Mary Jane Maffini, me, Vicki Delany, Linda Wiken (aka Erika Chase) and Cathy Ace
Last year, I attended Malice Domestic as a debut author. It was my first Malice and my first visit to Washington/Bethesda, and as you can imagine, it was beyond exciting. I was almost not going to attend this year, but something made me decide to go for it.ย I’m very glad that I did, because it reinforced, once again, how supportive the mystery writer/reader community is. And it is very much aย community (although we do tend to use our books to murder people who annoy us!)
One thing that really resonated with me was the number of authors and readers who stopped me to say they loved one or both of my books AND that they recognized me from my author photo. A very good reason not to photoshop your author photo to the point where you’ve aged backwards by two decades! For those of you who may not have read it, here’s a link to my author photo post.
Another thing I LOVED was meeting new authors. I remember how exciting and nerve-wracking that process was. A special shout-out to:ย Karen Neary…I know you’re going to get a contract… and to Micki Browning, whose debut novel, Adrift, is an Amazon bestseller.
Here are some of the highlights from this year’s conference. Unfortunately, I don’t have photos (yet) of my panel (Thrilling Suspense) on Saturday, but it was an amazing panel with great audience participation. After the panel, I popped into the dealer/book room and was beyond thrilled to see a line of people with one of my books in their hand!
At the Agatha Banquet. Author Jane K. Cleland, the host of our table, won for best non-fiction.
Jane K. Cleland with her Agatha teapot!
The line-up for author signing at 5 p.m. Saturday!
With Diane Vallere and Susan Van Kirk at the author signing.
Author signing! Copies of The Hanged Man’s Noose sold out in the book room within 10 minutes of my panel and Skeletons was selling up a storm!
NEXT CONFERENCE: Bouchercon Toronto!
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Fun, Fun, Fun. Glad we spent lunch and great times together. I signed up for Malice 2018! Many great mysteries came home from silent auction and free titles. Cannot wait to read them all. Love your blog!
Thanks Beth, it was fabulous to spend so much time with you! Harriette tells me the hotel for Malice will be less expensive. I hope so as I would love to be there in 2018. Stay well.
So glad your Malice participation was so enjoyable! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to meeting you jin person at Boucheron
Yes, be sure to introduce yourself Arlene! Thanks for stopping by.
I wish we had gotten a chance to talk. I SAW you, but didn’t get a chance to get together. Maybe next year! Congrats on selling out and having a good con.
It’s funny, Kaye. Some people you saw and talked to 100 times and others not at all. I’m not sure about next year but Harriette tells me the hotel will be a lot less expensive. If that’s the case, I may be able to swing it. I’m doing LCC in Reno in March. Are you doing Bouchercon Toronto?
YES, to a less expensive hotel. I missed the cut off by ONE DAY and had to pay $100 more than even the conference rate. No B’con, sadly. Malice 2018 will probably be my next “appearance” and I’ll come with, I hope, my new series.
I checked the hotel link on the malice website, and the regular rate looks to be around $100/night. It looks like a nice hotel as well. No details on the Malice rate or anything yet. I know it’s tough to go to conferences. The hotel in Toronto, with taxes, will be about $200/night (consider the reg. rate is $450). Toronto is expensive. But, I’m a member of SinC Toronto and I’ll be on the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, so I pretty much have to go.
Well done, with all those sales, Judy.
Thanks Susan. They didn’t have that many books! It’s funny, last year I went with the hopes of promoting Noose, and sold 2 books. This year, I went with the hopes of promoting Skeletons, and only sent 6 copies of Noose as an afterthought. I think Skeletons sold about 5 or 6. I could probably have sold a dozen copies of Noose. You just never know…it’s typical to only sell one or 2 copies as there are so many books to choose from and everyone gets free books plus the award winners tend to sell. It’s a funny business!
It was lovely to see you at Malice, Judy! So happy you decided to go.
And I loved meeting Micki too!
Thanks Cynthia and congrats on winning the Agatha!!
Sounds like you had a great time, Judy! I’m glad to hear the crowd and experience were so welcoming!
These things are always exhausting, Jennifer, but worthwhile in many intangible ways.
Glad you were able to go. Looking forward to what you have to say about Bouchercon.
Thank you Janice!
It was great seeing you, albeit all too briefly. Congratulations on selling out!
I have to leave later next time. Looks like you had a wonderful last evening!
So wonderful to share time with you at Malice. You are such a warm and generous person–not to mention a terrific author! I hope our paths cross again soon.
I’m sure they will Micki. I have your book in my TBR pile! Can’t wait to read it.
I really enjoyed meeting you “in person” at Malice after all this time of virtual conversations. I’m thrilled to hear that your book is selling well, and I now have joined that group with signed copies!
It was terrific to meet you to Susan (sorry, I cannot think of you as “Sue” after all this time!). Hope to see you at Bouchercon Toronto…