Sponsorship, Swag, Signing and Author Events Information and Signup - Rainbow Readers Cruise 2025

Email questions to Rich - richnajuch@gmail.com

Hello Rainbow Readers 2025 Authors and Narrators!

For the 2025 Rainbow Readers Cruise we have a variety of Author/Narrator engagement and sponsorship opportunities. I’ve listed them below - please use the below form to indicate your interest in the various opportunities!

There are no charges or fees from the Rainbow Readers Conference for any of the sponsorship opportunities. Some opportunities do however have a financial investment through providing prizes for particular events.

In the interest of providing the Readers the best experience possible, registered Authors and Narrators are not eligible to win any theme nights or prize events.

Please take a few minutes to review the opportunities and fill out the interest form at the bottom of the page. Rich will then contact you to coordinate!

2025 Sponsorship/Hosting Opportunities

Theme Nights

There are four theme nights for the cruise - three of them available for Author/Narrator sponsorship.

Our 2025 Theme Nights are:

Rainbow Regalia Opening Night - Sponsored by Joel and Rich

The Dress in White Party - Available for sponsorship

Dress Your Best Party - Available for sponsorship

Pirates and Petticoats - Available for sponsorship

Theme Night sponsors are expected to:

• Interact with guests at the main 6 pm dinner time and throughout the evening onboard, paying attention to the readers and choosing a winner for the theme.

• Attend the closing night Drag Show event on Thursday to announce the winner and present your prize

• Provide a prize “basket” for the winner. Prizes for theme nights should have an approximate value of at least $50 to $100. They can be made up of book donations, gift cards, small gifts, etc - but should be viewed as a more substantial prize than general swag giveaway.

Theme Night sponsors are announced via the Facebook Group, email, and in the Rainbow Readers Cruise App. Theme nights can be sponsored by multiple authors/narrators.

Rainbow Bar Takeovers

Rainbow Bar Takeovers are casual social events scheduled at various lounges/get together locations onboard in the early evenings after dinner. They are not pre signed up for by readers - but are announced in the schedule. The format is casual and includes chatting and mingling with the readers/attendees. They are held in public spaces, so do not provide the opportunity for private readings or performances. They are fantastic ways to engage with the readers throughout the cruise.

Author Dinner Table Hosting

Authors are able to host a dinner table of readers who have signed up to join them. There will be 4 or 5 dinner tables each night available - the number of readers is dependent on the sizes of tables provided by the dining room but is a maximum of 12.

Because of the nature of the main dining room and setup for dinner, Author Dinner Tables are scheduled once we get onboard. (We don’t know the sizes and locations for the tables until we get onboard.) If you sign up to host a table Rich will let you know the schedule the first afternoon of sailing.

Excursion Hosting

Authors are able to “host” excursions on shore in Key West or Coco Cay. Hosting an excursion simply means that the author will be attending a particular excursion at a particular time which is then advertised to the readers to sign up for alongside the author. Excursion options are available at these links:

Key West Excursions

Coco Cay and Key West Excursions

You can also make arrangements for a customized excursion - for example last year there was a group who visited the Hemingway House to see the cats.

Crafting Sessions

Authors are able to host/teach a craft to a preset number of readers. These activities are pre advertised and pre signed up for by readers so that the author knows what is needed to provide for supplies. These activities are generally held in the early evening after dinner, but can also be scheduled during port time if the author wishes to offer something for those staying onboard. Authors are expected to provide craft materials. A list of materials and supplies will be needed prior to the cruise so that Rich can make all arrangements with onboard and port security to bring the items onboard. Please note - scissors with blade length less than 4 inches are allowed - larger scissors are not allowed onboard. Hot glue guns are not allowed onboard.

Gaming Sessions

There will not be any pre arranged games sessions this year, though we will have open games sessions in the later evening after the crafting sessions in the conference room. We also are happy to advertise any author led meetups throughout the ship to play games.

Swag Opportunities

Of course, you are free to distribute swag to readers throughout the conference to as many or few attendees as you wish.

For those who want to provide swag to all attendees we have two options:

1. Swag to be included with the Main Swag Bag delivered to the readers staterooms on day one.

2. Swag to be delivered to all readers separate from the Main Swag Bag on another day. (Please note - swag delivered separately from the main swag bag will need to be pre packaged for delivery into single packets. Multiple loose items are not able to be delivered without a “container.”)

Any swag being delivered to the readers staterooms must be sent to Rich prior to the conference to be sent to the ship. We are unable to arrange swag deliveries for swag brought onboard by the authors.

The conference covers the cost for onboard delivery of “blanket all attendee” swag deliveries, and swag deliveries must be the same items for everyone. If you wish to do personalized/individualized swag deliveries there will be an additional charge from the ship for deliveries to be sorted and delivered to particular matching staterooms.

The Signing

All Featured and Supporting Authors will be scheduled to take part in a signing session - there is no need to sign up for it. If you do not want to take part in the signing, let Rich know.

Signing session times will be primarily on the sea day (Thursday) throughout the day and early evening. Should room availability shift by Celebrity, signings may be scheduled throughout the week - though that is not currently the plan.

Each author is provided with their own table, chairs, black tablecloth, and name card. Authors may bring banners to display on or behind the tables - there will not be space to display then next to tables. Narrators are part of the signing as well, but may be setup to share a table as they don’t have physical books to take up table space.

Tables are expected to be 5 foot rectangular folding tables - however several Celebrity ships have just gotten all new conference table setups that are four feet. Rich and Joel will be going onboard the Reflection in late June and will confirm the table sizes with the onboard staff. Unfortunately because of the way things are run onboard we cannot be 100 percent certain of the table setups until we are actually onboard (if the ship changes out supplies we have to use what they have since we can’t run out to get new!)

Payments for books sold during the signing:

Because we can never be sure of the reliability of the internet connection onboard (the ship is equipped with satellite internet) we provide an OPTIONAL alternate analog method of taking payments.

Readers are all provided with pre populated labels and authors are all provided with payment sheets. When a reader purchases a book or swag from an author, they provide a label to place on the author’s payment sheet and the author writes the value of the purchase on the label. At the end of the signing session the author takes a photo of the payment sheet, provides the sheet to Rich, and Rich Venmos or Paypals the total amount spent on the payment sheet to the author. Rich then invoices the individual readers and takes responsibility for collecting. All authors are paid before leaving the ship. Authors can also be paid in cash by Rich, but he needs to know if you plan to ask for that so that he can be sure to have enough cash on hand.

You are welcome to use whatever method you like to collect book payments - cash, stripe, etc. These payment sheets are provided as an optional alternative to help streamline the process for authors who wish to use them.

Overall we strongly suggest that authors promote their pre orders so that there isn’t much need for extra stock to be carried onboard!