#Bcon2010

That's the Twitter hashtag for the 2010 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention being held this weekend in San Francisco. In a few hours I'm taking a puddle jumper from Owls Head, Maine, to Boston. From there it's a straight shot to the Left Coast.

I attended last year's Bouchercon in Indianapolis. At that time I was an anonymous conventioneer; I had a book coming out, but that's hardly notable at a conference that attracts some of the biggest names in crime fiction. Still, I had a great experience being wined and dined by my agent and publisher and listening to some thought-provoking presentations. After many years of hoping, I began to imagine seeing The Poacher's Son in print.

Now I'm attending the conference as a published author myself. I won't be running any panels, but I expect to sit in on a bunch of them. I'll spend hours in the book room no doubt. And I'm sure I'll be a fixture in the lounge. 

If you're attending Bouchercon and you've read The Poacher's Son and you see me wandering aimlessly, I hope you'll say, "Hello."

(Unless you hated the book. In that case, let's just make like two ships and pass in the night.)

How to Give a Good Reading

Signing books after a reading at the Lithgow Library in Augusta.Prior to this spring I had given just three public readings in my life. I had, however, attended more readings than any human being should endure. In my old job as executive director of Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance it was my responsibility to organize literary events, and I probably sat through hundreds of lectures, poetry slams, short story readings, dramatic monologues, and screenplay read-throughs. Also, my wife is a poet who does a number of readings throughout the year, and I wouldn't be much of a husband if I didn't warm a chair at those events. 

So when the time came for me to embark on my book tour for The Poacher's Son I had already formulated a few theories about what makes for a successful reading. Here are five of them:

  1. Readings Are Sales Pitches. I don't mean this in a cynical way. If your only goal is to hawk copies of your book, you are doing a disservice to your audience who has shown up to be entertained and/or edified (and I doubt you'll be successful). If, however, you are promoting a novel, you should understand that your audience will usually include people who haven't read your work yet and are attending the event to decide whether they want to do so. These individuals are often persuadable—if they like your reading enough, or even just like you enough, they will often purchase a copy of your book. 
  2. Always Leave Them Wanting More. Too many writers read for too long. In this age of shrinking attention spans, fifteen to twenty minutes usually suffices.
  3. Readings Are Performances. You might not be Alec Baldwin (I'm certainly not), but novelists need to recognize that they are storytellers first and foremost. That means you need to enact your prose. I'm not talking about jumping all over the stage, but I do believe you should inflect your dialogue to represent the speech patterns of your characters and give appropriate emphasis to your sentences. Merely reciting words on the page is no fun for the audience. Don't be shy!
  4. Leave Time for Questions. If someone has read your book and decided to show up to one of your appearances, you can safely assume that he or she wants to make a personal connection with you. Many people prefer to converse privately while you're signing their book, but others like the give and take of a public discussion. A Q&A segment also affords you a chance to show off those charming aspects of your personality that might not have come through in your reading proper.
  5. Perfect Your Routine. If you go to a comedy club two nights in a row, you'll hear a comedian tell the same jokes. Sometimes he or she might mix it up, but usually it's because a joke is falling flat and the comic wants to work out the kinks. It's unlikely that your audience will include repeat members, so during the question-and-answer sessions you should feel free to repeat particularly good lines, especially if they make people laugh.

This post by Thomas A. Williams offers lots of excellent tips for authors speaking to groups. It's targeted at poets but applies equally to writers of fiction.

What advice would you give authors on tour?

Customers Also Bought...

If you've ever looked up a book on Amazon, you've probably noticed that each page includes a section called "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought." Before I became an author, I never used to pay much attention to this feature. Now I study the titles listed on The Poacher's Son page trying to determine if there's some secret pattern to be discerned in the books purchased along with mine.

At the moment the list includes:

  • The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larrson (OK, everyone's reading that one)
  • The Glass Rainbow: A Dave Robicheaux Book by James Lee Burke (Maybe because I have a French last name?)
  • Junkyard Dogs: A Walt Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson (An outdoorsy mystery series, so I guess this one makes sense);
  • Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (OK, everyone's reading that one)
  • The Passage by Justin Cronin (A post-apocalyptic vampire novel? Naturally! The perfect follow up to The Poacher's Son)
  • Faithful Place by Tana French (Dublin undercover cops, Maine game wardens: basically the same professions)

I don't see much of a pattern here. Do you? But at least my novel is in good company.