I just signed up for the 2012 Love Is Murder conference in Chicago, and as an author! The first time I went, in 2009, I was still an unpublished writer, looking to make the most of the Pitch-A-Palooza event at the conference--a chance to pitch my novel to literary agents. Oddly enough, I pitched the "The Dreamer Gambit" in one of its earlier incarnations, and three agents asked me to send them a sample. None of them took the project on as an agent, but one did offer some advice which led me to restructure the work to the form that finally got published. The original had too much backstory and introduced the character of Jack much later-- in Chapter 4! Lesson learned: get into the story fast!
Another feature of the conference, which I hope to avail myself of this year, is they have a room set up where they sell books. Since "Dreamer" will be available in print, I plan to have a stack of my books for sale. Since by then "Two Faces Two Faced" should be available as an ebook, I might also take along some chap books of it to pass around. I have a few more ideas for promoting both books in months to come.
Love Is Murder is a great event for writers and readers of mystery and crime fiction. They offer workshops of interest to anyone. In 2009, for instance, I attended a talk by a real-life private detective who discussed what the job is really like and the methods he uses. Another had two self-defense instructors talking about fight-scenes, reality versus fiction. These were absolutely fascinating, and I hope the 2012 conference offers similarly instructive and entertaining sessions. I strongly encourage anyone who wants to break into the genre to attend this conference. It's great fun, too!
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