Interview of Dawn Roberto, Owner of LR Cafe's Loop

Today I'm pleased to present an interview of Romance Industry Representative, Dawn Roberto...who wears many "hats" and is a busy woman in the Romance Writing Community!

BIO:
Dawn Roberto is the owner of the LR Café yahoo loop and enjoys a good book or two on her downtime, what little there is anyways. Dawn enjoys giving support to all authors-GBLT or not-the chance to get their books out to readers and enjoys pimping her favorites to friends.

Website:
Senior Reviewer @ Love Romances & More Reviews
http://loveromancesandmore.blogspot.com
Blog:
LR Café Loop: http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/loveromancescafe
Dawn’s Reading Nook Blog: http://lovesbooksandmore.blogspot.com

Q: What motivated you to get involved in the romance industry?
A: I love to read and I enjoy meeting new authors, publishers and finding ike-minded people who enjoy reading just as much as I do. After reviewing for a few years I found I am pretty good at being an author’s cheerleader, of getting their books out into the world and it makes me happy to hear a person say “I got to read this!” after I may have mentioned or posted something on a book/author.

Q: Finish this sentence: Romance is.......
A: all about connections, emotions and more. Two incompatible people can be a mis-match but they could be the best thing for one another.

Q: Ebooks or print. Do you read both? If you read ebooks, what reader do you have?
A: I adore both formats actually. Some days I prefer a print book and other days, I need my nook simple touch e-reader if I have a few short stories to read. If my favorite ebooks are in print and I enjoy them, I will grab them in both formats-e-format and print.

Q: What do you consider is the best way for an author to do promos?
A: Depends on the author. All authors need to promote themselves regardless of how they feel they should just write the books and that is it. It’s just my opinion so please don’t kill me over it but you can’t rely just on your books. Readers like getting to know the authors, seeing what inspired them to write a certain book or create a favorite character. You need to put yourself out there and even if it’s once a month, this keeps you in the readers mind and that is where you want to be. I am a reader first and foremost and if I find an author that I never heard of, met in a chat or read about in a blog interview I will go visit their website, look up their work. This will have me, more than once, buying books by them. If I feel an author just doesn’t care for their readers and could care less in how to have a relationship with said readers I will bypass that author and their work. This is just my opinion really.

Q: What are your guidelines for a writer/author to submit a book/manuscript for a review?
A: Authors and publishers can email me off the LR&M Reviews blog or any one of the reviewers there for a review request. I want to stress that just because you send in a review request, it doe NOT mean it will get reviewed. Between print and e-book requests, we get anywhere from 100 or more a month and we just do not have the staff to review them all. If a reviewer wants it, the liaison or whomever you sent the request to will ask for a copy and then within 60 days, give or take, a review is done and ready to be posted once it goes to our editors for a quick overview before we post it to the review blog. Any questions, you can always email LR&M Reviews owner, Gina, for more information on reviews and even other items such as ad space or if you need a specific publisher liaison to contact. Just click on her name on the blog in order to contact her.

Q: Chats. How important do you feel it is for authors to take part in chats on loops or at other romance sites?
A: I think if you want readers to know about you and your books, you need to get out there even if it’s a 2 hour chat. You can reach readers you may not have ‘met’ before. Even if it’s once a quarter is, IMHO, a good thing.

Dawn, thanks for being here today!