RT closing its doors

Marissa D

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cool pop

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I'm sure it will leave a gap. They've been around 37 years it said in the email. I didn't know it had been that long. Wow. Another big change for the romance genre. Wonder why they are closing? Lack of support, etc? Maybe the shifting of romance from trade to self-publishing has affected a lot of the more traditional romance outlets. I'm just speculating of course.
 

Marissa D

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I think it was more the internet that killed them--why subscribe to a monthly magazine when you can read Smart Bitches Trashy Books or Dear Jane for free (and comment in real time)? They tried to combat that when they dropped their print edition a while back, but they never recovered.
 

amergina

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I heard that the people who founded the con are retiring.

There is a new reader/writer con starting by some of the folk who worked at RT, but it's invite only at the moment, which means it's almost entirely white and is entirely focused on m/f. http://www.bookloverscon.com/

Generally that's the issue with many of the invite-only author/reader cons: lack of diversity.

RT was, more and more, a very diverse reader/author convention, since it was big enough that a multitude of authors could sign up.
 

AW Admin

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There's such a large cross-over from the SF/F community; I wonder if a fan-run con would work?