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. We generally run news on deals and new releases two months ahead, so please give us plenty of notice.

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.

The survey for 2010 closed on 15 October 2010 and results are available here.

The survey for 2011 closed on 13 October 2011 and results are available here.

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 second convention was held in Bondi Beach, Sydney on 25-27 March 2011, and information is available here.

The third Australian Romance Readers Convention will be held at the Mercure Hotel in Brisbane on 1-3 March 2013 and the committee is now hard at work on the program. Any authors who would like to express interest in being part of the program email us.

Romance readers awards

The popular Australian Romance Readers Awards (first held at ARRC09) will continue as an annual event. Winners for 2010 were announced at the Awards Dinner, held in Sydney on 26 March 2011 and you can view a full list of the finalists and winners here.

Tickets for the 2012 dinner are now on sale. See Awards page for more details.

Guest blogging

We have introduced a guest blogger program, and hope that authors will join us to talk about their views on romance reading. Our regular guest blogging day is Sunday, and you can check our blog for openings in the schedule. Please contact our webmaster if you would like to be added to the guest blogger schedule.

Membership

All authors are welcome to join ARRA.

Australian authors can join as full members, which 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.

Overseas authors (and readers) can now join ARRA as associate members. Associate members have the same entitlements as full members, except for voting rights. You can download the associate 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.