June 1st, 2010
Okay, we are soooo far behind in keeping this website current …
I hope that all you members have been kept up to date by reading your monthly Clues, but for those who are just visiting the website, let me tell you at least one cool thing … our outreach meeting in St. Louis on April 16 was awesome! We had a houseful.
Held in conjunction with the Missouri Writers Guild workshop, the program included dinner and a panel discussion on “Ten Things Mystery Writers Should Know About Publishing in the Marketplace Today.” Our panelists were (left to right in the photo below) author Raymond Benson, agent Suzie Townsend, agent Joanna Stampfel-Volpe, author Dakota Banks, and bookstore owner Ed King (of Big Sleep Books).
Want to know what the Ten Things were? If you’re a member, you can find my write-up in the May issue of Clues. If you’re not a member–or if you’re a member of another chapter–send me an email at tony perona (separated by a period) at gmail.com.
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June 1st, 2010
The May Meeting of the Midwest Chapter was another outreach meeting, this one held in Milwaukee. Ted Hertel (one of MWMWA’s past presidents) helped out the chapter by arranging for a dinner meeting, held at the Best Western at the Milwaukee airport. Our guest speakers were Ben LeRoy and Alison Janssen of Tyrus Books.
After dinner, everyone introduced themselves and members gave updates on their latest news. Then MWMWA President Tony Perona introduced our speakers. They immediately befriended everyone there by offering us free books, review copies of their fall titles. (”It’s like Christmas!” said Alison.) Then Ben gave us a brief history of how he founded Bleak House Books, Alison’s joining the company first as an intern and then as editor, and their break when Big Earth Books bought the company and provided them the capital to go from 2 books a year to 15 to 20.
In 2008 Bleak House Books had three Edgar nominations, one for Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Short Story. Alison holds the distinction of being the only editor to have accomplished having three titles be Edgar nominees in the same year.
However, in 2009, Ben and Alison had philosophical differences with the owners and decided to go out on their own. They created Tyrus Books and produced three books that year. This year, 2010, will be their first year to produce a full line, and they are very excited the ten titles they are offering.
Ben said that they are currently closed to submissions as they are working hard to make their books a success. They hope to re-open the submission process later in the year. Tyrus Books is mainly interested in manuscripts where a crime has been committed and everyone is dealing with the consequences. (They are not, as both Ben and Alison mentioned, interested in thrillers.)
The meeting was adjourned about 8:45 p.m.
Here are a couple of other photos from the meeting:
(Left to right) Ben LeRoy, Alison Janssen, Jon & Ruth Jordan, and Libby Fischer Hellmann have a talk before the meeting starts.
MWMWA members gather with our guest speakers for a photo. Back row: Ted Hertel, Ben LeRoy, Tony Perona, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Jon Jordan, Ruth Jordan, David Walker. Front row: Katie Vanderjack, Alison Janssen
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June 1st, 2010
We have a terrific lineup planned for Printer’s Row this year:
SATURDAY
Signings 10:00 am – Noon
Clare O’Donohue
John McEvoy
Jess Lourey
Betty Hechtman
Erin Hart
Michael Wiley
Workshop 10:30 am -11:30 am
Michael A. Black “Plotting murder”
Signing 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Henry Perez
Workshop 11:30 am -12:30 pm
Michael Wiley “Plotting your novel”
Signing 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Michael A. Black
Signings Noon – 2 pm
Luisa Buehler
Craig McDonald
Laura DiSilverio
Dirk Robertson
Wendy Lyn Watson
Helen Osterman
David Walker
Workshop 12:30 pm -1:30 pm
Libby Hellmann “Building suspense”
Signing 12:30 pm -2:30 pm
Michael Wiley
Workshop 1:30 pm -2:30 pm
Erin Hart “Writing the literary crime novel”
Signing 1:30:00 pm -2:30 pm
Libby Hellmann
Signings 2 pm – 4 pm
Sharon Fiffer (until 3:30)
Michael A. Black
Clare O’Donohue
Jack Fredrickson (until 4:30)
Raymond Benson
Mary Gruner
Workshop 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Michael Dymmoch “The importance of point-of-view in Crime fiction”
Signing 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Erin Hart
Workshop 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Luisa Buehler “Fact, Fiction, Fantasy – How real does fiction need to be?”
Signing 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Gail Lukasik (until 4:30)
Michael Dymmoch
Workshop 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Gail Lukasik “Creating characters”
Signings 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Luisa Buehler
Bob Goldsborough
Libby Hellmann
Signing 5:30 pm – 6 pm
Gall Lukasik
SUNDAY
Workshop 10 am -11 am
Dirk Robertson “Characterization in storytelling”
Signings 10:00 am – Noon
Michael Dymmoch
Sam Reeves
Michael Wiley
Bob Goldsborough
Erin Hart
Libby Hellmann
Tony Perona (until 11 am)
Signing 11 am – 1 pm
Dirk Robertson
Workshop Noon -1 pm
Bob Goldsborough “Writing the historical mystery”
Signings Noon – 2 pm
Michael Black
David Walker
Clare O’Donohue
Sam Reeves
Tony Perona (Starting at 1 pm)
Workshop 1 pm – 2 pm
Wendy Lyn Watson “Write naked”
Signing 1 pm – 3 pm
Bob Goldsborough
2 PM – 3 PM
MWA MEETING OPEN TO ALL
Signings 2 pm – 4 pm
Wendy Lyn Watson
Maggie Sefton (until 5 pm)
Sam Reeves (until 3 pm)
Sharon Fiffer
Tony Perona
Workshop 3 pm – 4 pm
Sam Reeves “Writing dialogue”
Signing 3 pm – 5 pm
Helen Osterman
Workshop 4 pm – 5 pm
Raymond Benson “Suspense in Crime Fiction”
Signings 4 pm – 6 pm
Sam Reeves
Todd Allen
Michael Dymmoch
Tony Perona
Raymond Benson (starting at 5 pm)
Workshop 5 pm – 6 pm
Sharon Fiffer “The accidental author”
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June 1st, 2010
As president, I was privileged to represent the Midwest chapter at the 2010 Edgar Awards held April 29. But it wasn’t just the Thursday ceremony that was amazing. I arrived on Tuesday and, as chairman of the PR committee, had the opportunity to hang out with a group of Edgar nominees and Executive Vice President Larry Light at Sirius Radio Headquarters, where the others (not me) were interviewed on the show Cover to Cover. Here are Stefanie Pintoff, Megan Abbott, and Larry Light at the microphones. Later, those three plus Peter Abrahams, who was also interviewed, posed for my camera.
After that it was off to the Mysterious Bookshop for the book launch for Crimes by Moonlight, the new MWA anthology edited by Charlaine Harris. The event was pretty crowded.
The next day (Wednesday) was the Edgar Symposium, where a lot more of the Edgar nominees shared their expertise with the attendees. The Symposium was recorded and copies of the DVD are available, so I’m not going to spend too much time talking about it. All I can say is that I learned a lot. Here are some selected photos from the Symposium.
Superagent Donald Maass presented a one-hour version of his “Writing the Breakout Novel.”
Hank Philippi Ryan moderated a panel on ‘Falling in Love with your Research.’
SJ Rozan moderated a panel on short stories versus novels.
The Agents and Editors party followed the Symposium. The event was free to all MWA members. Over 100 agents and editors attend the reception. Members had the opportunity to network with this group of the publishing elite and make new connections.
The highlight of Thursday was the Edgar Awards ceremonies. I hung out with the other MWA Board members, like Simon Wood, the Northern California chapter president, and Margaret McLean, the New England chapter president.
Current MWA President Laura Lippmann and outgoing president Lee Child did a great job of keeping the ceremony moving on stage, and Margery Flax (MWA’s Executive Assistant) and the Danielides Agency kept thing moving off-stage. A great ceremony that left me wanting to read nearly every book that was nominated! It was a terrific time. If you are able to swing it, you should take in the Edgars at least once!
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