Librarians Rule

That is how I would sum up Love Is Murder. But that's a cop out, putting the end at the beginning, so let me back up and share my itinerary (and thanks for not pointing out that I didn't actually post FROM the conference as promised, except for the one day, because I was too friggin' cheap to pay .69 cents a minute to use a hotel computer):

FRIDAY:

Mr. B. had me on a whirlwind meet and greet goodwill tour at Chicago area bookstores. A really hot guy at Barnes & Noble told me that corporate decided what they carried, but would I mind going out with him? Or maybe it was, "Corporate makes our buying decisions, and would you mind getting off of me?" It was hard to hear over the bustling of book readers. I got the same reaction at Borders (Mr. B. warned me) minus the hot guy, but they rejected me very nicely, too. They should teach dating classes.

The independent bookstore owners were fantastic. Auggie (spelling? I just visualized Auggie Doggie) at Centuries and Sleuths was encouraging even though he was having computer issues. His store was exactly as you'd imagine a cozy, independent, warm and welcoming bookstore to be. Brainsnacks had closed shop and moved to Sue Peterson's home and Something Wicked in Evanston was going out of business, but Sandmeier's in downtown Chicago took a copy of May Day, and I happily stumbled across Downer's Grove Anderson's Bookshop, where the gentleman working was kind, encouraging, and helpful. Again, yay for independent bookstores!

Anyhow, I got back and was exhausted but made it to supper at Love Is Murder, and boy am I glad I did! Met a guy whose parents had a cabin on Battle Lake (I told Mr. B., EVERYONE has heard of Battle Lake. It's weird that way and hence a perfect setting for a series) and heard David Morrell, of First Blood fame, give the keynote address. He gave a fascinating account of how the publishing industry has changed and gave useful marketing tips. I'd be doing a disservice to you (since you'd be better off going to a signing or presentation by Mr. Morrell because he's a great speaker) and to Mr. Morrell by stealing his examples, so I'll just sum up his main points using me as an example. If you're not considering a writing career, or furthering one you already have, you may find this stultifying, but I'll throw in swear words to keep you on your toes.

Get a Platform

When marketing your book to an agent, a publisher, or a potential reader, don't tell them about the plot or the characters. Tell them what your platform is. Basically, this means telling agents and publishers how you'd market the book and giving readers a sound bite to connect to the book with. Here's the platform for May Day:

"A romantically challenged twenty-something is pushed from being a cosmopolitan gal to a reluctant, small-town librarian where she has to solve a murder a month while learning to date in a shallow gene pool."

Nope. Don't like it. How about this:

Sex and the Country with murder.

Hmmm. But who do you market that to? Morrell made it look easy. Help me come up with a platform.

Get Things

When marketing your book, come up with a viral marketing campaign, one that is cheap but unique and creates buzz because of its uniqueness. I'm doing the standared book marks and postcards, but I've also got mood pens (signifying monthly moodiness), calendar magnets (murder by month--get it?), and I ordered t-shirts with the book cover on front and, "Battle Lake--easy to get to, hard to leave" on the back because you can't leave when you're dead!!! Ha ha snort. The t-shirts will be given away in free drawings at my book signings. I also recommend to new authors that you locate your county Arts Council and see what sort of grants they have available for promoting your work. I paid for 60% of my promotional items with a very generous grant from the Lake Region Arts Council.

Cross Your Fingers

There are a lot of great books out there. Write the best book you can, and hope the rest of the world finds it.

Phew. OK, I'm too tired tonight to write more. Watch for a Saturday and Sunday summary tomorrow, along with more writing and marketing tidbits as well as funny conference stories. Fucken A.