Maintaining a Good Relationship With Your Editor

    

By Lourdes Venard

In two previous blog posts, I wrote about the differences between editors, and how to find a good editor.

The next step, after determining what type of editor you want and hiring someone, is to maintain that relationship–and make the most of it. If the two of you are a good fit, this is a relationship that may potentially continue for many years–throughout more books, short stories, magazine articles, websites or blog posts.

The secret of maintaining a long-lasting relationship is like many other working relationships. Communicating clearly and with respect goes a long way. Here are some other tips:

·         Be honest and upfront. Before you hand over the manuscript, make sure the editor knows what you want her to do. Do you want in-depth, substantive editing or just light copy-editing? Will you need her to fact-check information?

·         Get your manuscript in on time. The editor probably has other work, and has scheduled her time accordingly. If you tell her you’ll have your manuscript (or a number of chapters) to her on a set date, try to meet your deadline.

·         Pay on time. For many editors, this is their full-time job and timely payment is critical.

·         Don’t argue over an edit–or, at least, do it politely. If you don’t understand why an editor changed something, ask her. If she misunderstood something in the text, it’s likely that readers also will misunderstand. There may be other reasons for the change. And if you still disagree, well, you have the last word anyway.

·         Don’t expect more beyond the editing services. An editor cannot guarantee you publication, and don’t expect her to have an “in” with agents or publishers, although she may point you to websites and professional directories that are helpful. If you have a good working relationship, though, you may find editors who will go beyond what’s required and send you updates about writing contests, conferences in your area, or other useful advice they come across.

·         Finally, say thank-you. A simple, but often overlooked, step. Editors, working behind the scenes, will always appreciate this. If you’ve really enjoyed the process, you can even volunteer a testimonial or offer to be a reference for the next client.

Lourdes Venard, a Long Island, N.Y., newspaper editor, also freelances and teaches an online copyediting course. She’s edited mystery, science fiction, memoirs and nonfiction. You can find more information on editing and self-publishing at her website at www.commasense.net.

Finding–and Hiring–a Freelance Editor

By Lourdes Venard

You’ve finished your novel and now you need an editor. Some writers turn to an English teacher they know or a friend who was always good at spotting errors. But these may not always be the best sources. A professional copy editor has training and years of experience behind her, and will give your novel a far more thorough look.

How do you find this editor, and how do you go about hiring her?

One of the best ways of finding a copy editor is to ask for references from other writers. There’s also a very large pool of talent at the Editorial Freelancers Association (www.the-efa.org). A posting there will generate dozens and dozens of applicants. Some regions may have their own groups, such as the Bay Area Editors’ Forum in San Francisco (http://www.editorsforum.org/).

Now that you have a pool of applicants, the best way to winnow them is to ask them to complete a sample edit (anywhere from six to 12 pages). This is probably the most important step you can take. This will give you an idea of their editing strengths and, just as importantly, their bedside manner. Most editing inherently feels like criticism, and you’ll be reading page after page of this, so make sure you understand (and can stand) an editor’s comments.
  
A sample edit of this length is also enough to give the editor an idea of how long it will take her to complete the project, and she can base a price estimate on this. You can find common copy-editing rates at http://www.the-efa.org/res/rates.php, although individual rates vary considerably. Just remember, as in most everything else, you get what you pay for sometimes!

Editors also vary on the way they like to be paid. Some editors ask for a deposit, then a second or even a third payment later on, and a final payment. Other editors will charge you weekly, or as they finish sections of the book. Make sure all this is spelled out in advance in a contract.
 
Here are other important questions for you to ask:

• When can you start my project, and how soon can you complete it? Editors often juggle several projects at once, so if you need it soon, make sure you spell that out up front. Be careful, though, of an editor who promises to edit your manuscript much more quickly than the other editors you’ve contacted. Editing, by nature, is a slow, methodical process. Editors who rush or do only one pass will miss things.
• What is your experience editing books, especially mystery novels (or whatever genre you are writing in)?
• Do you have at least three references I can contact?
• What is your editing method? Most editors will edit a manuscript in a Word document, using the "Track Changes" feature. However, I had one author who wanted his manuscript edited on paper and mailed back to him; I complied.
• How do you prefer to communicate if I have questions? If the editor only wants to communicate via email and you have questions or concerns you want to address in a phone call or in person, this could create problems down the line. 
• Do you provide a contract or letter of agreement? This protects both you and the editor. The contract should spell out rates, timelines, the length of the manuscript, and the type of editing (substantive versus line editing). It should also give you an “out,” if you feel the editing relationship is not working. Generally, an editor expects to be paid for work done up to that point.
• Do you provide other services? If you are happy with your editor, the relationship may continue, with the editor reviewing letters to agents/publishers, editing your blog posts or website, etc. Some editors now also prepare manuscripts for publication, although this is not usually considered a part of editing services.

The next step

This is part two of a three-part series on editing. The series concludes on Friday, with a look at maintaining a good relationship with your editor.


About the author
Lourdes Venard, a Long Island, N.Y., newspaper editor, also freelances and teaches an online copyediting course. She’s edited mystery, science fiction, memoirs and nonfiction. You can find more information on editing and self-publishing at her website at www.commasense.net.

The Reasons You Need an Editor

By Lourdes Venard

We’ve all had the experience of reading a book, being completely immersed, and then, whoosh, we’re thrown out of the story. It can be as simple as a misspelled word or as grievous as a character whose name has suddenly changed.

This is where the editor steps in—or should have stepped in, I should say.

Editors often get a bad rap. Most writers don’t like their words to be changed, trimmed or otherwise played with. Editors are seen as nitpickers, at best; an intrusive presence, at worst. A good editor, though, leaves behind a better story, without having left a footprint behind.

If you are a first-time writer, this experience can be invaluable, as Toby Speed, a Long Island Sisters in Crime member, found. Speed spent 15 years crafting her first novel and another year shopping it around.

“After many revisions and a couple of overhauls, at 101,600 words it was perfect,” she said. “I’d had two groups of beta readers go through it carefully and I incorporated their helpful, detailed comments.”

But Speed’s mystery story was going nowhere until one editor wrote back, explaining the importance of pacing and suggesting a cut of 15,000 to 20,000 words—and, best yet, the editor had shown her how, by editing the first 70 pages. But, at first, this only annoyed Speed.

“She had even deleted my prologue, the best writing in the book!” Speed said. “I walked around grumbling for 24 hours, wondering how I could possibly cut that many words without harming the story."

"Then I read the editor’s version with the tracking turned off. It read really well—in fact, a whole lot better than the original. The story got started right away and moved right along. The first two chapters ended in the right place. I took a deep breath and over the next six weeks, following her example, I shaved nearly 16,000 words from the story and resubmitted it."

"No one else had seen my story as it was—or as it had the potential to become.”

Speed resubmitted her book, and a publishing company is considering it.

Her experience is not uncommon. As a writer, it’s hard to be objective of one’s own work. A fresh set of eyes—an experienced set of eyes—is always helpful.

When searching for an editor, you should be aware that there are three levels of editing--developmental editing, copyediting and proofreading. Some editors will work in all three areas; some editors specialize in only one of them.

Developmental editing (also called substantive editing).

In traditional publishing, this is the first round of editing, and it may reshape your manuscript quite a bit. Not all writers may feel they need this, but if you do, you should expect a developmental editor to look at:

• Plot structure
• Character development and voice
• Story pacing
• Scene structure
• Improving the flow of the story, which may mean moving around sentences, paragraphs or even chapters 
• Point of view and dialogue
• Gaps in the story
• Themes and whether your book is appropriate to the genre in which you are writing

Copy editing (or line editing), which includes:

• Grammar, spelling and word usage
• Consistency in names, the timeline and other details
• Consistency in dialogue and point of view narration
• Glaring factual errors, as well as fictional ones (if you’ve established something as fact in Chapter 1, it should remain the same throughout)
• Repetitiveness
• Smooth, clear writing that will be understood by the reader

Proofreading

If you’ve worked with a good copy editor, you are not likely to need this last step. Generally, proofreaders are employed by publishers to read the story in typeset form, to look for any remaining errors in spelling, punctuation, or typesetting. 

The next steps

This is part one of a three-part series on editing. The upcoming blog posts this week will look at questions to ask when hiring freelance editors, what to pay, and what to expect when you work with an editor.

About the author
Lourdes Venard, a Long Island, N.Y., newspaper editor, also freelances and teaches an online copyediting course. She’s edited mystery, science fiction, memoirs and nonfiction. You can find more information on editing and self-publishing at her website, www.commasense.net.

Solving Mysteries in the Library

By Susan Van Kirk

 

Originally published at http://andsometimesshewrites.blogspot.com

 

Librarians definitely solve mysteries!

 

I spent April 21, SinC's "Solving Mysteries Day," working as a volunteer at the Warren County Public Library in Monmouth, Illinois. Monmouth is a town of 10,000 in west central Illinois about 20 miles from the Mississippi River. 

Kathy is the saintly woman designated to keep an eye on me. What a patient person! In this photo, were are standing in front of books by authors who are members of Sisters in Crime.

On Saturday, we solved a lot of mysteries -  such as figuring out what is in all the nooks and crannies of the huge old building. Some of the doors in the upstairs are heavy metal and slide open and closed as if we were in a meat packing plant. Very, very old.

 
Here I am checking out a book for a patron. The library is a hub of activity in this little town. Working here would help you see a huge cross section of the town.

A librarian's job is a lot like teaching. First, you rarely sit down or get a chance to go to the bathroom. Second, you are always answering peoples' questions or trying to find things to help them.

I learned how to check books in and out, how to shelve, download digital books, figure out how to check out a book with a hand-written barcode, and how to make the (*&!!#) wand work to check out books.

Kathy told me of an amazing mystery. The library had some books that were overdue and tried to reach the patron by sending a letter. The letter came back from the post office marked "deceased." Instead of just writing it off, the librarians began asking selected patrons if they had seen this person. (Remember, this is a small town!) 

One of the question-ees had not seen the individual, but a few weeks later she approached the desk and explained that the person they had been seeking was sitting at a computer a few yards away. The librarian was able to confirm the person's name and give him that bad news that he owed money for books. The good news was that he wasn't dead.
 

 

This is one of the "nooks and crannies" where "old technology" goes to die. Remember the old card catalog?




 
I also learned of a guilt letter. Someone who had stolen books years ago and not returned them had an attack of guilt and wrote the library a letter. He wanted to apologize for taking the books and offered to make restitution after quite a few years had gone by. I wondered about the statute of limitations on stolen books.

All in all, it was a great day and I felt like I had done my share to say "thank you" to our library for all they do in supporting local authors, educating people, and providing amazing services. 

 

Susan Van Kirk, a SinC member author who participated in SinC's "Solving Mysteries Day," is at work on a mystery with ties to historic events that occurred in her Illinois town. The library has been an invaluable source of information for her work. 

Solving Mysteries Day: On Saturday, April 21, SinC member authors volunteered in libraries and bookstores in hometowns from Livermore Falls, Maine, to Honolulu, Hawaii, where they worked as volunteers doing whatever a manager asked of staff members - shelving, bagging, sweeping, assisting patrons, pulling holds, making recommendations, taking out the trash, checking in returned books, and more. The day had two themes: "Librarians Solve Mysteries Every Day" and "Booksellers Solve Mysteries Every Day."

Solving Mysteries Every Day

Today, Sisters in Crime's "Booksellers and Librarians Solve Mysteries Every Day" event is taking place in libraries and bookstores across the nation, from Livermore Falls, Maine, to Honolulu, Hawaii. 

To support the project, a group of 21 SinC members volunteered to go into bookstores and libraries between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time to help those on the front lines of crime fiction - the very important people who help get crime fiction into the hands of interested readers. 

            "In honor of the 25th anniversary of the founding of Sisters in Crime, we are very pleased to be able to thank some of the people who work the hardest on the front lines of publishing by rolling up our sleeves and working beside them," said Frankie Y. Bailey, President of Sisters in Crime.

 The participating authors, bookstores, and libraries include:

          Frankie Y. Bailey, at The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany, NY

                      Gail M. Baugniet, at the Maikiki Community Library in Honolulu, HI

                      Charlotte Cohen, at the Santa Ana Public Library in Santa Ana, CA

                      Kathy Lynn Emerson, at the Treat Memorial Library in Livermore Falls, ME

          Barbara Fister, at Once Upon a Crime in Minneapolis, MN

                      Susan Froetschel, at the Takoma Park Neighborhood Library in Washington, DC

                      W.S. Gager at the Jackson District Library in Jackson, MI

                      Kathleen Heady at the Haverford Township Free Library in Havertown, PA

                      Lee Kelly at Barnes & Noble in Marietta, GA

                      Molly MacRae at the Jane Addams Book Shop in Champaign, IL

                      Robin Murphy at the Sharpsburg Library in Sharpsburg, MD

                      Chelle Martin, at the Sadie Pope Dowdell Public Library in South Amboy, NJ

                      Denise Osborne, at the Mid-Continent Public Library, Raytown branch, in Raytown, MO

                      Bernadette Pajer, at the Uppercase Bookshop in Snohomish, WA

                      Karen Pullen, at McIntyre’s Books in Pittsboro, NC    

                      C. L. (Cheryl) Shore, at Bookmamas in Indianapolis, IN

                      Mary Stanton/Claudia Bishop, at Murder on the Beach in Delray Beach, FL

                      Lane Stone, at the Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library in Alexandria, VA

                      Susan Van Kirk, at the Warren County Public Library in Monmouth, IL

                      Kathryn R. Wall, at the Beaufort County Library, Hilton Head branch, in Hilton Head Island,

                           SC

                      Tina Whittle, at The Golden Bough in Macon, GA 

           “We know that, in their efforts to help readers find the right books at the right time, booksellers and librarians solve countless mysteries every day,” SinC member Jim Huang, the coordinator of the event and a former independent bookstore owner, said. “This is our opportunity to thank them in a tangible way—and to find out what the publishing world is like from their perspective.”

            Onsite reports are coming in throughout the day from SinC member authors working in bookstores and libraries. The information they send will be posted on Twitter, Facebook and blogs throughout the day. 

            SinC has a Facebook page for the event at www.facebook.com/SistersSolveMysteries. On Twitter, SinC is using the hashtag #sisterssolve.

            In addition, SinC's more than 3,000 members are gearing up to support the "Solving Mysteries Day" event by going into libraries and bookstores today to personally thank the booksellers and librarians they find working behind the counters and in the stacks. 

            We hope your Saturday errands today will include a stop at a bookstore or library. And, afterward, we hope that you'll let us know how the visit went.

 

                 

   

      

Scared to Death: The Authors' View, part 2

By Sandra Parshall

Do writers use their own darkest fears to lend reality to scary scenes in their novels? Do they sweat along with their characters while they’re sitting at the keyboard? Last time we asked this question, we got a peek into the writing lives of Tess Gerritsen, Hallie Ephron, Simon Wood, and Deborah Crombie. This time around, we’ve asked Tim Hallinan, Kate Flora, and Libby Fischer Hellman to tell us what goes into writing their characters’ most terrifying experiences.

Timothy Hallinan is best known as the author of the Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers. The next in the series, The Fear Artist, will be published in August.

In The Queen of Patpong, which is the fourth and most recent of my Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers, I back up in time to tell the story of Poke's wife. When Rafferty met her, she was working in a bar on the notorious Patpong Road, and Queen traces her transformation from a shy, unworldly village teenager into the “Queen” of Patpong. As Rose says in the book, “queen of a kingdom of whores and viruses.”

Toward the end of her story, a handsome customer named Howard Horner woos her, proposes marriage to her, and then takes her down to Phuket for a holiday. Once their little boat is out on the water, it becomes obvious that Howard is not only not in love with her, but that this has all been a sick game that's supposed to end with him killing her on a cluster of barren rocks in the middle of the Andaman Sea. When the rocks come into sight of the boat's lights, it's nighttime, and Rose waits until Howard is busy avoiding the rocks and rolls backward into the water.

What follows is the longest action scene I've ever written – 25 typeset pages in the book – with Rose in the dark water, water that's swarming with the lethal jellyfish called sea-wasps, as Howard hunts her in the boat. I am personally terrified of dark water. I am personally terrified of sea-wasps, having been stung very lightly by one and having suffered for days as a result. I wrote much of the scene in a single, goose-bumped seven-hour session.

By the time it's over, and she's free of Howard, who's standing on the rocks as the tide comes in, I was a mess. I dreamed the scene all night long. (And made some improvements the next day, suggested by the dreams.)

Kate Flora, a former SinC president, writes the Thea Kozak series and the Joe Burgess series. Her latest book is Redemption.

The scariest situation I've ever put a character in? Well, you know I've been criticized over the years for putting my Thea Kozak character into dangerous situations, and exposing her to physical harm. But I'm a feminist (and PROUD of it) and an equal opportunity writer. Thea is tough and she gets into tough situations, so I have a lot to choose from.

That being said, I think the scene in Liberty or Death, the sixth Thea Kozak mystery, where she is facing a group of religious, conservative militiamen, who try her and convict her of spying on their organization, and decide to execute her, is absolutely terrifying. They lack compassion. They can't be reasoned with. They are utterly convinced that they are right, and since God is on their side, whatever they chose to do is okay. She's lost hope that the cavalry is going to ride in and rescue her. They aim a gun at her. She truly believes she's going to die, and they shoot.

There have been a number of times, in this series, when I've watched my character get herself into situations that have me wringing my mental hands over how headstrong she is, and how foolishly brave she can get when she's angry. But that's her character.

I worry, though, about what will happen should she and Andre ever be lucky enough to become parents.

Libby Fischer Hellman is a former SinC president and author of the Ellie Foreman series and several stand-alone novels. Her latest is A Bitter Veil.

That's a tough question, because, as writers, we always know what the outcome will be, no matter how frightening the scenario. I'd like to rephrase the question this way: What situation did you have the most qualms about writing? That I can answer easily.

There were two, coincidentally in my first and then my most recent thrillers. The first was in An Eye for Murder when Ellie Foreman was tied up and one of her assailants knifed her across her breast. I really had to ask myself whether that was necessary. I decided it was, both for the story and for the symbol of attacking one's "womanliness." Got some emails about that one. The second was in my new literary thriller, A Bitter Veil, which is set in Revolutionary Iran. In one scene, Anna is in prison and is tortured. I really had to examine my motives for that one, too. Was it necessary? Would it have happened in reality? I decided it was. I expect I'll get emails about that as well.


Sandra Parshall writes the Rachel Goddard mysteries. Her next book, Bleeding Through, will be published in September.

SinC at ALA in Anaheim in June

By Mary Boone

I’m pleased to be sharing with you the news that Sisters in Crime will host a booth in the Exhibit Hall at the 2012 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Anaheim CA.

The exhibit dates are Friday, June 22, through Monday, June 25. Author and librarian SinC members who live in or near Anaheim, or who may be traveling to the area during the conference dates, are invited to help represent SinC at this important conference.

The hours for the exhibits at ALA this summer will be:

• Friday, 6/22, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

• Saturday, 6/23 & Sunday 6/24, 9 am - 5 pm

• Sunday 6/25, 9 am - 2 pm

Volunteers for the SinC booth are needed during all of these times.

I coordinate and schedule all volunteers’ time in the booth. If you want to volunteer, please give me a couple of times that could work with your personal schedule. When setting up the booth schedule, I will do my best to accommodate your first preference for a time in the booth.

The time slots in the booth will be 1 to 1.5 hours in length. If a large number of members step forward to volunteer, I’ll pull back to a one-hour shift to give everyone who wants to volunteer the opportunity to do so.

I register all volunteers for the conference through SinC (that gets each volunteer a “conference pass.”

Author-volunteers may give away (we don’t sell books) and sign their books while in the booth. It’s a super networking opportunity. That said, I do ask that author-volunteers to be willing to wear two hats and to promote SinC while in the booth.

I am also looking for one local volunteer to help out by receiving SinC promotional materials from Beth Wasson, as well as donations of books sent to the conference by members (who can't come to the conference themselves) to be used for daily raffles in the booth. This volunteer also should be able to bring the boxes of materials and books to the convention center the day I'll be setting up the booth. I will provide more details to anyone interested in helping in this way.

Author members, if you are unable to attend ALA, would you consider sending one signed book to be given away in daily raffles held in the SinC booth during the convention? Librarians who win these raffles generally put the books into their library’s collections. It would be a crime to miss out on these opportunities to connect with librarians who put your books into readers’ hands every day.

I hope to see you in Anaheim! To volunteer, or for more information, contact Mary Boone, Library Liaison at macboone[at]me.com. Please use the subject heading SinC, ALA 2012 in your email to me.

Mary Boone, Library Liaison for Sisters in Crime, says she is happy to be a reader and lucky that, as a librarian, she gets paid to turn readers on to books. She encourages everyone to make sure their library or libraries have entered the Sisters in Crime "We Love Libraries" book grant lottery. Information and a registration form can be found on the SinC website page linked here.

SinC at PLA: Presenting 'Perfect Partners in Crime'

By Mary Boone

Sisters in Crime participated in last week's Public Library Association (PLA) conference in Philadelphia with a very popular exhibit booth and a well-received panel titled "Perfect Partners in Crime" celebrating public libraries and the books we read.

Presentation proposals for PLA must be submitted two years in advance of the conference (which is only held every two years), which can make writing a proposal, and then following up with a panel proposal written so far in advance, a real challenge.

I had a front row seat for the proceedings and, from my perspective, the panel was a hit. A 600-seat auditorium appeared to me to be close to a third to half full of librarians there to hear to SinC board members Frankie Bailey, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Cathy Pickens, and Nancy Martin talk to librarian "rock star" Nancy Pearl about books, libraries, a love of reading, and Sisters in Crime.

The conversation flowed from the practical (a little background about SinC and its resources including info about the continuing We Love Libraries drawings and what makes a good author visit program) to the theoretical (how best to connect readers to books and how helpful are genre and sub genre classifications) and back again.

Hank moderated the panel, and started with a "stump the librarian" quiz, which served to bring the audience immediately into all aspects of the conversation that followed. She'd asked the panelists in advance what books had a profound influence on them growing up. She read a few sentences from the opening of each and challenged the audience to identify the book and match it to the panelist. The audience identified Nancy Pearl’s and Cathy Pickens's books, but were stumped by Frankie Bailey’s and Nancy Martin's.

Early in the panel, Hank made Nancy Pearl an honorary member of Sisters in Crime. Nancy P. played a key role in last summer's SinC Summit Team project, when the team went to the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans to talk with librarians about how readers find books.

Later in the conversation, Nancy P., who pioneered the one city/one book movement, commented that one of the things she valued most about SinC is the organization's commitment to building community around books and reading and its commitment to libraries. She said, in that respect, librarians and Sisters in Crime had common goals.

Nancy Martin wanted to know how Nancy Pearl, who has been called "America's Librarian" and has come to be known as a literary "tastemaker," finds the books she reviews and recommends in her popular Book Lust series and on National Public Radio.

Nancy P. said she receives numerous copies of books from publishers and other sources and that she will try to read any book but, if she isn't engaged within the first 50 pages, she stops reading. This is a strategy she recommends to all readers.

"Life is short, and the library is large," she's often said.

The time may not be right, and she will put aside a book, and come back to it later. But, having said that, she went on to say that she believes that most of us (herself included) find the books we read and love from recommendations from friends.

I watched the audience for its reactions, and saw librarians furiously taking notes and listening with concentration to the discussion. A number of librarians approached panel members afterward to say they thought this was one of the best panels of the conference. Bear in mind the time slot was late Friday afternoon, the last full day of the conference, so folks were conference-weary, thinking about getting to dinner or packing for the trip home, etc.; in short, not necessarily an easy audience to please.

Another measure of the success of the panel is that our PLA panel/conference programming liaison, Ronald Block, approached me after the session to say that PLA was looking forward to making a panel from Sisters in Crime an on-going part of its conference programming.

As plans for this panel were coming together before the conference, we began thinking of it as a "dream book discussion group." Every indication Friday afternoon was that the audience thought of it this way, too.


Mary Boone, Library Liaison for Sisters in Crime, says she is happy to be a reader and lucky that, as a librarian, she gets paid to turn readers on to books. She encourages everyone to make sure their library or libraries have entered the Sisters in Crime "We Love Libraries" book grant lottery. Information and a registration form can be found on the SinC website page linked here.

SinC Supports Member Book Signings at the LA Times Book Festival

Sisters in Crime author members worldwide have three days left to sign up for a spot in the Los Angeles chapter’s book-signing booth at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Saturday, April 21, and Sunday, April 22, 2012.

A grant from Sisters in Crime is enabling the chapter to invite any SinC member to participate in the renowned book festival that attracts as many as 150,000 book lovers each year.

The chapter will schedule as many as seven authors for each two-hour slot - Saturday from 10-12, 12-2, 2-4, and 4-6 and Sunday from 10-12, 12-2, and 2-4. Authors should select the time of their choice and one alternate signing time.

To take advantage of this opportunity, SinC members must contact LA chapter liaison Kathy Kingston by Tuesday, March 20. Use the online information form linked here to make sure you provide all of the necessary information. The form will be sent directly to Kathy.

To participate, members should make sure their dues are current. You can confirm your dues status on the Sisters in Crime website here.

Traditionally published authors whose books are in print, returnable and available through a distributor should include the title of their most recent book and up to four titles from their backlist. For all books, include the publisher and the ISBN number. Space limitations prevent the chapter from selling more than five titles from any author.

For traditionally published authors whose books are out of print and for self-published authors, the bookseller will sell your books on consignment with a 60/40 split. On the day of your signing, bring your books and a sheet of paper listing your name, address, email and phone number for payment purposes. On the same sheet, write the title of each book, how many copies of each book you’re bringing and the price of each copy, which should be the same price you are charging at other festival booths. Additional instructions are available on the Sisters in Crime website here.

Maps and parking fees will be emailed to participating authors when they are available.

Librarians and Booksellers Solve Mysteries Every Day

Sisters in Crime board member Jim Huang reports that there’s been a great deal of author member interest in SinC’s first “Booksellers and Librarians Solve Mysteries Every Day” celebration scheduled for Saturday, April 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., local time.

The festivities went global rapidly. The first offer of participation came from a SinC member in Hawaii. Not long afterward, a member planning to be in Paris on April 21 offered to find a spot at a bookstore or library in the City of Light.

Earlier this week, SinC members received an email message from Jim announcing that Sisters in Crime will celebrate 25 years of working with librarians and booksellers in support of women writing crime fiction with a special one-day in-store, in-library event. To participate in the “Solving Mysteries Every Day” celebration on April 21, SinC authors will shadow a librarian or bookseller for six hours to learn exactly how they solve mysteries daily. As a volunteer in the stacks, on the floor and behind the scenes, the members will do whatever a manager asks of the regular staff—shelving, bagging, sweeping, assisting patrons, pulling holds, making recommendations, taking out the trash, checking in returned books, etc.

To spread the word about the way booksellers and librarians serve their communities and assist readers, the participating members will be tweeting and posting messages to blogs and to Facebook about their experiences—before, during (especially) and after the event. This is SinC’s chance to shine a bit of a spotlight on these hardworking—and often unsung—heroes and heroines of our communities.

The goal is to cover as many locations as possible, with one SinC member author at each location.

The participation process was outlined in the email sent to members this week. Specific questions about the process should be directed to Jim Huang at jim[at]themysterycompany.com.

Sisters in Crime has set up an event-specific website at www.sisterssolvemysteries.com, featuring additional program details. The site is sparse at the moment, but will be built up with answers to questions that come our way. We’re also setting up a Facebook event page, a Twitter hashtag and other forms of virtual and social media to spread the word about the event.

The celebration begins at 10:00 a.m. on April 21.

Librarians solve mysteries every day.

Booksellers solve mysteries every day.

Let’s thank them for their efforts!

So, tell us, where will you be on April 21?

Inside inSinC: March 2012

Have you spent some time yet with your March edition of inSinC, the Sisters in Crime Quarterly?

As you no doubt already know, inSinC, edited by Molly Weston, provides a treasure trove of feature articles, columns from industry experts and useful news for SinC member writers and readers. But did you know that Molly is a recipient of a 2012 Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America? Here at Sisters in Crime, we are very proud of her accomplishments in the field of crime fiction—and we are very glad to have Molly at the helm of the inSinC Quarterly.

The March 2012 issue of inSinC features an in-depth look at the new world of publishing, courtesy of Marcia Talley and Barbara Fister, who report on Sisters in Crime’s third annual “SinC Into Great Writing” workshop. In addition to details on the information-packed day-long session, Marcia and Barbara provide links to SinC’s first-ever professional development video series, featuring free online access to more than two hours of video taped during the workshop’s presentations.

SinC board member Jim Huang launches news of Sisters in Crime’s first-ever “Booksellers Solve Mysteries Every Day, Librarians Solve Mysteries Every Day” event with an article on the celebration. Find out what he's got planned for Saturday, April 21, in libraries and bookstores nationwide.

“Promote or Perish” by Dorothy Francis provides a roadmap to an unexpected promotional opportunity for writers in art-loving communities nationwide. “SinC Loves Libraries” by Debra H. Goldstein shares the story of a magical day with Carolyn Hart and Eve Sandstrom (JoAnna Carl) at the Lawton, Okla. Library, the recipient of a $1,000 SinC We Love Libraries! grant for book purchases.

SinC Library Liaison Mary Boone offers information on author opportunities at the American Library Association annual conference in Anaheim, Calif., June 25 – 28, 2012. And SinC Review Monitoring Coordinator Barbara Fister provides an update on SinC’s review monitoring project, complete with a call for volunteer monitors.

The regular inSinC columns include Sisters in Crime president Frankie Bailey’s report on recent and upcoming SinC initiatives (including SinC Into Great Writing IV with presenter Nancy Pickard and plans related to The Writers’ Police Academy 2012), SinC administrator Beth Wasson’s update on an array of important SinC technology initiatives and meeting opportunities, “Law & Fiction: Getting Facts Straight” by attorney Leslie Budewitz and “Priming Your Brainstorm” by forensic psychology and criminal justice professor Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D.

In addition, the latest inSinC provides other news you can use, including “Chapter Highlights,” news of special events that may just offer some ideas for your own chapter activities; “Conferences and Happenings,” an updated event calendar; “The Docket,” offering the latest publishing news from your Sisters; and “Writing Contests,” a look at award-winning opportunities.

Let us know what you think about the latest edition of inSinC. We'd love to hear from you!

Thinking about Libraries

By Leslie Budewitz

[Originally published at Suspense Your Disbelief, http://www.jennymilchman.com/blog/]

“I have always imagined that Paradise would be a kind of library.”
– Jorge Luis Borges

My first memory of a library is the Parmly Billings Library in Billings, Montana. The city was named for Northern Pacific Railroad president Frederick Billings, whose son Parmly was the only family member to live there. When Parmly died of pneumonia at 25 in 1888, his parents gave the city a building site and seed money for a library. Built of local sandstone in the Romanesque style, it served as the library from 1901 until the late 1960s. I thought it was a castle.

By the 1960s, even with several additions, the castle was so crowded that most books were kept in inaccessible stacks and brought out by request–except for the children’s section. There, Curious George and Mike the Steam Shovel reigned. The Borrowers spun their magic, and I could easily imagine walking through a wardrobe into Narnia.

Libraries needn’t be grand. The castle was eventually replaced by an old warehouse, which offered space and parking, and didn’t seem to cramp Curious George’s style–just like kids, he’s curious anywhere. For a while, a children’s branch anchored a shopping center. And Tuesday mornings in summer, I peddled my pink Schwinn to Rose Park to meet the bookmobile, emptied my twin bike baskets, and filled them up again. The ride home was uphill, but my excitement made the ride easier.

Now I live in a small town with a county branch library. The online catalog lets me sit at home and order books from other branches or the statewide library partnership. It’s great technology, both in scattered rural states like Montana and busy systems with dozens of branches.

But I miss the physical spaces. I miss those accidental finds, the books you come across mis-shelved, or when you kneel down to look at something and your eye falls on something else, or the book that’s just been returned and screams to go home with you.

In law school, I spent much of my waking time in the library, studying. (And some of my sleeping time, too–I occasionally fell asleep on the floor in “the stacks,” the windowless basement rooms crammed with bound volumes of law reviews and obscure references.) The main reading room featured classic oak library tables, some tucked in book-lined alcoves with arched windows of leaded glass. In one alcove, a maple vine poked its way in through a pinhole in the glass and twined down the stone walls.

The main library at Notre Dame is a tall building with a mural outside showing Jesus with his arms raised to heaven. The building faces the end of the football stadium where the students sit, so of course, it’s called “Touchdown Jesus.”

Inside the library, I came across a pink cloth-bound book called Law Careers for Girls. I could hardly believe it was still on the shelves, or that it recommended careers in tax law, because women are good with numbers and details. I’m sure my tax prof would have howled if I’d showed him the book.

Sometimes you can’t find those accidental discoveries again, no matter how many librarians you enlist in the search. I’d still like another look at a book in the Seattle Public Library on pairing American quilts and Asian furniture in design.

When I worked in downtown Seattle in the 1980s, the library occupied a squat black glass building that did nothing to inspire reading or writing, at least on the outside. The new library, built in 2004, is so wildly creative that it’s been both a prize-winner and a bit of a controversy. The exterior makes you wonder "what building is that?"

I always imagine the interior to be made of giant crayons, bent and molded and reshaped. Like libraries and their contents–offering so much more than books these days–do to our thinking, our imagination, our plans for the afternoon.

Kind of like Curious George in the castle, I think.

What’s your favorite library memory?

Leslie Budewitz is the author of Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure (Quill Driver Books, October 2011). She is a practicing lawyer and a mystery writer living in northwest Montana. Read an excerpt and more articles for writers, or send her a question, at www.LawandFiction.com.

SinC at Public Libraries Conference in Philly

Sisters in Crime invites author members attending the Public Library Association (PLA) Conference in March in Philadelphia – and author members living near the Philly area – to volunteer to spend some time at the SinC booth in the convention center to meet and greet visiting librarians.

Author volunteers are needed at the Sisters in Crime booth Wednesday through Friday, March 14 through 16, to help spread the word that SinC works with libraries to connect readers and writers. Authors working at the booth may sign and give away copies of their books. SinC will register all booth workers for the conference.

Members unable to attend the conference are welcome to send a signed book to be given away during daily raffles at the SinC booth. The librarian raffle winners generally put these books in circulation in their libraries’ collections.

We hope to see you in Philadelphia! This is a great opportunity to bring your work to the attention of librarians who put mysteries into the hands of readers every day.

For details, contact Sisters in Crime Library Liaison Mary Booth at boonema[at]oplin.org. Please use “SinC PLA Philadelphia” on the subject line.