Love is in the air

The 2013 beneficiaries of the Literacy Autographing are ProLiteracy Worldwide, Literacy Action Inc., an Atlanta group, and Literacy Volunteers of Atlanta.

Note: Preregistration has ended for the Romance Writers of America conference, taking place Wednesday-Saturday at the Marriott Marquis. On-site registration will be available, though limited spots are open.

Sigh. At 5:30 Wednesday night, one particular spot in Atlanta becomes the most romantic place in the country, at least for a couple of hours.

It's the Atrium Level of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, which will be lousy with lingering looks and lustfully heaving bosoms of the leaping-off-the-page variety, courtesy of the Romance Writers of America. The organization dedicated to the biggest and fastest-growing sector of the book industry kicks off its 2013 conference here with a massive autographing session that's open to the public and features more than 450 authors.

The “Readers for Life” event — so big, it sprawls across three ballrooms and requires the writers to sit in alphabetical order — is an annual fundraiser for literacy organizations, including, this year, two in Atlanta. There’s no admission fee, but attendees are asked to purchase books at the event, instead of toting armloads of titles from home.

Scheduled signers include some of the genre's superstars, like Nora Roberts, Jude Deveraux and even best-selling crime novelist Lisa Gardner (with its numerous subgenres, ranging from Amish and paranormal to historical and suspense, "romance" is a somewhat elastic category). There'll also be some hometown big-hitters, like Atlantan Mary Kay Andrews (The New York Times best-seller's latest is "Ladies' Night") and east Cobb's Wendy Wax of "While We Were Watching Downton Abbey" fame.

And somewhere in the middle of the pack will be Jennifer McQuiston. The Decatur resident and CDC epidemiologist will be signing copies of her debut Victorian-era historical romance novel, "What Happens in Scotland," and — not to sound too romance novel-ish about it, or anything — marveling over her sudden change of fortune.

“Every other year that I’ve been to the conference, I wandered through the aisles and stopped and squealed and gushed over all the authors I’d been reading,” chuckled McQuiston, whose second book comes out in September. “I was such a rabid fan girl, and now I’m one of them.”

Make no mistake about it: “They” are a force to be reckoned with. Romance fiction generated $1.438 billion in estimated revenue in 2012, double that of the runner-up, religion/inspirational ($717.9 million).

About 2,100 people are registered for the conference, many of them aspiring authors like Piper Huguley, an English department lecturer at Spelman College. She doesn’t yet have a publisher for her novel, “A Champion’s Heart”; but as a finalist for one of the prestigious Golden Heart and RITA awards to be handed out at a glittery ceremony on Saturday night, she’s already won a coveted first crack at arranging one-on-one meetings with the literary agents and acquiring editors from major publishers who flock to the four-day conference in search of new (and newly available) talent.

Even veteran authors come to "RWA" to meet with publishers, reconnect with peers (there are lots of parties scheduled) and attend or teach any of the dozens of workshops being offered on topics as diverse as "Crack the Librarian Code: How to Get Your Books on Library Shelves" and "Writing Sex and Writing It Well."

Or “Stranger Than Fiction,” the Saturday morning workshop that McQuiston, now a supervisor of elite “disease detectives” (aka Epidemic Intelligence Service officers) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will teach.

“There may be something you don’t know about, but want to write about,” said McQuiston, who’s persuaded four fellow EIS officers to take part. “I’ve even got someone who’s been on Ebola outbreaks!”