The Mystery Starts Here

Why you have to go to conferences

You see them advertised all the time, writing conferences in your particular area of interest, mystery, romance or Sci-Fi. Some are small and regional with room for 40 or 50 people. Some like RWA National for romance or the Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime for mystery lovers are large national conventions that draw hundreds or even thousands of attendees. The programs consist of authors who have published in your genre and speak on their writing experiences, workshops for writing techniques but the real appeal of a conference is the editors and agents who attend. Conferences are the best way to meet editors and agents and get your work in front of them.

Conferences usually charge extra for you to have an agent/editor appointment and the money is well worth it. If you send your manuscript over the transom to an agent, it may never get read by the agent. Most agents have first readers who will look at your manuscript and say yea or nay. But if you can get an appointment with an agent or editor, you have the opportunity to pitch your book, face to face. This will also give you the opportunity – if you’re a fast talker – to let the person know you are not only an author, but a public speaker and have ideas to promote the books once it’s published and oh, by the way, this work is just the first in a series. With the state the publishing business is in today, agents and editors are not looking for a person to write one book. They want writers who can deliver several books, either stand-alone or series. As with any interview, do your best to look and act professionally.

This is your Career

This is your writing career we’re talking about. Dress as if you were going on a job interview, because you are. When you’ve finished speaking with an agent, thank them for their time. Most agents will ask you to send the first 50 pages of your manuscript with a synopsis. The minute you get home, send the agent what she’s asked for and remind her gently where you met. On the outside of your manila envelope, write “Requested Materials” so you actually get to the agents desk.Now all you have to do is sit back, with fingers crossed and wait.

While you’re at the convention be sure to take full advantage of not only the classes available, but the social mixers too. That’s a good place to meet agents and editors in a casual atmosphere where you can just smooze with them. I attended a small conference recently and had an agent appointment, but I also managed to talk to and get the business cards of two other agents and an editor. Be sure to use good sense and use good manners because the publishing world is a small one and you do not want to get a bad reputation. Editors move from house to house and they all know one another, so be on your best behavior but have fun. You never know, this might be the start of your writing career.

Do you love them? Hate them?

Or look them up? I’m a looker-upper and always have been. I delight in learning new words and finding their meanings. I’ll probably never use them, but it’s fun to discover their definitions. For instance I’m reading James Patterson’s mystery, “Double Cross” and on page 59 Patterson’s protagonist Alex Cross uses the word mysophobia. I KIND of knew what it meant but I looked it up to be sure.

“Mysophobia is a term used to describe a pathological fear of contact with dirt, to avoid contamination and germs.”

Now, I seriously doubt I’ll ever use the word in conversation or in my writing, but I’m glad I know what it means.

I’ve been told in more than one writing class not to use obtuse or weird or long or unusual words. You don’t want to tax your reader’s brains, and that’s good advice. It goes back to that ’stopping your reader’ thing. Some people, when confronted with a new word will skip over it. Some will put down the book and stop reading it. Then there are those folks like me who have to run to the dictionary to find the word’s definition. So, what should you do? I say go for it! If the word is right, use it. Always use the best word for that particular situation. I trust that my readers are intelligent and I know they will look up those weird words when they are unsure of their meaning. I still do.

I have a confession to make. A million years ago, in another lifetime, about five jobs back, I worked for TWA in downtown LA. My coworkers called me, “The Librarian” because I always carried a dictionary with me. How nerdy can you get, huh? Well, it became a term of endearment because they all started to come to me for word definitions! I no longer carry a pocket dictionary, but I own a couple. And four thesaurus - yup, I like words. How about you?