It’s the RITA Nominations Call Day!

Today is the day! Authors everywhere are trying not to look at their phones while they wait for a call to tell them they’ve been nominated for a RITA® or a Golden Heart.

For those of you who are new to the site, the RITA® awards are kind of like the Oscars®, but for romance writers. The award is given out by the Romance Writers of America for books in different genre categories published in the previous year (so for this year, the award is for books published in 2016).

After the nominees are announced, we put together our annual RITA® Reader Challenge, where we let YOU, the readers, review the nominees on the site.

Every year, we try to make the process better than the year before. Last year, we collected email addresses so we could stay in touch regarding review deadlines, and we’ve used a spreadsheet listing all the nominees and the due dates for reviews.

We also received feedback that guidance and suggestions on how to write the reviews themselves would be helpful – and we certainly have ideas about that topic, no question. So this year, we’re using a newsletter. The newsletter will be sent out weekly once the challenge starts and will include reminders for book reviews that are nearing their due dates, along with reviewing tips, suggestions, and advice.

Those who sign up for the newsletter will also get first crack at the review sign up sheet before we post it on the site! And of course, we absolutely solemnly swear that the email addresses we collect will ONLY be used for correspondence for the RITA challenge. We won’t share your email with anyone, nor will we spam you.

For a refresher on the RITA® Reader Challenge, here is a quick and dirty explanation.

Basics:

There are 9 different review deadlines, spanning every ten days. We start with the books that are a little shorter to give those who wish to read longer titles more time to read.

We’re asking readers/reviewers to fill out a short contact form. This is purely to send out deadline reminders. We will not use this information for anything else, and we won’t sell it to or share it with anyone – not even if they promise unlimited book budgets and a lifetime supply of dark chocolate.

We’re limiting the reviews to 2 per book to help keep from flooding the site. These reviews will be posted throughout the week, leading up to the next deadline. If we’ve already reviewed the book on the site, then only one slot will be open for a reviewer.

You can sign up for more than one book, though of course, sharing is caring!

And of course, here is our newsletter sign up! Once the nominees are announced, we will set up the review sign-up sheet.

Good luck to those who are waiting for phone calls today, and thank you to everyone who has asked about this year’s RITA Reader Challenge!

NB: The form wasn’t confirming submissions earlier, but if you signed up, you should have received an email from Amanda that read, “2017 RITA Reader Challenge: Please Confirm Subscription.”

We use double opt-in to make sure you want to be subscribed. In that email should be a link to confirm your subscription. If you didn’t receive that email, please check your spam, or try signing up again. And if all else fails, please feel free to email Sarah!