Bouchercon Afterthoughts

Bouchercon isn’t just a mystery fan conference. It’s an experience like no other. It absorbs two large hotels. Programming fills four days. And with 1500 attendees it can give you Disney World flashbacks when you’re lined up for a popular panel or to get a book signed.

Many writers’ Cons are designed for writers to learn and network. At Bouchercon fans outnumber writers 4 to 1. Of course, most of us writers are fans too. I still can’t get used to having Heather Graham, John Gilstrap and Alifair Burke call me by name.  I still get a little tongue-tied when I get to chat with Karen Slaughter, Kathy Reichs and Alexandra Sokoloff. Those are the best moments of the event.

The hour-long panels can overwhelm you, not so much because of the content but because there are so many choices. Seven different panels at any one time and all sound so interesting.  How do you choose between “Just the facts: T

Police Procedural,” “The Private Sector: Professional Investigations” and “Crime Mystery and the Far East?”  (Actually I bypassed them all to see a panel called “Beyond Hammett, Chandler, MacDonald & Spillane” which featured my pal Peter Rozovsky, plus Kevin Burton Smith and Laura Lippman.)

And then there were the awards. The Anthony Award is voted on by the Bouchercon attendees and most of the nominees attend. It’s fun to see who’s book is the most popular in 5 different categories. This year was a special kick as my friend Art Taylor won for best short story.

Of course, some of the best moments of the Con take place in the bar after the panels and ceremonies are over. The hotel bar was way too noisy but they did have some interesting specials. I had something called The Red Death and I have no idea what was in it but it sure did the trick. Blood Spatter was less sweet but I swear it had even more alcohol.

Meanwhile I, and the other 2 principals of Intrigue Publishing, were hunting keynote speakers and guests for next year’s Creatures, Crimes and Creativity Con. Networking galore took place, and I’ll let you know how successful we were in a later blog.

So? What were YOUR most memorable moments at Bouchercon? 

Life Between the Cons

The Creatures, Crimes & Creativity (C3) Con is over but that doesn't mean the work is over. In the military we called the next step a hot wash. It's that meeting where you go over everything you did during an operation, critique your actions and the results, and make decisions about what you could do better next time. Which panels were hits and which were misses? How should those panels run? (It's clear now that panels do need moderators.) What started too soon, or ran too late? Were the name tags the right size? How was the food? There are so many details involved in making a 3-day Con happen.

Once the decision was made to do it again next year, we had to confirm a venue, and dates. We're on the hunt for keynote speakers and local guests. We have panels to choose and a menu to put together. Not to mention all the work involved in turning last year's web site into this year's web site. We even decided to set up a Facebook page to make it easier for people to give us suggestions and keep up with Con happenings thru the year.

This year there are only ten days between the Con Intrigue Publishing puts on and one that we all attend - Bouchercon. That involves preperation too. Thursday through Sunday we'll be fishing for C3 keynote speakers and attendees among the 1,000 authors, fans, publishers, reviewers, booksellers and editors who will be in Raleigh NC for that 4-day event. We must go over the schedule to figure out which panels we'll get the most out of (7 at a time over 4 day!) Plus I'm on a panel Friday. It's called "Research: Alcohol, Drugs, Weapons & the Psychology of the Insane." As you might guess, that calls for a little research itself, so more prep.

Plus, I'm promoting my novel that willt be released next month, Intrigue's anthology that will be released in December, rewriting my next novel, and there's the usual day-to-day business of running a publishing company.

So it's a very full life in between the two Cons. But I'm not complaining. It's like the working space between two great vacations!   

Make the Selling Fun

Bouchercon is the party of the year for mystery fans, and it’s even more important for mystery writers. Aside from the amazing amount of fun to be had in Indianapolis this year, it will be the best possible opportunity for networking. Leading up to Bouchercon (October 15 – 18), I’ll talk a bit about how authors can work the convention to their benefit.

As much fun as writing is, marketing is also important if you’re going to give people outside your family a chance to read your work. In a hotel full of fans it’s wise to promote your books. In a hotel equally full of successful authors, publishers and agents, it’s also wise to pitch your unpublished manuscripts. In both cases you’re selling, and in both cases you’ve got to be persuasive. But Bouchercon is meant to be fun for attendees, so you don’t want to be so persuasive that it seems you're begging for the sale OR sucking up to industry pros. Here are some ideas to keep it fun while making your point.

People like what other people like, so testimonials can be very effective attention-getters. If people are saying good things about your book you should emphasize that. Not all testimonials are equal, so you want to ask writers you admire to read your book and offer their opinions. Check the scroll on my web site and you’ll see what I mean. Bouchercon is a great place to get those testimonials.

And that can lead to name dropping. I know your mother told you not to, but trust me, it’s allowed at events like this. If you have an impressive list of testimonials or blurbs be sure to list them. If you're not sure which ones to list and which to drop, ask somebody who isn’t a writer. Someone you don’t think is important might be a big deal to the general public.

Gather, and tell stories. WHO did you buy a drink for at 2 am in the hotel bar? Cool! Naturally if you have great success stories (that book signing when they ordered 70 copies and I stayed until they were all gone) you’ll want to share them. But fun stories, like that joke J.A. Konrath told or the time you were on a panel with Walter Mosely and David Morrell, should be shared both in public and on your web site. And if you don’t have any good stories yet, hang out in the hall, in the bar and in rooms after panels at Bouchercon.

Trust me, stories will happen.

Life After Bouchercon

Bouchercon - the premiere annual event for mystery writers and fans - was more fun than a writer should be allowed to have. Thursday thru Sunday I was in my element, and I'm still sorting through the sensory overload. I won't bore you with details of all four days of wonder but I will hit the highlights just to give you an idea.

I sat on a panel with some excellent writers and got to talk about how we construct a puzzle to keep the reader interested. I watched a slew of great panels too and, while it's hard to rate them on a relative scale I'll admit that my favorite panel had only 3 people on it. Christa Faust talked about Richard Prather (Shell Scott's creator,) Gary Phillips talked about Chester Himes (Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones) and Max Allen Collins schooled us on Mickey Spillane (I don't have to tell you he wrote Mike Hammer, do I?) They were all amazing in both depth of knowledge and understanding of these seminal authors.

Another highlight of the event was the most excellent hospitality suite that Sisters in Crime put on. It was an oasis in the midst of merry chaos.

Then there's the whole ego thing. It's kind of cool to have fans ask about my work. It's very cool to have new writers ask for my advice. It is super cool to be recognized by guys like Max Allen Collins (Road to Perdition and a zillion other things) Louis Bayard (Edgar nominated The Pale Blue Eye) and Bob Randisi (founder of the Private Eye Writers of America.) When guys like that call you by name you feel like a star yourself for a minute.

I left the hotel long enough to give a presentation Saturday at the Canton Library, the nation's first branch library, standing in the same place since 1886. Those wonderful folks kept me there, answering questions and signing books for two hours.

In the meanwhile, my Bouchercon blog post for the Baltimore Sun was so popular that it was referenced and quoted in the competing Washington City Paper. And then it was referenced again in an article in the Baltimore Sun, and again in the Baltimore Sun's Read Street blog.

But the BEST thing was getting an e-mail Monday from a lady I met at Bouchercon for whom I signed a book. She said, "I finished reading it on the plane ride home. Wow! It was even better than I anticipated after I heard you speak. I will be buying and reading your susequent books. Your characters are believable, interesting and "hooked" me from page 1. I hope to see you at Bouchercon in Indianapolis next year. Thank you for your books and I hope you keep getting published!"

Yeah, THAT would have been a good reason to show up at Bouchercon all by itself!