Festivals and Conferences and Awards...OH MY
I’ve had a busy year so far. A year ago I’d volunteered to be the book seller liaison for this year’s Pennwriters Conference. I hooked up with Laurie Stephens, the new owner of Mystery Lovers Bookshop who agreed to handle the Conference book sales. As we met and made plans for that event, she offered me a job with the book store as author liaison for the Festival of Mystery! What fun! I had the opportunity to work with all the authors coming to Pittsburgh for the Festival, including one of my favorites, Deborah Coonts , a newcomer to the event. I also worked closely with Margo at the store, researching all the books, publishers and publication dates prior to ordering stock. I was given access to Ingram’s database, which was one of the most educational experiences I’ve had in ages. Ingram, by the way, is one of the major distributors of books. By scouring their database, I learned about the deals offered by different publishers to the book stores. Things ...