Malice Domestic 2015: Highlights and Photos

The 27th annual Malice Domestic mystery convention wrapped up yesterday. I attended the traditional mystery convention as both a mystery fan and an author, so between being a fan-girl and putting on my professional writer hat, the three-day event was a bit of a whirlwind.

I'm at the airport, drinking plenty of coffee and green juice to recover from the long weekend, so it's time to share a recap and photos:

Welcome to Malice Domestic

Upon our arrival, this mysterious projection was waiting for us.

Malice Go Round

The first full day of the convention began with an introduction to Malice for first-time attendees, an informational session for people interested in volunteering, and then Malice Go Round: Like Speed Dating, But With Authors. 

There were 20 tables with eight readers and two empty seats; authors paired up and visited each table and gave a 2-minute pitch about their books. I passed out postcards of Quicksand and The Accidental Alchemist out of a magician's hat, since stage magicians are a common element between my two series. (Sorry, I was on California time, so I didn't think to take any photos of the event!)

Welcome Reception

This year marks Midnight Ink's 10th anniversary, so they hosted the welcome reception with a special cake and books by all of their authors. 

Midnight Ink authors at Malice.

Sisters in Crime

Malice Domestic and Sisters in Crime are probably the two most important groups that brought me into the mystery fold. I love connecting with my Sisters at Malice, and at a convention of several hundred, the SinC breakfast is one of the best ways to see everyone.

Don't worry, SinC President Catrina McPherson is left-handed, so a broken arm can't slow her down.

SinC President Catriona McPherson and
Vice President Leslie Budewitz at the SinC breakfast.

 

The Sisters in Crime Dorothy Cannell Guppy Scholarship was given out at the breakfast. The yearly scholarship that pays $1,000 for a SinC Guppy to attend Malice Domestic is being offered by agent Meg Ruley to honor her long-time client.

Dorothy Cannell and Leslie Budewitz presenting the first
Guppy scholarship to attend Malice Domestic.

Also announced at the breakfast was the exciting news that the Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, originally planned as a one-time grant for an emerging writer of color, will continue!

Frankie Bailey and I were involved in the inaugural grant committee last year, when Maria Kelson was awarded the first grant. Her work in progress is terrific.

Frankie Bailey and Gigi Pandian.

Ellen Byron, Gigi Pandian, Diane Vallere, Kendel Flaum.
(Kendel is my editor at Henery Press - if you're enjoying QUICKSAND,
the third Jaya Jones treasure hunt mystery, she's the one who saved it!)

Wondering about the boas? It was thought up a few years ago as a way for SinC Guppies to easily find each other at the large Sisters in Crime breakfast.

The Guppies gathering for a photo at the end of the Sisters in Crime breakfast.

The Sisters in Crime Guppy chapter meets for lunch every year, and it's a great opportunity to put faces to names we know online, in a smaller setting.

SinC Guppies gathering at Booeymongers for lunch.

Attending Panels

The Golden Age of Detection Panel

This was one of my favorite panels. I love Golden Age mysteries, plus check out the lineup of panelists! Mystery scholar Doug Greene moderating, with Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine reviewer Steve Steinbock, author and scholar Martin Edwards, and fiction and non-fiction writer (and Sherlock Holmes expert) Daniel Stashower. I'm tempted to do a recap of the entertaining and informative panel here, but I'd ramble far too long, so I'll post panel notes separately at a later date.

Steve Steinbock, Doug Greene, Martin Edwards, Dan Stashower.

I'm looking forward to reading this new book by Martin Edwards on the Golden Age of mystery fiction that's out this very week.

Academic Mysteries Panel

Susan Van Kirk, Lori Rader-Day, Debra Goldstein, Triss Stein, Neil Plakcy.

Best Short Story Agatha-Nominated Authors Panel

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine editor Linda Landrigan (moderating),
Kathy Lynn Emerson, Barb Goffman, Edith Maxwell, Art Taylor.

My Sleuthing Duos Panel

Meeting for coffee to plan our panel.

Tracy Kiely, Gigi Pandian, Ritter Ames, Hannah Dennison, Wendy Tyson.

I hadn't met fellow panelist Ritter Ames before, and I was happy to learn about her Elizabeth Peters-inspired series. (My to-be-read pile of books grew exponentially this weekend...)

Stepping outside of the hotel to recharge

Green juice run with some of the Midnight Ink crew. 

Tracy Weber, Linda Joffe Hull,
Terri Bischoff (my fabulous Midnight Ink editor), Catriona McPherson.

Tulips were in bloom all around the hotel.

The Banquet

Pal Cynthia Kuhn (top row center) was awarded one of this year's William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grants for unpublished traditional mystery writers!

Past and present grant-winners with committee chair
Harriette Sackler (top left).

The Agatha Award Winners

My local Sisters in Crime chapter had not one but TWO
Agatha winners: Rhys Bowen and Penny Warner
(seen here with Parnell Hall - thanks to Penny for the pic)

Best Contemporary Novel: Truth Be Told by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Best Historical Novel: Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen

Best First Novel: Well Read, Then Dead by Terrie Farley Moran

Best Nonfiction: Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer's Journey by Hank Phillippi Ryan (ed)
(This is a book full of essays by members of Sisters in Crime.)

Best Short Story: "The Odds are Against Us" by Art Taylor

Best Children's/Young Adult: The Code Buster's Club, Case #4, The Mummy's Curse by Penny Warner

Sara Peretsky was given the Lifetime Achievement Award this year. Caroline and Charles Todd were the guests of honor, and Ann Cleeves was the International guest of honor.

Closing Ceremonies Tea

Cindy Brown and Gigi Pandian before the closing tea.

There were many hats to be found at the tea. It used to be more of a tradition, and there's a mini movement to bring it back. (I don't yet have a photo of the Henery Press authors with their hats, but I'll add it when I get a copy.) 

Poirot and Miss Marple were on hand at the tea, just in case anything untoward were to have occurred.

Poirot and Miss Marple.

And now it's nearly time for my flight to Edinburgh, Scotland, where I'm doing a week-long writers retreat with my local writers group to celebrate my 40th birthday. This was an idea I had while going through cancer treatments four years ago, and I can't quite believe it became a reality. But on the heels of Malice Domestic, it's perfect timing. As I type up this recap, I'm reminded again of how inspiring it is to connect with other mystery fans and writers. I'm going to take that inspiration with me to Scotland.

Photos from Sisters in Crime NorCal's Fall Showcase

Twice a year, the Sisters in Crime Northern California Chapter holds a showcase in which author members with a recent book out read from their work. We rotate around to different bookstores. This time we were at San Francisco's Books Inc. at the Opera Plaza. Since Artifact came out a little over two months ago, I read a passage at the event last Saturday.

Left to right: Vinnie Hansen, Gigi Pandian, Sophie Littlefield, Kirsten Weiss, Pat Morin, Juliet Blackwell, and Carole Price. 

Me with Sophie and Juliet. 

Reading from ARTIFACT. 

Dagger cupcakes baked by one of the SinC Board members!

5 Things You Really Need To Know Before Deciding Whether To Self-Publish: Workshops and a Cheat Sheet

Four months ago I wrote a blog post with 20 Steps in Self-Publishing, to share what I learned in the six months after a scary cancer diagnosis made me decide to throw myself into forming my own imprint to publish my mystery series myself.

Since that time, I've learned a lot more and have had many people ask me for details about the process. Most recently, two writers organizations asked me to speak about what I've learned over the course of this year. For those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area or the Portland Oregon area who might be interested in attending, here are details about those two events. And for everyone, here's a preview with some key things that are part of what I'll be talking about in the workshops: 5 things you really need to know before deciding whether to self-publish.

Adventures in Self-Publishing
Saturday, August 4, 2012, noon – 2 p.m. 
Berkeley, CA
Details and directions on the SinC NorCal website. This is a free event.
Speaking to the Northern California Chapter of Sisters in Crime about the pros and cons of self-publishing and traditional publishing, and answering questions about the nuts and bolts of self-publishing.

Different Paths to Publishing: Which is Right For You, and How To Do It Right
Sunday, September 16, 2012, 1 – 5 p.m.
Lake Oswego Fairfield Inn and Suites, OR (near Portland)
Details on the OWC website. Registration is necessary. There is a fee, but scholarships are available.
I'm excited to be teaching this 4-hour workshop with my mom! Sue Parman is an anthropologist who's written numerous academic books in addition to fiction, plays, and poetry. We've each had experience with multiple types of publishing. The first half of our workshop will focus on what you need to know to make a personal decision about which type of publishing to pursue. The second half will delve into publicity and marketing.


5 Things You Really Need To Know Before Deciding Whether To Self-Publish

1. Self-Publishing is not necessarily a shortcut. It's a temptingly lovely path of roses you see off the main highway. When you pull off the interstate, you'll see the beautiful roses are covered in thorns. A few people will have the talent and luck to avoid most of the thorns, many others will be annoyed by the extent of their scratches but will ultimately be happy with the garden, and some people will become stuck in the brambles, never finding their way to a successful spot on the path that was once so tantalizing.

So far, I fall into the middle camp. It's a hell of a lot more work than I thought it was going to be to publish my first mystery myself, but it's also been rewarding in many ways.  It's important to note that even though technology has made it possible for publishing shortcuts to exist, there's not a shortcut to learning how to be a good writer. It's never a good idea to publish shoddy work. The general public is not your critique group. Make sure you've got a damn good book before sharing it with the world. Spend the time you need to write a book that's good enough to be traditionally published, and then decide what type of publishing is right for you.

2. Are you up for dealing with the nitty gritty details of publishing that don't involve writing? I went over many of the the steps involved here, including getting ISBN numbers, designing a book cover and other promotional materials, deciding on a printer and distribution, creating the layout for the printed book, formatting the book for different ebook formats, and creating accounts to sell the book. Whew! And that's not even everything. There are more forms such as copyright and PCIP data blocks, if you decide to get these things.

It's true that you'll keep a lot more of the profits from book sales if you publish your books yourself, but you'll also be doing all the hidden work yourself. Maybe you love having control of all of these things and have the time to do them, in which case self-publishing is probably a great path for you.

3. Do you want to focus on writing above all else? Unfortunately there's no way for a writer to focus exclusively on writing these days, whichever route to publishing you chose. But if you don't want to think of yourself as a business person as much as an author, you might want to stick with having someone else as your publisher.

Fortunately, there are lots of business people who love books, so I've been hearing about many wonderful new small presses popping up. With publishing in flux right now, these aren't the most stable of times—but they're also pretty exciting times with lots of options.

4. Have you thought about your goals? No, really. Will you be disappointed that the vast majority of bookstores won't stock your self-published book, regardless of how professional it looks? Or will you be thrilled to check out your eBook sales directly and see that people who don't know you are buying your book? Any goal is a valid one, as long as you're sure you're being honest with yourself. Otherwise you might end up disappointed later.

5. The books are still the most important thing. This point circles back to the first one. It's easy to get swept up in all of the back-end details of publishing a book and the front-end marketing, both of which could easily be a full-time job. It's all to easy to forget that what you really need to be doing is writing the next book. All of the successful self-published authors I've spoken with agree that having multiple books out is the best way to generate word-of-mouth.

I admit that for a couple of months I got side-tracked and spent too much time focusing on the publishing and marketing side of things. I even joined Facebook! (Gah! Yes, that should show you how crazy things had gotten.) But ultimately I realized I wasn't doing myself any favors. I know I can't do everything. As of two weeks ago, I'm back on track. I need to keep writing the next chapter in the series—and that's is exactly what I'm going to get back to doing after I publish this blog post.


I hope to see some of you at the workshops, and in the meantime feel free to leave a comment below with any questions. I've learned a lot from so many generous people that I'm more than happy to pass along what I've learned.

Malice Domestic 2012: Celebrating the Traditional Mystery with Elizabeth Peters This Year!

I'm home after attending the Malice Domestic mystery convention. If you're asking yourself what on earth "Malice Domestic" means, here's a quick explanation: Agatha Christie wrote traditional mysteries with puzzle plots that involve characters we get to know, quite different from conspiracy thrillers or gritty hard-boiled stories that also live in the mystery genre. Malice Domestic celebrates traditional mysteries. It's what I write and what I love to read.

Meeting Elizabeth Peters!!!

One of the authors who epitomizes this genre is Elizabeth Peters, whose books I have adored since I was a teenager. She stopped attending mystery conventions years ago, but she attended one afternoon of Malice Domestic this year to receive the Amelia award, an award named for her spectacular character Amelia Peabody.

It was a highlight of the convention when I got to meet her! What a lovely, gracious author. When I met up with my friends afterward, I believe I was giggling like I was thirteen years old. 

I moderated a Travel Mysteries panel featuring Hilary Davidson, Janice Hamrick, Maddy Hunter, Marie Moore, and Sara Wisseman. These authors have books set around the world in Egypt, Peru, and Europe, so it was fun to hear their travel stories that impacted their fiction. (UPDATE: Marie's husband took a photo of the panel, which I've added below.)

Our Travel Mysteries panel.

 

Kaye George and Jenny Milchman.

Although panels at conventions are great, one of the best parts is who you meet informally, such as running into Kaye George (a fellow member of the Guppies chapter of Sisters in Crime who was up for an Agatha this year) and Jenny Milchman. If you haven't heard of Jenny's "Made It Moments" blog where authors share their stories about the moment they feel like they've "made it" as an author, you need to check it out. It's one of the most inspiring things you'll read all day.

A couple of my friends arrived late to a panel we had all planned to attend, so I ended up sitting and chatting with Sujata Massey, who writes the Rei Shimura mysteries. I learned she's working on a new book, The Sleeping Dictionary, set in colonial India, that sounds very cool.

With Sujata Massey.

In addition to chance encounters, I also planned in advance to meet up with two writers I knew through the Guppies, Kendel Flaum and Diane Vallere. The three of us first got to know each other when we traded works-in-progress. We really liked each others writing, so we decided to embark on a joint project together (more details to follow later this summer). The project has been going great, in spite of the fact that we hadn't ever hung out in person! I had met Diane very briefly once before, and Diane had met Kendel, but the three of were very much virtual friends—until this weekend.

Hanging out with partners in crime Kendel Flaum and Diane Vallere.

At the Agathas Banquet.

Guppy Leslie Budewitz won an Agatha award for her non-fiction guide for authors BOOKS, CROOKS, AND COUNSELORS.

Leslie Budewitz accepting her Agatha Award for BOOKS, CROOKS, AND COUNSELORS

At lunch with Leslie Budewitz, Avery Aames, Tracy Kiely, Kaye George, and Sandra Parshall.

Last but not least, I'm happy to report I finally met Nicole Peeler! I was starting to believe this urban fantasy author was a figment of my imagination. Turns out I was mistaken—she's real! And very fun.

Meeting Nicole Peeler in person for the first time.

p.s. I played hookie from the convention for a few hours one afternoon to see the gargoyles on the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. I'll post more photos of the gargoyles over at Gargoyle Girl next week.

A gargoyle on the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.