Mystery Weekend Roundup for July 26, 2013

Upcoming Writer's Conferences

Gulf Coast Writer's Conference is Saturday, September 21st, and this year, it's FREE. You heard right. This year the conference is being offered at no cost. Guests include award winning authors Lynne Barrett and Michael Lister, as well as Benjamin LeRoy, publisher of Tyrus Books. Some programs, such as a manuscript critique and the Speaker Luncheon, will have a small fee. Check the Gulf Coast Conference website for details.

Bouchercon 2013 begins September 19th in Albany, New York. One of the biggest mystery conferences attracts legions of fans and writers. Big names appearing this year include best selling authors Tess Gerritsen, Sue Grafton and Anne Perry. The Anthony Award winners will be announced that weekend. Here are the nominees.

Bouchercon is named in honor of Anthony Boucher, (real name William Anthony Parker White), a mystery writer and book reviewer for the NY Times and San Francisco Chronicle. He helped found the Mystery Writers of America, which awards the most prestigious mystery award in the genre, the Edgar Award. MWA also presents the Raven Award, which is given to individuals who support the mystery genre. Anthony Boucher won one of the first Ravens in 1946 for Outstanding Mystery Criticism for his reviews in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Weekend Flash Fiction Writing Contest

Janet Reid, literary agent and query shark, is holding a flash fiction contest over at her blog this weekend. Contest begins Saturday morning 9 AM EST and lasts for 24 hours. Winner gets a copy of Long Gone by Alafair Burke. Nice!

Sharpen your pencils, but be sure to read the rules, or risk becoming shark bait!  

47 Rejections And Then...Paydirt!

If you've gotten a rejection letter for your manuscript this week, it proves two things...1)You're sending out queries and 2) You haven't given up. Both of these facts are good.

So don't get discouraged. If you need a little inspiration, check out this article on Irish novelist Donal Ryan's journey to publication. His debut novel,The Spinning Heart, was rejected almost 50 times before he was published, and now his work is a finalist for the Man Booker Prize!

According to the LA Times article, his story is set in a rural village in southwestern Ireland, and is told from the point of view of 21 different people who struggle with the Great Recession.


How NOT To Promote Your Book

Finally, a little humor for every author who's published a book and then wondered, "How Do I Promote This Thing? Watch this guy in this video by Dennis Cass. Then DON'T do this! But DO laugh. I did.