Proud to be an A!

This article was originally posted on rainbowromancewriters.com/node/760 on 6/9/14

***Please visit RainbowRomanceWriters.com for more informative LGBT articles every week***

As we all know, June is gay pride month and that means a chance for every member of the LGBTQA community to shine like a fabulous rainbow. LOL Of course, there is also a lot of serious work happening as well, both in politics and education. Even in the virtual world, there is celebrating with publishers having sales, and writers hosting blog tours and giveaways.
But the truth is, most of my friends are busy losing weight, getting tan, selecting hot outfits, and getting ready to par-tay for Pride. In fact, that word, “Pride” holds enough weight in the LGBTQA community that it’s like saying Christmas to anyone else. Not only is it a feeling but it is the EVENT of the summer.
I've had the privilege of attending multiple Prides, Motor City Pride in Detroit, Stonewall Columbus Pride, and my hometown Pride, Toledo Pride, which isn't until Aug 22-24. Each festival has had its own special way for the community within a community to show their city that LGBTQA is more than just a social identifier. It is a vastly diverse group of people from the everyday folk to the fabulous.
Pssst!! Did you notice that today I am including the Questioning and the Allies into the LGBT alphabet soup? Wanna know why?
Because it is Pride season and I am proud to be an A!
That’s right, I'm an Ally. When I go to Pride I'm not an outsider or a mere observer. This middle-age straight women—God I hate saying that middle-age part, LOL—is a part of the alphabet.
While most of us do not like labels or stereotypes, darn it, I love being an A!
IMO, there's a big difference between being an Ally and merely saying that you support gay rights. To me, mere talk won't earn you the privilege of being in the LGBTQA alphabet. I'm not getting into too many deets on the subject, but I blogged about the topic once with a post entitled: “I’m cool that you’re gay, BUT....”, so if you're curious you can check that out. I not an Ally simply because I write gay romance, either. Deep in my bones I believe in equality and I've been known to be quite vocal in defending my gay bros and sistas. Have I offended some? Yes. Do I care? No. On an upbeat note (this post is all about the positive) I’ve also changed some minds and made others think about their words, too. The small victories are still wins.
That’s even our motto here at RRW—Changing minds one heart at a time.
Now I’m not here to list off my volunteer work or give myself props, I am just here to say:
I’m proud to be an A!
And next weekend, when I get my bags packed to go to Columbus Pride with my favorite A and G, we’re gonna grab a deep-dish pizza at Fabian’s in the Short North before we head off to a drag show with a cute pair of Ls. Then we’re gonna party like rock stars and regret it all in the morning, LOL Some of my fellow alphabet peeps will even get to see George Takei—Oh Myyy!—because he’s the Grand Marshall this year for the Columbus Pride parade #awesome. I'm thinking about getting a pedicure with little rainbows painted on my toes. Yeah, that’s how I roll.
Whatever we do, one thing is for certain, we are all excited about the chance to be surrounded by our happy and united community. That’s what Pride is about, after all.
Celebrating our beautifully diverse alphabet.
If you find the time this summer, I hope you can attend a Pride event near you. LGBTQA events are, by far, full of the most loving and accepting people you will ever meet. Like going to GRL or Rainbow Con with fellow writers, Pride is a spectacular way to get immersed in our fabulous community.
Happy Pride!

~Deanna—proud to be an A!



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2013 PRIDE EVENTS

Attention Authors: Need to get your name out there in the hands of thousands of people?

On June 22nd Stonewall Columbus Pride and on Aug 24th Toledo Pride 2013 are upon us. 

This year Rainbow Romance Writers and Naughty Edition Reviews have teamed up to get booths at both events and spread some promo love, raise awareness about LGBT fiction and have some fun. Several top publishers and book sellers have already generously donated money, gift cards and free books to our event.

Now we are looking for authors to join in on this great opportunity!

Pride events like these promote our community, area events, organizations, programs and businesses that support the LGBTQA community. Last year Columbus saw over 100,000 attendees and in Toledo there were about 8000. This year we are expecting more! There is no better way to get your name in front of so many potential fans than attending a Pride event.

Do you live in or near Ohio?

If you do we would be love to have you attend the event and promote your writing at our booth. 

Author participation costs: $50 for each festival.

Paypal link will be coming shortly

Why would you want to spend money to go to a Pride festival and work a booth?

Because the individual promotion opportunity is priceless. Authors will have the opportunity to meet fans, sign swag and sell books. 

Your swag will be prominently displayed. Our booth in Toledo last year was colorful, fun and drew a lot of attention.

This year we are giving away FOUR FREE E-READERS and authors will be able to pre-upload one of their books onto the devices, getting your books directly into the hands of a new reader. Everyone loves freebies and our booth will have great swag bags for attendees. We are hoping with generous promo donations, this year we will be able to fill at least 700 swag bags and 10 giveaway baskets. 100 of these bags we would like to make YA.

Last year we were like mini celebrities in the eyes of many people and not only did we all see an increase in book sales afterward, but we had an opportunity to let readers know how much great LGBT fiction is really available. And we had FUN!

What kinds of promo do we need?

Books! Books! Books!

Any new and gently used LGBT books, including YA would be gladly appreciated. We are in desperate need of lesbian fiction and promo. We are going to have a prize spinning wheel and lucky winners will take home books, one of four already donated e-readers, gift certificates or one of the 700 goodie bags we are looking to fill. No one will go home empty handed!!

**We cannot accept paper swag at this time**

There is one exception. Postcards with free download codes for ebooks or if it is a discount coupon. We would LOVE these types of donations. If you have a free story you want to promote, print up some postcards with your logo and the download link. Some authors even uploaded their stories onto CDs and we put those into the swag bags. Make sure you check with your publisher before you do any of this though! :)

Please, no bookmarks, cover flats and postcards. The point of the event is to get LGBT books both print and electronic into the hands of readers. At large public events paper swag without a freebie/coupon will get overlooked or thrown away therefore is a waste of the author's money. We want our bags to be considered valuable enough that people take them home and go thru them. A bag full of bookmarks sadly will be tossed into the nearest garbage can. This may sound harsh, but at a festival with a beer garden, 100K people celebrating and wandering around, only good swag bags will be kept by attendees.

Swag can be anything from the wild and untamed (scented condoms, glow sticks, penis shaped lollipops) to the tame (stickers, pens, chap-sticks, buttons, notepads) Large items such as t-shirts, mugs, etc we will put in gift baskets. If you want to send your own gift basket, that too is very okay.

We will be filling 500 goodie bags for Stonewall Columbus June 22, and 250 goodie bags for Toledo Pride Aug 24. And donations from 10-700 will be greatly appreciated.

Contact Deanna for mailing address. deanna.wadsworth@gmail.com with the words OHIO PRIDE PROMO in the subject line.

What is the deadline for mailing swag?

For Columbus, we must have all promo by June 8, 2013.

For Toledo we must have all promo by August 10, 2013

Our main goal is to get LGBT books into the hands of readers. We know not many authors can afford to travel and get themselves out there at conferences etc so this is a great promotional venue for new and established authors.

If you or someone you know might be interested please email either of us at Rayna@naughtyeditionreviews.com or deanna.wadsworth@gmail.com

Thank you for helping our community,

Rayna Scherer

Owner of Naughty Edition Reviews and Books

Deanna Wadsworth

Writer, RRW rep