If you follow me regularly on Twitter or Facebook, you probably know I’ve left the fabulous mystery blog Murderati. You can read all about it here. In a nutshell: if I’m going to write three books a year and raise five kids, something had to give.
I’ve talked about social media in the past, the pros and cons (and there are pros and cons, don’t let anyone tell you it’s all good or it’s all bad.) Blogging is part of “social media” but I think it goes a step beyond. It’s easy to Tweet a comment or retweet a link or great writing quote; it doesn’t take a lot of time to post every morning on Facebook and scan the News Feed for updates from friends. Blogging, on the other hand, takes a bit more thought and time. Not just the hour or two to write and edit my bi-weekly post, but to participate in the community. And I feel a blog IS a community of like-minded readers who like to talk about books, entertainment, and the writer’s life.
Six years ago, a five of us founded this blog. Jennifer, Karin and I are still here. Over time, some of our bloggers left, we brought more in, and a couple years back we were all overwhelmed and thinking of shutting down Murder She Writes. That’s when we shook things up and added more bloggers to free up our time to write and be with family. It was that or disband, and none of us truly wanted to shut down the blog.
Change can be a very good thing.
Six years ago, my first book was published by Ballantine. December 27th, 2005 THE PREY hit the shelves. My 17th Ballantine book, IF I SHOULD DIE, will be released on November 22. The book marks the last with that publisher, and I’m moving to Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press.
Change can be a very good thing, but it’s also scary.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how I wrote six years ago and how I write now. I’ve always been a fast writer, but I’ve slowed down over the last few books and I haven’t been able to pinpoint why. I still write fast, but I rewrite more. I used to write 4-6 hours a day; now I write 8-10 hours a day but end up with fewer net words when I shut off for the night. And often, I delete everything I wrote the day before.
Mariah Stewart once told me that not only does writing not get easier, but we are constantly striving to write a better book than the last, yet fear the last was the best we had to give.
She is a wise, wise woman.
Six years seems like a long time, but then I look at my seven year old son and realize that it’s not long at all. I was pregnant with Mark with I got the call in March of 2004 that Ballantine wanted to buy my book. He was 18 months old when THE PREY came out. I’ll never forget jumping up and down and crying when my editor overnighted the first finished copy of my first book.
And today, when the UPS driver walked down my driveway with a large box from Random House, I met him halfway. I didn’t jump up and down or cry–but my heart skipped a beat and I had to open the box and take out a copy of IF I SHOULD DIE.
Though this book is an ending with on publisher, I’ll be continuing the Lucy Kincaid series with my new publisher. I’m revising SILENCED now, which will be out on April 24, 2012. It’s slow going. I like where I’m taking the story in revisions, aided by fantastic editorial notes, but it’s not easy. I used to whip out extensive revisions in two weeks. I suspect these will take longer.
I used to think writing would get easier the more books I had under my belt. But Marti was right. Each book is harder than the last.
Last year, the girls and I had some big plans to celebrate Murder She Writes fifth anniversary, but we were all on tight deadlines … and it seems this year, nothing has changed.
But today, in celebration of getting my author copies and my revision notes, I’m giving away an EARLY COPY of IF I SHOULD DIE to one lucky commenter. Do you want it? If so, just comment — say hi, say congrats, say happy anniversary, or tell me what you’d like us gals at Murder She Writes to blog about this coming year. Anything we haven’t tackled? Anything you particularly liked and want more of? Just let us know.
I posted an exclusive excerpt here at Murder She Writes, just for you
Thank you for helping make the Murder She Writes community a great place to be — for our readers, and for all of us.
I’m back from New York City where I was at first the Romance Writers of America conference then the International Thriller Writers “Thrillerfest.” There are many great wrap-ups of the conferences around cyberspace, and it’s kind of old news, so I won’t rehash it here. Besides, I have little to add.
But one thing that happened–and is still happening–I want to talk about, because I think it affects all authors … and readers. Self-promotion.
There was an undercurrent of angst among authors–and not just debut authors or midlist authors–that they needed to do *more* self-promotion. Many conversations, particularly at RWA, centered around what authors were–or weren’t–doing to promote their books. Bookmarks, excerpts, print ads, on-line ads, book tours, book trailers, romance trading cards, Twitter, Facebook, social media in general, newsletters, blog tours, Skype book clubs, postcards, email lists, free digital stories, cheap digital stories, more web content, blogging, tweeting–and that’s just what I remembered off the top of my head.
In some ways, I understand how an author feels pressure from within to do as much as physically and mentally possible to promote the book they labored over for four, six, twelve months — or longer. That we want to make sure we’ve done EVERYTHING to give it the best shot of success. That if the book doesn’t do well, we’re more apt to look at OUR failings than anyone else’s failings. And especially in 2011, with the uncertainties of the digital market v. print market, the demise of Borders, the rocky road of traditional publishing, and the cult-like pressure by some that self-publishing is the best/only route, our success or failure seems to be put more and more solely on our backs.
And while I understand while authors might discuss self-promotion, one thing I heard here and there a couple years ago I’m hearing from EVERYONE today: That publishers are pressuring their authors to blog and become active in social media. More than one person (more than a dozen people) told me that their publisher/editor insisted they go on Facebook or Twitter and that their resistance could damage their sales. The underlying threat (implied or stated) was that the publisher would be looking at the authors with a successful social media campaign and would be more likely to support said authors when it came to their own publishing efforts.
I want to call a Time Out.
Twitter does not sell books.
Facebook does not sell books.
And unless you have a blog that’s read by tens of thousands of unique visitors a day, blogging does not sell books.
There is only one thing that truly sells books–that makes a book hit lists, go into second and third and fourth printings, that gets a book talked about–and that is Word Of Mouth.
EVERYONE in publishing who I spoke with about this said the exact same thing: The only thing that sells books is word of mouth–and there is no one way to make that work. There is not only no one way, but there’s no guaranteed way. What works for one author doesn’t work for another. You could have two great romantic thrillers with strong reviews, and one hits lists and one tanks. One gets talked about, one doesn’t.
But the feelings I’ve been hearing from scared authors is that if your book tanks, it’s your fault.
Um, no.
Sure, you may have a hand in your book not doing well, but traditional publishing is a partnership. There’s a lot that goes into making a great package. Let’s assume we’re starting with a strong book in a marketable genre. What goes into making that book exceed expectations?
* Cover design
* Cover quote/endorsements
* Early reviews
* Competition
* Co-op (what the publisher spends for front-of-store shelf space or cyber space)
* Sales enthusiasm (the publisher’s sales force getting excited about the book and helping to generate more bookseller orders)
* Distribution (the book is available through all sales channels, both print and digital)
* Bookseller enthusiasm (because of the above, they read and/or hand-sell)
* Reader word of mouth
ALL OF THE ABOVE matters more than anything the author herself can do. Why? Because if you don’t have at least most of the above items in the bag, what YOU do isn’t going to impact sales. If you have all of the above, plus a strong publisher marketing plan, then anything you do will help impact sales. Why? Because people will have heard of your book. But EVEN if you have all of the above and even if YOU compliment the publishing program, your book still may not succeed. And sometimes no one knows why. And sometimes they do. (Yes, it’s a wonky system.)
Our Toni has a great analysis about why Twitter isn’t the an effective way to sell books. I don’t want to screw it up, so I’m hoping she’ll summarize it here in the comments. In essence, you need tens of thousands of followers to have any measurable impact on your sales. Most of us don’t. Most of us have a couple thousand. I’m nearing 3,000. The other problem is that Twitter is fluid–you post, it goes. For those who are following thousands of people, they aren’t seeing your tweets in their stream. There’s just too much information.
Where Twitter and Facebook and all the other social media comes in handy is when you are consistent, people expect to see you regularly, and so when you post that you have a new book out, your loyal fans will (hopefully) go out and buy it opening week and that will generate velocity and hopefully have the impact on your list placement.
Provided you are already expected to hit lists.
Provided that your books are well-distributed.
Provided that there’s some buzz either because you’re already an established author with a fan base, or because of strong publisher support and great packaging.
You can’t buy word of mouth. You can’t pay people to love your books. (Well, I suppose you COULD but it wouldn’t last more than one or two books … ) To get people recommending an author, the author needs to write more great books that get into the hands of readers who want to read them. The front list (new books) sell the back list (old books) and it’s in the back list that the publishers make the bulk of their profit.
I’m not suggesting that authors not be on social media, or insisting that they need to be. I don’t think every author should blog. I think authors should do what they are comfortable doing that doesn’t impact their writing time. Writing books should always come first. Everything else is a distant second.
The single most effective tool an author has is their book–so getting that book into as many reader’s hands as possible is the most effective way to generate word of mouth. But it has to be the right readers for that author, and that’s something that only the package itself–cover, title, cover copy, etc–can show. This is one reason why I have given away over 2,000 books at my expense over the last six years I’ve been published, plus printed 1500 copies of my digital-only novella to hand out as a sampler of my voice. I give to anyone–conferences, friends, repairmen, whoever. If I think they’ll like the book, I want them to be an advocate for it. (Of course, my single most effective advocate is my mom, and she can’t be duplicated or replaced!)
Authors need to partner with their publishers. Find out what THEY are doing then compliment it with promotion you’re comfortable doing–and that you can afford. Be smart about it. If you have a teeny-tiny print run, buying a $4,000 print ad isn’t going to help you increase sales because no one will be able to find your book. People need to have 4, 5, 6 impressions of something before they really consider buying it (which is why publishers love prolific authors because the NAME becomes the IMPRESSION.) They need to see the book on the shelf, see it in cyberspace, see their friends talking about it. Your efforts may be ONE impression, but if your efforts are the ONLY impression, the reader isn’t going to be fooled into thinking there is a bunch of reader enthusiasm for the book.
What I’m trying to say … don’t be scared you’re not doing enough. Chances are, you’re doing MORE than enough. And, in fact, you may be doing too much. Is self-promotion and social media interfering with your writing time, exceeding your advance, or making you miserable to the point that you hate writing? If the answer is yes, you need to step back and focus on the one thing, the only GUARANTEED thing you can control: the quality of your story.
It’s a scary time in publishing for everyone — but readers are still reading, and they want great books to read. Go write them.
I just read Sylvia and Lori’s RT posts. It’s been a long week . . . so I am behind. :/ All I can say is: I am so blessed to have the MSW gals as friends.
My two cents on RT? This was my third RT conference. I went to Orlando in 2006 (loved it); Houston in 2007 (hated it); so this year, I went with slight apprehension. But I had a terrific time. The vibe was very good, I met with old and new friends, and the atmosphere was positive. I moderated two thriller panels, got to hear Dean Koontz, and the mystery “chix and dix” breakfast was a highlight. I sat next to Eden Bradley at the booksigning and learned all about Romance Trading Cards. I think I’m going to get some printed . . . but with a twist. You’ll just have to wait to find out what I have planned! (hee hee hee.)
I hung out a lot with the thriller writers, which isn’t a surprise since there are very few of us who go to RT. As a romantic thriller author, I straddle the fence and feel generally comfortable in both camps (or, on my bad days, like I fit in nowhere.) Fortunately at RT some of my favorite thriller writers were there, including Boyd Morrison who I met last year at Thrillerfest. (As an aside: Toni told me yesterday that she met Boyd at the first Thrillerfest, in Arizona. And I was thinking–wait! I hung out with Toni almost the entire conference! It was a small conference, too, so how did I miss meeting Boyd? Or maybe I did and forgot, which is my loss. Boyd is a good guy.)
While I was able to sit in on Dean Koontz’s Author Chat (which was a total blast–he is an amazing storyteller, both verbally and in writing), I missed his “Art of Writing” workshop because I was moderating a thriller panel on research. Woe is me! So I asked Boyd to write this blog and share with you (and me!) what he learned.
* * * * *
When someone has sold 400 million novels and adds 17 million to that tally every year, you tend to listen when he shares his writing insights. Last week at the RT Booklovers Convention, I had the pleasure of attending a workshop given by the legendary Dean Koontz, an author so prolific that he has a library in his home with 6,000 editions in 38 languages of his own books.
So how does an author produce so many books? Mary Heaton Vorse said that “The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair,” and no one follows that dictum better than Koontz. Six days a week he wakes at 6:00 to walk his dog and eat breakfast, and by 8:00 he is sitting in front of his eighteen-year-old computer, complete with CRT monitor and no Internet connection. For the next nine hours he writes with no outline, polishing a single page up to thirty times before going on to the next one. When he’s beginning a book, he can spend an entire day on two pages, accelerating to ten pages per day near the end, which results in a completed book every six months.
Repeat this process over the 45 years he’s been writing and you get over 90 novels, not to mention four books about writing and dozens of short stories, poetry collections, and children’s books. It’s no surprise to learn that Koontz doesn’t put much stock in writer’s block, which he thinks is just a manifestation of author self-doubt. That’s not to say he doesn’t see a value in a healthy dose of it; the authors he’s come across who lacked self-doubt generally weren’t any good.
But even as driven as he is, Koontz did experience a single episode of writer’s block when his beloved golden retriever, Trixie, passed away. For five weeks he couldn’t write at all, bereft at her death. It wasn’t until his editor suggested writing his next book as a tribute to Trixie that he was able to get back to work. Needless to say, the resulting book, The Darkest Evening of the Year, was a NY Times bestseller.
In fact it’s hard to remember that there was a time Koontz wasn’t a bestselling author. When he started out, he wrote across many genres, from science fiction to gothic romance, often under a pseudonym (nine in all). For the first fifteen years of his career, he couldn’t achieve a breakout success until he wrote a book called Whispers in 1980. His publisher printed only 5,000 hardcovers, but the paperback rights were acquired at auction, and it went on to sell over a million copies.
Apparently that wasn’t enough evidence for his publisher that he had a growing fan base, so they printed only 7,000 copies of his next book, Phantoms. Again, the paperback sold in huge numbers.
Koontz, who is not only a great writer but a savvy businessman, wrote his following book, Strangers, without a contract. When it was complete, he didn’t agree to sell it until he got a guaranteed minimum printing for the hardcover. If you ever hear an author tell you success is mainly about persistence, believe it. Strangers, Koontz’s first hardcover bestseller, was the 50th novel he wrote. He’s gone on to have 23 books hit number one on the NY Times bestseller list.
This drive to become a master in the thriller genre had a dark genesis. Koontz’s father was a violent alcoholic, going through 44 jobs in 34 years and earning so little that their four-room clapboard home lacked indoor plumbing. To cope with this abusive relationship, Koontz lost himself in stories, often reading by flashlight. Among his favorites were Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, Robert Heinlein, and John D. McDonald. (Years later Koontz was disappointed to learn that meeting his heroes at writers conferences wasn’t all he’d hoped it would be; while he loved Ray Bradbury, others he wouldn’t name were either rude to him because he was a newbie writer, they were falling down drunk, or they were hitting on his wife. Fortunately it seems times have changed, as the writers I’ve met at conferences are unfailingly friendly, supportive, and just plain nice, and many of those I’ve admired have become good friends of mine.)
Despite his love of storytelling, Koontz still needed a nudge from a mentor to set him on the path to writing. When he applied to college, he planned to major in history. A respected high school teacher was appalled to hear about his choice and cornered him in the hall one day, hammering home the message that Koontz had a talent for writing that he needed to develop. Without that encouragement, he might never have written such classics as Watchers, Lightning, and Dark Rivers of the Heart.
Today Koontz has a simple set of tools for researching his novels. He tends to do his research with good old-fashioned books instead of the Internet, and some of his essentials are a medical dictionary, a thesaurus, a book on trees and plants, and an entire shelf dedicated to architecture and antiques. When he can’t find what he needs in books, he has a well-stocked Rolodex of experts to call if he has a question about, say, a complicated cardiac procedure.
The reason he goes to such lengths to get the details right is because he believes in the power of specificity and economy. Instead of taking three pages to describe a room, he advises writers to find one or two details that not only set the scene but tell the reader something about the characters. In his novel The Good Guy a character notices a crouching tiger hidden along the edge of a silkscreen painting, not only showing the owner’s penchant for Asian art but also symbolizing the danger stalking the hero. Koontz’s readers love the unexpected in his books. It seemed appropriate then that the hotel fire alarm went off toward the end of his workshop. Although it turned out to be a false alarm, it was a fitting symbol of the talent for unpredictable twists that has earned Koontz millions of fans.
* * * * *
In addition to being an all-around nice guy, Boyd Morrison is the author of three thrillers, including The Ark, of which James Rollins said, “Boyd Morrison’s novel, The Ark, is a stunning thriller with a premise as ingenious as it is flawlessly executed. Lightning-paced, chillingly real, here is a novel that will have you holding your breath until the last page is turned. One of the best debuts I’ve read this year.” His fourth book, The Catalyst, will be released on November 29th. You can read his full bio here (or check out his books!), but you should know that not only is Boyd an actor, a video game tester, and a mechanical engineer who used to work at NASA, he’s a Jeopardy! champion.
Because I got a personalized, signed Dean Koontz ODD THOMAS book, I’m giving away my unsigned, gently read copy to one lucky commenter — plus any book from my backlist and a copy of THE ARK by Boyd Morrison. Three books for one comment! I must be in a good mood tonight.
Let’s talk about anything . . . your favorite Koontz book (mine is Watchers), your favorite writer’s conference (mine is Thrillerfest 2006), or maybe a little bit of trivia about yourself . . . for me? When I was 16, I auditioned for Teen Jeopardy, passed the written test, but didn’t make it past the second cut. And when I was looking for a photo of Dean Koontz and Trixie, I came upon a little piece of trivia about him–he’s given over $5.5 million to Canine Companions for Independence.
Please give MSW guest author Brenda Novak a round of applause! (Sorry I’m late today, I completely spaced last night because I wasn’t on-line while I read page-proofs.)
I’ve known Brenda for nearly 20 years. On New Years Eve in 1992, I was at Brenda’s house for a party with my then-fiance Dan (now my husband) and mutual friends. Fast-forward 13 years and I met Brenda through our local RWA chapter, the Sacramento Valley Rose, at my first meeting in January of 2003. She didn’t remember me, but I definitely remembered her! She was speaking on the panel, and I was hooked on RWA from then on. Brenda and I both have five children (though all but one of hers is older than mine) and we’re both college drop-outs. Brenda has three novels this fall–WHITE HEAT (out now), BODY HEAT (just released Aug 31) & KILLER HEAT (on sale Sept 28.) She also runs an annual on-line auction for diabetes research every May through her website. To date, she’s raised over $1 million! She has so much energy and drive she makes me tired, and that’s a feat!
Brenda is giving away TWO copies of the first book in her current trilogy WHITE HEAT. (Yeah!) So ask her anything, or share your own story about how you overcame a personal or professional set-back.
Lately when I blog I’ve been answering the questions I’m asked most often as a writer. One of the most popular–if not THE most popular–is: How did you get published?
It’s difficult to break into the fiction market. Almost everybody I’ve ever met wants to write a book. Not everyone does, of course, but there are enough who do to create a very crowded marketplace. As a result, getting published–and getting published well; there is a different–has a lot to do with building credibility and setting yourself apart from the pack. Because I was “just” a housewife and mother of five, who didn’t even have a college degree (I left a full-ride academic scholarship to marry and start a family at twenty), I knew I needed to do something to give the editors in New York a reason to pull my manucript out of the slush pile. I did that by entering writing contests.
Thankfully, I placed in 90% of the contests I entered, including the Golden Heart, a national contest sponsored by Romance Writers of America. Once I had a nice long list, I felt as if I had some credentials I could put in my query letter that might get me some attention.
I didn’t want to approach editors without an agent, however. Editors use agents as a sifting device, and I wanted to avail myself of every possible advantage. So I started by querying agents. I received several form-letter rejections, as well as some less formal and more encouraging responses. Then an agent named Pamela Ahearn from Louisiana wrote to tell me that she liked what she’ d seen of my work. She asked me to send her the rest of the manuscript–and a few months later offered to represent me.
It took Pam almost a year to sell OF NOBLE BIRTH. I was rejected by St. Martin’s Press, Kensington Books, Avon Books, Bantam and probably a couple of others I can no longer recall before HarperCollins offered me a contract. It was August 26, 1998 when I got THE CALL, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about anything (except maybe hitting The New York Times on June 16, 2008, almost ten years later). My editor was Robin Stamm, a young but eager junior editor working with Laura Cifelli, and I loved her.
Fortunately, HarperCollins liked the title of my book well enough to let me keep it. They gave me a beautiful cover and a release date of November 1999, and I thought I was all set for my new career in publishing. But before my book ever reached a bookstore, HarperCollins bought Avon and let all their romance editors go. This meant that I was “orphaned.”
My career could’ve ended right there. I was a fledging writer, my first book still in production, and I had no advocate at the house. Robin had already read my next two manuscripts, which were historical romances like OF NOBLE BIRTH, and liked them. Before leaving on vacation, she told me that we’d go to contract when she returned, but she was let go right afterward so the contracts never materialized. Being so new and untried, I wasn’t particularly high up on the list of authors HarperCollins was eager to retain–so they cut me loose, too.
It was a setback that could’ve been devastating, except for one thing. I’d gone to a small regional conference in Park City, Utah just a few months before, where I’d met an editor from Harlequin by the name of Paula Eykelhof. Although I’d never dreamed I’d write a contemporary romance, I decided to pitch to her simply because I had the opportunity.
I look back on that day now and wonder what possessed me to do such a thing when I was so sure I had my historical career on track, but I’m definitely glad I did. I liked Paula so well I went home and wrote a proposal to submit to her–a proposal she eventually bought. That book came out in February 2000, and we’ve done 36 books together since, including the Department 6 trilogy coming out now–WHITE HEAT, BODY HEAT and KILLER HEAT.
The International Thriller Writers (ITW) hosts Thrillerfest in NYC the second week of every July. On Sunday, I returned from the Thrillerfest V, elated and excited and a bit apprehensive.
First, a little about the organization. ITW was originally for published thriller writers of all sub-genres, as well as the lofty goal of being a “readers” group. I think the organization has moved solidly into the thriller writers camp, but with one big exception: the organization makes a concerted effort to reach readers, librarians, booksellers and other industry folks and does an amazing job promoting not only thriller writers, but the thriller genre as a whole.
I’ve always felt welcome in ITW, even though I write what’s marketed as “romantic suspense.” I put that in quotes only because everyone and their brother has a different idea what romantic suspense is and what it isn’t.
(I have my own personal definition of romantic suspense—a hero and heroine working together or parallel to solve a crime or save the world, and they are together—and alive—at the end of the book. Other than that, anything goes—sexy or tame; gritty or light; humorous or serious. I don’t like RS rules because there are so many of us writing RS that I think RS has become it’s own genre, not purely in the suspense camp and not purely in the romance camp. But that’s a subject for another blog . . . )
ITW has developed into a truly amazing entity. They have so many opportunities for authors to promote themselves, both paid and unpaid. They have an monthly e-newsletter that goes to tens of thousands of thriller readers. The board continually develops new and innovative programs to expand the organization but more important, the published authors who make up the bulk of the membership.
ITW’s Mission is “To bestow recognition and promote the thriller genre at an innovative and superior level for and through our Active Members; to provide opportunities for mentoring, education and collegiality among thriller authors and industry professionals; and to grant awards for excellence in the thriller genre.”
You can join ITW as an associate if you are not published by an ITW recognized publisher (though they have a very liberal recognition policy.) Full members can join for free. Free? Yes, I mean it! If you are a published author, you pay no dues. How can this be? Because the anthologies where members write original stories fund the organization.
Currently, there are four or five anthologies on sale now, the two biggest being THRILLER (edited by James Patterson) and THRILLER 2 (edited by Clive Cussler) published by MIRA. A YA Thriller Anthology will be published by Tor in the Fall. I’m the managing editor of THRILLER 3 (edited by Sandra Brown) which boasts a terrific line-up of bestselling and award-winning romantic suspense and thriller authors. Most recently, 100 MUST READ THRILLERS went on-sale. I have an essay on REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier in the non-fiction anthology, the book most often considered the true launch of the romantic suspense genre.
Another amazing program that was announced at the banquet was the USO inviting thriller authors to go to Iraq. Steve Berry and James Rollins are two of them (who I know personally) and I am thrilled with this, not least of which is to help our troops. Like RWA has the Literacy Signing, ITW supports Reading Is Fundamental. Half the profits from the YA thriller anthology (edited by R.L. Stine) is going to RIF.
Because the organization is formed with tiered membership, ITW isn’t bound by many of the restrictions RWA has. But more than that, I find it a place where I fit, even though I have a foot rooted firmly in both the romance and thriller genre.
I’m not writing specifically to plug ITW—though if you want to join, here’s the link!—and the organization isn’t perfect (what organization is?) but they provide access to authors and opportunities that I haven’t found elsewhere. It started in Arizona in the heat of the summer in 2006, shortly after my first book came out, where I was lucky enough to meet some amazing people and forge new personal and professional friendships. Because it’s small—more like a regional RWA conference than a national conference—it feels more intimate and people are generally open and friendly, including some big-name authors like Harlan Coben and Ken Follett and Lisa Gardner (who won the Thriller for Best Hardcover!) and Lee Child and Steve Berry and Lisa Scottoline and Carla Neggers . . . and I could go on.
Thrillerfest offers workshops similar to RWA in that they have both craft and career tracks. But they differ in that two days are focused on “Craftfest” aimed to unpublished and newly published authors; and two days are focused on “Thrillerfest” aimed at both published and unpublished authors, as well as readers and other industry folks. You can buy a package for everything (at a discount) or piecemeal it and attend for just a day or one “fest.” NYC is expensive, and breaking it up makes it doable especially for those who can get to the city for a day trip.
I have a confession: I only attended part of one panel, other than the panels I served on. Why is this so sad? Because there were at least six that I really wanted to listen to. But I was in NY partly on business this time around—my agent hunt (which was successful!)—and because of meetings missed a lot.
I presented my “No Plotters Allowed” workshop at CraftFest. I was surprised anyone at a thriller conference would show up because honestly, I’ve met more thriller writers who plot (though certainly not all—Tess Gerritsen doesn’t plot, Harlan Coben said in a blog interview that he very loosely outlines, and sometimes doesn’t outline at all, and of course there’s me, the insane one, just sitting down and writing with a vague idea and sense of character . . . ) Fortunately, the workshop seemed well-received and I had people coming up to me throughout the week to discuss something I said that resonated with them. Yeah! Not a failure!
I was on a paranormal panel with former MSW contributor Heather Graham (an amazing author and woman, I’ve always enjoyed her books and she’s very fun on panels!) called “Why be Normal when you can be Paranormal?” Jonathon Mayberry, who writes both fiction and non-fiction, made the point that there is so much out there in mythology that we can write paranormal stories from here to eternity and still have relatively original and fresh material, if we know where to look. For example, there are different vampire myths among peoples of different countries and times, and research is just as important when writing paranormal as it is writing a straight thriller.
The next panel I served as Panel Master. Unlike RWA, the “Panel Master” (or moderator) also participates in the panel while leading the panel, creating questions, taking questions, and shaping the discussion. I never thought I’d like to be the moderator (too much pressure!) but I found I truly enjoy it and it’s almost like running a board meeting—I’m fairly competent at keeping people on task and summarizing audience questions so we move quickly. I was the Panel Master of “Is Social Networking a Waste of Time?” I had some absolutely terrific panel members, including publicists and authors who successfully use social networking. The conclusion? SN is here to stay, but find the medium that works best for you, your schedule and your personality. Be smart about it, and don’t let SN drain your creativity. If you are an awful blogger; don’t blog. If you find you fritter away time at twitter, learn to limit yourself. The authors on the panel firmly believed that twitter (and facebook) sells books . . . I am still undecided, but I believe that if you focus on doing what you enjoy, you’ll cultivate your readership, please your fans, and hopefully those fans who enjoy your blogs or twitter posts will be the ones to spread the word about your next book. But drive-by promotion is a big no-no, because readers know. That’s why you need something you can consistently do, on schedule (whether it’s blogging monthly or tweeting twice a day for ten minutes or checking into facebook at breakfast, lunch and dinner.)
There was an industry panel I missed called “Can we innovate more?” where ITW brought in major house publishers and big name authors to discuss what authors can do to help publishers sell books. I can’t wait to get the tape. Another panel that competed against one of mine was “Why do thrillers kick ass?” with Steve Berry, Carla Neggers, Ridley Pearson et. al. There was a panel devoted to innovation with e-books with authors and marketing people who have had successful promotions of e-books. A panel just on forensic thrillers moderated by Dr. D.P. Lyle (I have most, if not all, of his non-fiction books about forensics for writers.)
ITW also has spotlight guests, which are amazing sessions where popular authors are interviews. This year, they included Lisa Scottoline and Harlan Coben. Ken Follett is the new Thriller Master. And then the debut author breakfast, MC’d by Andrew Gross with a motivational speech by Brad Meltzer. I love this breakfast, even though I have to drag myself out of bed early for it on Saturday morning . . .
And then of course, there’s the bar . . . which is worth the price of admission!
Now there are always negatives to any organization or people, but honestly, the positives outweigh the downsides, and if you write thrillers of any sub-genre, I strongly suggest ITW as the group to join.
I wish I could offer more insight from the panels, but since I didn’t attend most I can’t. If you have questions, please ask! (The big talk across the board while chatting was e-books—some authors are selling up to 50% of their books in e-book format, but most hardcover authors are at 20-30% total sales via e-book and mass market authors are much less. It really depends on your format and distribution. The business is certainly in flux, but change isn’t always a bad thing as long as you make decisions out of sound business analysis and not fear.)
I still go to RWA, and I still find immense value in the organization. It’s larger, the networking is amazing, and I get to see all my friends If you write romance, RWA is definitely the place to be. And since I write romantic suspense, I can’t imagine not being part of both organizations. After Orlando, I’ll write about RWA!
Six years ago, my first book was published by Ballantine. December 27th, 2005 THE PREY hit the shelves. My 17th Ballantine book, IF I SHOULD DIE, will be released on November 22. The book marks the last with that publisher, and I’m moving to Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press.
Though this book is an ending with on publisher, I’ll be continuing the Lucy Kincaid series with my new publisher. I’m revising SILENCED now, which will be out on April 24, 2012. It’s slow going. I like where I’m taking the story in revisions, aided by fantastic editorial notes, but it’s not easy. I used to whip out extensive revisions in two weeks. I suspect these will take longer. 
Other Posts by Allison Brennan 
Subscribe to Posts 