar year, and will also have a click-through link placed on our website. You can download the membership form from here.

At this stage membership is only open to Australians, but we are investigating ways in which overseas readers and authors can be associated with ARRA, possibly as affiliate members. (The one exception, at this time, is for those who attended ARRC09, who will be approved for membership. If you attended ARRC09, and would like to join the association, you can download the membership form here).

We will be sending occasional updates on our activities to all authors on our mailing list. If you would like to be added to the mailing list, please email us.