FANS!!!

Nice hot summer day. Good book. Air conditioning. What a joy!

Believe it or not, the only thing better is being out there, at a library (or any other suitable venue), promoting your book through the guise of a panel discussion on writing.

First, I must admit to hating the idea of shilling books. I want to write them, not sell them. I'm not a good salesperson. My Girl Scout cookie sales put me at the bottom of the chart. Likewise for magazine subscriptions that could bring my school some much needed funding. Forget the lemonade stand. I drank my losses - no profits to be had! Now my non-salesmanship is hampering my plan to get an agent. If you drag your feet at getting the query letters out, you don't get far.

Howsome ever, a few years ago I fell into the magic of Sisters In Crime. I then joined the New York/Tri State Chapter and the Guppy Chapter (for Great Unpublished Sisters), which pulled me into Agent Quest and organizing critique groups for the Guppies. I belong to several other writing groups and the MWA, so I'm all wrapped up in support groups. It feels good. From the safety of anonymity, I got lucky enough to have a short story accepted for publication in MURDER NEW YORK STYLE, and then that was nominated for an Agatha for Best Short Story. (Apologies if I've banged that drum too often, but it gets me to where I am now.)

I never expected to do much when it came to selling the anthology. Since 21 of us writers were included in the anthology, I figured I'd do a little, like my Girl Scout cookie-seller share, and others with the flair for selling would fill in the gaps. I never expected to enjoy the selling. What a surprise was in store for me!

Last Saturday I was in upstate New York, at a panel discussion on writing short stories. The event was presented by the local Mavens of Mayhem Chapter of SinC as part of a day long celebration of the arts. My writing pal, M.E.Kemp had invited SinC anthology members to join in. Marilyn (M.E.) is one of those great sales persons with an excellent track record of publication.

The panel discussion was located in the exquisite library that serves the villages of Clifton Park and Half Moon. The audience included the young and the old and in-betweeners, too. We answered the moderator's questions, all five of us panelists, and took audience questions at the end. Once again I found myself in with some well-published authors, and me with solely one published mystery short story to my credit. But I held my own in the entertainment department, and we received a good round of applause at the end.

It's what happens after the panel discussion that's the best: audience members stop and chat. They single you out, raising questions or asking for more information, and suddenly it hits you that you have FANS! People who want to talk with you instead of rushing off to do something else. The audience is full of readers and writers. What a joy to be a sought-out soul! I even like it when someone disputes my point of view. Getting someone involved emotionally with your writing is delightful.

Sally Field said it all. "You like me! You really, really like me!" That realization put a bounce in my step. I had fans! Educated, erudite, discriminating fans! What a delightful way to spend a couple hours on a Saturday, no matter what the weather!

I'm going to do it again.

Maybe I'll bring some Girl Scout cookies along next time and share them with the audience!