I’m back in town, feeling more than a bit guilty about not attending the last two chapter meetings; however, being able to spend seven weeks with my daughter and her family in Jakarta, Indonesia was an opportunity I couldn’t miss! Corner me at the Alpine on March 11th and I’ll talk your ears off about it!

Almost spring, and we’re about to enter the busiest season of the year for the Chesapeake Chapter. Join us April 21 – 23 at Malice Domestic where we’ll once again have a table in the hospitality suite of the Crystal City Marriot. If you’d like to help out, let Donna Andrews know at donna@donnaandrews.com.

Our biggest effort to date is Book Expo America when it comes to Washington, D.C. in mid-May. Volunteers are already lining up to man the booth, sign, give away books and otherwise help out with this incredibly huge and exciting conference. Sisters in Crime National will be on the main floor in booth #830 on:

Friday, May 19, 2006 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, May 20, 2006 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 21, 2006 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

And we’ll want to schedule folks both before and after these hours to help set up and break down the booth. If you haven’t already volunteered, and would like to help, please let me know right away at marcia@marciatalley.com.

Authors! In addition to signing/giving away your mystery books in the SinC booth itself, a limited number of spaces are available in the formal autographing sessions. Usually these arrangements are made through your publisher, but if you’d like to apply through Sisters in Crime, and are willing to pay the $50 fee, let me know right away as the deadline is March 3, 2006. Unlike previous years, there is no set minimum on the number of books you are required to give away. Remember that no books can be sold at BEA.

Again, all books, bookmarks, handouts, miscellaneous freebies and other promotional materials must be shipped ahead of time to:

Verna Suit

3111 Helsel Drive

Silver Spring, MD 20906

301-460-0624

Questions? Don’t hesitate to call me at 410-266-5666, or email.

Marcia

Golden Age writer to be celebrated at next meeting

Agatha Christie may be the best known writer of the Golden Age of Mystery (between World War I and II). But in Maureen Collins’ opinion, Dorothy L. Sayers is the writer that mystery readers and writers should know.

“She is the best of the five great English women of the Golden Age. She was both a playwright and a novelist. Her mysteries are considered among the best – better written than Agatha Christie’s,” Maureen said.

At the next chapter meeting, Maureen – a chapter member and past chapter president – will discuss Sayers and all she brought to the mystery field, including “an analytic mind” and “the heroine of noble birth who dabbles in crime.”

“She showed you can write a mystery story that is well thought out, well reasoned out, and with a good use of language,” Maureen said. “She helped make the mystery respectable.”

Sayers believed that mystery readers should have a fair chance at guessing the culprit, according to the Detection Club website – a British mystery writers’ organization similar to Mystery Writers of America. Proper clues should be dropped. The antagonist should be part of the plot. This premise was one of the guiding forces behind the founding of the Detection Club by Sayers, among others.

The current writer most similar to Sayers is P.D. James, Maureen said. “Except P.D. James’ hero is a policeman, and Sayers’ [best-known] hero was a nobleman.”

But Sayers’ impact on mysteries extended beyond what appears in the story, Maureen said. By treating people with respect, she helped the mystery earn respect.

If Sayers were alive today, Maureen believes Sayers would have the same advice for writers now as she did in her own time: “Respect the language. Respect the people you write about. Don’t trash the experts in the field. Have characters who are believable, who are likable, who are people you’d like to meet.”

Chapter authors learn that being published is just the first step

In 2005, years of sweat and rewrites came to a glorious conclusion for five chapter members who had their first novels published.

But now that the dream’s been realized, how is life at the end of the rainbow? Turns out, it’s a land filled with hard work.

“My biggest surprise was how much work it is, promotion and all that,” said Lisa Tillman, who’s first book, Blood Relations, is a medium-boiled mystery with a journalist protagonist. “Setting up readings, getting reviews, calling up bookstores. It’s harder than I thought it would be, but I think that most things in life are. It’s fun, though.”

Maureen Robb agreed. “There’s no such thing as easily setting up a signing. You must anticipate what could go wrong,” said the author of Patterns in Silicon, who’s protagonist learns that running a restaurant can be murder. “You kind of think that once you get published, all the problems are behind you, but then a whole new world of obstacles opens up.”

The best way to head off those obstacles: “Start the publicity early,” recommends Laura Durham, whose first book, Better Off Wed, stars a wedding planner turned amateur sleuth. “As soon as you find out you’re going to be published, start trying to get blurbs. They’re something you can put on your website and on your book. It’s good for the publisher to know you’re being pro-active, because then they’re going to be more excited about your book and push it more.”

Yet while the big publishers may do some publicity for a first-time author, the smaller/independent publishers may leave all the PR on the author’s shoulders.

Maria Lima found herself in that position. “I spent about $4,500 on promotion last year: hotel, travel, postcards, author copies,” said Maria, who’s book, Matters of the Blood, is a paranormal mystery. “I highly recommend to new authors hooking up with other folks and doing a mini book tour. Hit stores. It helps if you have somebody to share expenses.”

Debbie Mack, also with a small publisher, tried a different route to promote her hard-boiled mystery involving identity theft. She hired a publicist.

“I think a publicist is a good idea if you’re not the kind of person who has a lot of time or is good at pushing yourself. Having someone in your corner to push your book is a good thing,” said Debbie, who’s publicist arranged books signings and radio interviews for her mystery, Identity Crisis. “I was a little surprised when the publicist was able to arrange so many radio interviews – that so many stations were willing to talk to a first-time author.”

But even when a publicist sets up an interview, the author still has work to do. “You have to sound very glib and give these soundbitesy answers,” Debbie said. “I didn’t want to hesitate or stumble, so I prepped myself for these things as if I were going to court.” (Her prior career as a lawyer helped.) “It’s good to invest the time to have a professional appearance. I think about what the questions might be and what my answers might be. And I have a crib sheet.”

Laura has taken the publicist route for her second book, For Better or Hearse, which comes out March 1^st. While her publisher’s publicist is focusing on the big items, Laura is having the publicist she hired focus on radio and cable tv interviews. She’s pleased with the resulting publicity, though she’s not sure how it will translate into sales.

What she does know is that the best way to promote your books is to sell yourself, directly, to independent bookstore owners.

“The mystery book business is about personal relationships, getting to know the booksellers. Making those contacts,” Laura said. “In independent mystery bookstores, there’s a lot of hand-selling going on. So if they like you and like your book, they’re more likely to promote it.”

Debbie agreed that hand-selling is one of the most effective things an author can do. But don’t just try to sell yourself to stores, Debbie said. Try to persuade them to let you sell yourself to their customers.

“If you are fearless as far as talking to people, it’s amazing how much you can sell,” she said.

Lisa recommends not limiting your marketing efforts to stores. Newspaper reviews can work, but beware that they’re hard to get. “My hometown local papers are Newsday and the New York Times. I don’t think it’s enough to be from somewhere [to get a review in the local paper], especially if you’re from a big market.”

Still, for authors who want to seek newspaper reviews, try emailing editors instead of calling them, Lisa said. “It’s a lot easier to send a quick note to an editor than trying to get someone on the phone.”

There’s nothing wrong, either, with having your friends tell their friends about your novel, Lisa said. “A lot of people I know also sent my promotional email to people they know. I think that helped, too.”

Maureen suggests new authors also join online mystery groups. “It puts you in touch with actual live people.” And authors should consider joining the Murder Must Advertise listserve, which includes great information about mystery publicity, she said. Another way she tried to market her book was by writing articles for mystery-related magazines.

Her number one tip: Go to mystery conferences. “That’s probably the number one thing that has paid off for me.”

And be friendly at those conferences. Lisa met a woman at Malice last year who recently arranged for her book to be read by a book club.

But be discriminate in how you spend your time, Debbie advised, since that’s a writer’s most precious commodity.

“It’s mind-boggling how much there is that you can be doing but can’t get to,” Maureen said. “I knew it would be difficult balancing getting the second book written while working on promotion on the first book, plus working full time – there’s no end to it.”

Considering all the work book promotion takes, not to mention the time spent writing that all-important second book, should a writer consider quitting her day job? Probably not.

“One of the hardest lessons is you can’t quit your day job unless you have somebody supporting you,” Maria said. “The average book advance is $5,000. It’s a tough business.”

So, most authors can’t afford to write full time, requiring them to write their follow-up books in their spare moments. But those moments should be devoted to publicity. Is all this juggling worth it?

Oh, yes, these new authors said.

“It’s like the culmination of a lifetime dream,” Debbie said.

“I got fan mail,” Maria said. “I really wasn’t expecting that.”

“The reason I got into all of this is because I love writing,” Maureen said, “but there’s so little time to write after you get published. Finding the time and the energy to do it is a whole another thing. But we all have our dreams, and you have to go for it.

“It’s been wonderful that people write to me and say how much they enjoyed my book,” Maureen continued. “That balances out the high-wire of promotion and trying to write the second book. There are a lot of positives, and they outweigh the negatives.”

Tips from new authors to those still dreaming of publication:

· Get an agent. “It’s worth every penny,” Maria said. “They do things you don’t want to do or are not in a position to do, like negotiate contracts, deal with your publisher on selling subsidiary rights and getting the extra money from international sales.”

· Work on your people skills. “If you can become an extrovert during your signings and connect with people, you can sell books,” Maureen said.

· Introverts: Consider an acting class. “I need to learn not to read in a monotone and keep my voice up. A class could help you learn to put a little more drama into your reading,” Debbie said.

· Have your PR materials on you at all times. “I took bookmarks everywhere and left them,” Laura said. “At every bookstore I left a stack of 100. For every writing conference where they asked for PR materials, I popped some in the mail. You get a lot of exposure for very little money.”

· Nothing beats planning. “Start as early as possible to get the word out,” Lisa said. “Come up with a strategy for where you’re going to try to get reviews and feature stories.”

And, finally, Maria offers these words of wisdom:

· Be strong. “It takes twice as much time as you think it will take – between marketing and writing,” she said. “This business isn’t for wimps.”

Chapter taps first library liaison

Get your book published. Arrange for a book store signing. Seems obvious. But a lot of readers don’t buy books; they borrow them.

How can authors promote to library readers? Sandy Parshall plans to find out. As the chapter’s first library liaison, she hopes to tap this somewhat untapped market.

“I think our published members would like to get more library programs – panels, readings, signings,” Sandy said. “I’ll have to find out what each [local] library system allows and tailor [things] to them.”

Sandy plans to take her cues – in part – from readers.

“I’ve heard people say they love going to the library to hear two or three authors talk about their writing and answer questions,” she said. “So I’m going to try to set up things like that.”

But in order to succeed, Sandy will also need writers’ help.

“I would like to hear from the published members – anyone interested in doing appearances at libraries. How far would you be willing to go? What would you be willing to do? Who will be available and how often?”

In her new position, Sandy also will be working with SinC National, which is planning events at libraries across the country in connection with the organization’s 20^th anniversary.

This role will be helpful to Sandy herself, as her first book, “a psychological suspense with a mystery in it,” will be published in April. “There’s something about selling a book that makes you want to get involved,” she said.

Sandy’s book, In the Heat of the Moon, will be published by Poisoned Pen Press. She wrote it several years ago but didn’t have luck finding a publisher. “It didn’t fit the mold. The editors kept saying they loved the writing, but it wasn’t a murder mystery.”

So Sandy put the book aside for a few years, until Judy Clemens – author of the Agatha-nominated Till The Cows Come Home – read and urged Sandy to try again. Sandy did, sending the book to Judy’s publisher, Poisoned Pen.

“They had it for 16 months and then one day they called,” Sandy said. “My life hasn’t been the same since.”

New program chair appointed

Once a month, chapter members come together to meet, eat and hear someone speak.

It may sound simple, but behind the scenes, the chapter’s program chair toils away, thinking of topics that might lure people to meetings, contacting and persuading experts to find the time to share their knowledge with the chapter, and then arranging schedules so it all comes together.

It’s a job chapter member Helen Schwartz has agreed to tackle.

“I thought it would be a way of making sure that interesting people would be on the program,” Helen said, “even if they’d only be interesting to me.”

Thinking about potential speakers, Helen said she’d “like to serve the range of people who are members, including people who are published writers, people who are aspiring to be published, and the fans.”

More specifically, she’s considering educational programs on topics like the history of the murder mystery, as well as programs on more hands-on topics “like police procedure and how to poison somebody.”

“Sisters in Crime members not only like to kill people off, but they like to see how those people disintegrate, as well,” she said, “since that’s part of solving the murder.”

Helen is pleased that a Frederick, Maryland police officer who trained at the national forensic academy in Tennessee, also known as the Body Farm, has agreed to speak at the April meeting. The officer, Wendy Martiak, is the first Maryland graduate of the Farm.

Helen also is hoping to bring in a gun expert and people who can provide assistance to unpublished writers with their cover letters and other marketing materials.

“I’ve been very much helped by suggestions from board members and from the prior program chair,” she said. “I am trying to line people up four months in advance. I welcome suggestions, especially if you have contact information.”

Helen began fiction writing four years ago, as a supplement to her day job. “I had been writing as a professor of English, mainly scholarly articles, which very few people read, and textbooks that students read under duress. Writing something that people want to read is more fun.”

So she wrote a murder mystery involving a vampire, and now is on work on a second one. In the books, the protagonist “is a person with vampire qualities who’s trying to avoid becoming the real thing and also has to solve a murder.”

The books bring together Helen’s interests in vampires, murder and Capitol Hill, where they are set.

Member news

G.M. Malliet's mystery novel Dead Perfect has finaled in the following Romance Writers of America contests:

· 2005 Stiletto Award (Thriller Category)

· 2005 Daphne du Maurier Mystery/Suspense Award

· Sheila 2005 Writing Competition (Chick Lit Category)

Debbie Mack will sign copies of her novel Identity Crisis at Barnes & Noble in the Annapolis Harbour Center in Annapolis, Maryland at 7:30 p.m. March 30^th. Debbie had several other signings recently.

Chassie West will have a short story, "Nightmare in Nowhere", included in an upcoming Avon mystery anthology. The dog-related book, titled Bark M for Murder, is scheduled for publication in March. Chassie reported it also is scheduled to by an alternate selection of the Mystery Guild.

National Public Radio recently conducted a 20-minute interview with Maureen Robb for broadcast in Virginia. Maureen also recently was interviewed by radio stations in the Midwest and Los Angeles about her first book, Patterns in Silicon.

Additionally, Maureen recently had a talk and signing at the Bealeton Library in Bealeton, Virginia, kicking off the library's new author lecture series. She has other talks and signings scheduled in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

The chapter’s second short story anthology, Chesapeake Crimes II, was the second highest seller of Quiet Storm Publishing in 2005.

Maria Lima’s first novel, Matters of the Blood, was Quiet Storm’s fifth highest seller in 2005.

Laura Durham’s second novel, For Better or Hearse, is scheduled for publication on March 1^st. Her first novel, Better off Wed, has been published in large print and in Japanese. Her second novel is scheduled for publication in large print and Japanese, too.

Member spotlight: Charlotte Steineke

Look around a typical chapter meeting, and you’ll be pressed to find many attendees in their 20’s. Search for someone in her teens, and you’ll probably find just one: Charlotte Steineke. At 14 years old, she’s the chapter’s youngest member.

She hasn’t written a mystery yet, but she dreams to.

“I’ve been writing ever since I figured out, hey, I can use grammar properly,” Charlotte said. “Let’s see if I can make something out of it.”

She started writing “sappy poetry,” and then moved onto a “fluffy romance.”

“It never will see the light of day,” she said.

She’s now working on her second book, a fantasy. “I do more character work in it. I like that.” She hopes to sell it when she’s done to “make a little bit of money.”

And to ensure she reaches that point, she relies on prodding from her best friend, Caity, who’s also a writer.

“We yell at each other to finish things,” Charlotte said. “She’s a real fantasy girl.”

But while Charlotte loves fantasy, too, she hopes one day to move onto mysteries.

“I haven’t enough brain cells to come up with a good mystery story yet, but I really want to. I would like to move into that genre.”

In preparation for the move, Charlotte reads. A lot. She enjoys fantasy and mysteries, including British cozies, suspense, and hard-core stuff with a lot of gore. “In the mystery genre, I really like Dean James and Christopher Paolini, who writes the Aragon series.”

Charlotte’s focus on writing is enforced in school. She’s in the eighth grade at Thomas G. Pullen K-8 Arts Focus School in Landover, Maryland, where her studies emphasize writing and literary arts, she said. Her current creative writing class addresses a different genre every nine weeks, as well as writing structure.

The magnet school’s arts focus has broadened Charlotte’s creative interests beyond writing, to include the theater. So much so, that she’s considering backstage theater work as a career, instead of fiction. But Charlotte’s career ideas are based less on passion than on practicality.

“I don’t think I’ll actually be a professional writer when I get older,” she said. “I’ll keep it as a hobby. I know you can make money in the theater doing backstage stuff – building sets, doing lighting and sound. As opposed to the thousands of people who write books and don’t get them published, or do, but only make a little bit of money.”

Despite this pragmatic approach, Charlotte still learns things everywhere that she relates to her writing. Science class is a good example. “We just finished genetics,” she said. “The more you know about science, the easier it is to imagine different stuff, because you know stuff you can base it off.”

Asked for an example, Charlotte talks about alleles. “The allele for dark hair in African-Americans is dominant over the allele for light hair. Knowing that, I can build a curious element to a dark-haired character. [Knowing about genetics] helps with building physical descriptions that can add mystery and suspense.”

The SinC meeting speakers also help inform Charlotte’s writing. “A lot of the speakers provide interesting stuff I wouldn’t get anywhere else. I found the whole PI talk very fascinating and a little bit scary,” she said, referring to the chapter’s January speaker, PI Lynn Levy. “It’s scary that you could get so much information for a few dollars on the Internet.”

Charlotte hopes the chapter will bring in a speaker who can address character development, especially the creation of compelling villains.

While she waits for that, she’ll continue to focus on her studies and the pastimes she enjoys: drawing, reading and writing. Oh, and she’ll be working on her science fair project.

“The science fair is God’s way of telling people that he hates them,” she said.

Her project this year involves the burn time of candles. Charlotte hypothesizes that darker-colored candles will burn faster than lighter ones because dark colors absorb heat more quickly.

Despite her disdain for the fair, it might prove useful. Indeed, knowing how fast something can burn could be a useful to a murderer – or to the person trying to catch him. So maybe one day, Charlotte’s science fair knowledge will find its way into her very first mystery. She’s hoping it’s one day soon.

Mystery events near and far

The Library of Congress will host a panel of mystery writers at noon on Monday, April 24^th. Writers Jo Dereske, Carolyn G. Hart, Katherine Hall Page, Patricia Sprinkle and Jacqueline Winspear will discuss their craft. The event is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow the panel.

Next Chessie Chapter meeting

The next Chessie Chapter meeting will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 11^th at the Alpine Restaurant on Lee Highway in Arlington, Virginia. Maureen Collins will address the role that Dorothy Sayers has played in the mystery world, as detailed earlier in this issue.

Directions and reservation information are listed on the reservation sheet that was included in this mailing.

More upcoming meetings

· April 1

· May 6

· June 3

Next newsletter

Please send your news by May 5^th to Barb Goffman at chessienews@chessiechapter.org or by snail mail to:

4903 Edgemoor Ln. Apt. 604
Bethesda, MD 20814.

URL: http://www.chessiechapter.org/Criminal_Tendencies/CT_06feb.html
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Last updated: 25 February 2006