June 9th, 2013
10-11:45
David Walker
Jack Fredrickson
Robert Goldsborough
Susanna Calkins
Clare O’Donohue
Erin Hart
Libby Hellmann
Noon-1:45
Julie Hyzy
Michael Black
Diane Piron-Gelman
Tim Chapman
Frances McNamara
J. Michael Major
Molly MacRae
2-3:45
Helen Osterman
Lydia Ponczak
Laura Caldwell
Susan Froetschel
Nancy J Parra
Raymond Benson
Luisa Buehler
4-5:45
Michele May
Luisa Buehler
Diane Piron-Gelman
Susan Froetschel
Clare O’Donohue
Helen Osterman
Lydia Ponczak
Categories: Announcements, Event, Printers Row |
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June 9th, 2013
Saturday signing schedule
10-11:45
David Walker
Erin Hart
Frances McNamara
Jack Fredrickson
Jennie Spallone
Helen Osterman
Lydia Ponczak
Noon-1:45
Joelle Charbonneau
Diane Piron-Gelman
J. Michael Major
Linda Tsoutsouris (Kate Collins)
Susan Froetschel
Luisa Buehler
Molly MacRae
2-3:45
Clare O’Donohue
Brian D’Amato
Julie Hyzy
Michael Black
Libby Hellmann
Robert Goldsborough
Bryan Gruley
4-5:45
Raymond Benson
Barbara D’Amato
Sara Paretsky
Joelle Charbonneau
Susanna Calkins
Tim Chapman
Nancy J Parra
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September 2nd, 2012
Authors must put themselves in the forefront if they’re going to sell books. That was the message
MWAMidwest members heard at the August meeting from a special guest, Rebecca Crowley, founder and CEO of RTC Publicity in NewYork.
“My most successful authors are those who take an active role in their own promotion,”she said. But it takes a team. Family. Friends. A hired publicist is just part of the team. “My best ideas are born in conjunction with other people,” Crowley said.
Actually, she admitted, “A lot of my [book marketing] ideas come out of marketing other products.”
What works? Finding a way to “go viral” online. Crowley said. Also email newsletters that show off your personality instead of only selling, selling, selling.
Working with her clients, Crowley does a lot of blog outreach and still insists that hand-selling—through word of mouth, through individual interactions in person or online—is the best way to sell books. Social media, Crowley said, is a hand-selling opportunity—but you have to do it right. “It should be an ongoing dialogue,” she said. “Don’t start a million online profiles and walk away. Do one really well instead of five really poorly.”
Lori Rader Day is the editor of Clues.
Categories: Event, Meeting report, Uncategorized |
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April 20th, 2012
Our April meeting will feature crime scene expert Howard Dean. Howard will be talking about bloodstain evidence: how it’s collected and analyzed and how it helps solves murders.
Howard Dean has been working at crime scenes for over 20 years as a Crime Scene Investigator, Blood Stain Analyst, and Rifle Armorer. Currently he is the Technical Services Director for the Loves Park Police Department, in Loves Park, Illinois. He’s also a certified pistol instructor who offers classes designed specifically for writers.
Our meeting will be at 1 PM Central Daylight Time on Sunday, April 22 at
Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore, 7419 W. Madison St., Forest Park, IL 60130.
And if you can’t make it to the store, you can watch and interact with us online
as we’ll be broadcasting the meeting over the Internet via ustream. Go to
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mwa-midwest
You’ll have to watch a lame commercial for a few seconds, but then you’ll be
connected to the live stream. To ask questions of our speaker, email aabroder@yahoo.com.
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October 18th, 2010
Century & Sleuths at 2 p.m.
7419 W. Madison St. in Forest Park,
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October 18th, 2010
October 29-31 in Muncie, Indiana. The November outreach meeting was held there. Here is the report from CLUES:
The November meeting of the Midwest
Chapter was held one day before November,
on Sunday, October 31st at the
Magna cum Murder mystery convention
in Muncie, Indiana. Eight members and guests attended. It
was a small group, but that meant we were able to have a more intimate
conversation with our guest speaker, Charles Todd, half of the
mother-son writing team that produces the Inspector Ian Rutledge
series and the nurse Bess Crawford series, both period series that
require quite a bit of research. A few things we learned from
Charles:
• His real name isn’t Charles and his mother’s name is not Caroline. They developed
those personae when they became authors. (He declined to reveal his real name.)
• When Charles is flying out to a mystery convention or some other book-related function,
he introduces himself to those around him on the plane as Charles Todd, an author, and
by the time he gets to his destination, he’s “in character.”
• It took a while for him and his mother to develop their professional relationship that is
different from the mother-son relationship they have when they are not writing books or
making appearances together. Now, he says, it’s easier to separate the two relationships
and recognize when they need to switch from one to the other.
• Charles has served as the president of the mid-Atlantic MWA chapter and has been on the
national Board several times. This past year he was snookered into being parliamentarian
again, after saying he was going to take a break from the Board. (Tony particularly got a
kick of this, since he was part of the Board that roped him back in.)
• Charles and Caroline are real sticklers for research, which is what you have to be when
you write historical series, as they do.
• His father is very much a part of the team, although he doesn’t do any of the writing.
Charles says his father has a very analytical mind and, as their first reader, is good at
catching gaps in logic and changes in details about their characters.
The November meeting of the Midwest Chapter was held one day before November, on Sunday, October 31st at the
Magna cum Murder mystery convention in Muncie, Indiana. Eight members and guests attended. It was a small group, but that meant we were able to have a more intimate conversation with our guest speaker, Charles Todd, half of the
mother-son writing team that produces the Inspector Ian Rutledge series and the nurse Bess Crawford series, both period series that require quite a bit of research. A few things we learned from Charles:
• His real name isn’t Charles and his mother’s name is not Caroline. They developed those personae when they became authors. (He declined to reveal his real name.)
• When Charles is flying out to a mystery convention or some other book-related function, he introduces himself to those around him on the plane as Charles Todd, an author, and by the time he gets to his destination, he’s “in character.”
• It took a while for him and his mother to develop their professional relationship that is different from the mother-son relationship they have when they are not writing books or making appearances together. Now, he says, it’s easier to separate the two relationships and recognize when they need to switch from one to the other.
• Charles has served as the president of the mid-Atlantic MWA chapter and has been on the national Board several times. This past year he was snookered into being parliamentarian again, after saying he was going to take a break from the Board. (Tony particularly got a kick of this, since he was part of the Board that roped him back in.)
• Charles and Caroline are real sticklers for research, which is what you have to be when you write historical series, as they do.
• His father is very much a part of the team, although he doesn’t do any of the writing. Charles says his father has a very analytical mind and, as their first reader, is good at catching gaps in logic and changes in details about their characters.
Categories: Event, From our MWMWA president, Meeting report, Meetings |
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October 18th, 2010
The Author’s Art of Selling One’s Book
Century & Sleuths at 1 p.m.
7419 W. Madison St. in Forest Park,
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April 24th, 2010
7pm Thursday, May 6th, Libertyville Civic Center, Room C
Meet mystery writers Marcus Sakey and Gillian Flynn as they go head to head in this lively presentation! The plot: Marcus Sakey, bestselling author of four novels and dubbed the “new reigning prince of crime fiction” by the Chicago Tribune meets Gillian Flynn, author of two novels, Sharp Objects which is being developed as a feature film and Dark Places, a New York Times bestseller meet at the Libertyville Civic Center to talk about their trials and tribulations as mystery/crime fiction writers. Their books will be available for purchase and an author signing will follow the program.
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