Welcome back! It’s a grand new year, still shiny and fresh. We — dare I say it? — have plans.
You know what they say: Man plans and God laughs. I expect much laughter again this year, but when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. A plan at least gives you a roadmap to follow through the jungle.
The other adage about plans I learned in the Navy is P7 or Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance. That’s also very true.
Anyway. Plans.
We have five events already on our calendar for the first half of 2023. All are open to the public and all but Malice Domestic are free.
They are:
Saturday, 4 February 2023. We’ll be at a sci-fi/fantasy program at the Hershey Public Library. I’ll be there as Odessa Moon with several other sci-fi/fantasy authors.
Saturday, 11 February 2023. Love is in the Air at Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses in Mechanicsburg. I’ll be there as Odessa with lots of romance writers.
Sunday, 19 February 2023. Bill and I will be at the Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop discussing the film versions of Agatha Christie’s detectives.
Thursday, 27 April through Sunday, 30 April 2023. We’ll be at Malice Domestic, the cozy mystery convention. We’ll debut Agatha Christie, She Watched! If you’re a mystery fan, Malice is the place to meet your tribe.
Saturday, 13 May 2023. We’ll be at Hershey Art Fest somewhere in the sea of canopies wrapped around the Cocoa Beanery and The Englewood Barn. Yep, this time the weather will cooperate and it will be a beautiful, sunny day.
As we add events, I’ll make note of them in the newsletter if I can. We always list upcoming events on the front page of the website, so check there too. That and our Instagram account may be the only way we can notify you about short-notice events.
We’ll press [PUBLISH] on two books in the first half of the year for sure.
Agatha Christie, She Watched is nearing the homestretch. As noted above, we’ll debut it at Malice Domestic. We plan on book launches at Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop and Cupboard Maker Books so if you’re in the area but not at Malice, you can still come out and join us. We’ve got one more movie to watch (See How They Run 2022) and one or two to rewatch. We’ve been editing and formatting all along so much of the book is already laid out. We will have copies in hand at Malice.
Escape to HighTower got pushed behind Agatha Christie, She Watched but it too will appear before summer. I’ve near the end with the edits and it won’t take long, once AC,SW is done to get it laid out and published.
Once those two books are done, we’ll take a breather from movies and I’ll start serious work on The War Dogs of Barsoom. Ulla Tisdale DelFino will star in that one. You’ll finally get to meet her mother. She’ll have to work with Shondra Chee Sakamoto (they dislike each other). And she’ll have to make a critical decision about her future. Knowing how slow I am, I’m not making any promises when I’ll be done. Hopefully, no pandemics or family health crises will interfere with daily life.
Events! Events! Events!
Since it’s the beginning of the year and you’re making your plans, now’s the time to consider if you want to do events.
If you’ve got trade paperbacks (you do, right?), then you can do events. But! That’s only if you’re willing to put yourself onstage all day and chat up total strangers about your books. Go back and reread all the previous newsletters (they’re archived at https://peschelpress.com/peschel-press-newsletter-archive/) for information on signage, brand colors, uniforms, and event behavior.
Most book events have limited slots available for authors and those tables fill up fast. If there’s a festival you want, sign up for that festival’s Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook feeds (whichever social media you use) so you know right away when applications are being accepted.
To help you get started, here are some listings of book festivals. None of them are complete as most book festivals are run by volunteers who have no idea what “publicity” means. When you’re searching, be sure to specify you want 2023. Plenty of book events fell by the wayside during the Covid shutdowns, never to return.
The first one, Career Indie Author’s Mid-Atlantic Book Festival, is our site. We try hard to be complete so if you know of a festival in or near the Mid-Atlantic that’s not on our list, email us with the details and we’ll add it.
Some of these sites job writer retreats with book events, so read the descriptions carefully. Unlike us, most book event listings are national, so you’ll see the big names repeated over and over. But! Each website ends up with a different list so you should check them all for book events in your area. Publishers’ Weekly lists international events.
This is just a sampling of what’s out there.
If you want to find something smaller, google “book events near me” but be ready to filter out all pre-2023 information.
Online isn’t your only resource. Ask at your library! They may be running an annual book fair right now, but you can’t participate if you don’t know about it. When you’ve checked all the libraries in your area, visit your local bookstores. They’re great sources of information because they usually know everything going on in the local book community. Historical societies often run book events as do local Arts’ Councils. The key is to ask and keep on asking. Don’t forget to sign up for the library’s, the bookshop’s, and the Historical Society’s social media so you’re ready for future events.
Keep your eyes open for signs, newspaper adverts, and radio spots advertising an upcoming, ultra-local event. It’s shocking how you can miss an annual event in your own community. I routinely meet Hershey residents who’ve lived in the township for decades and have no idea that we have a Winter Arts Festival (nearly 40 years) or Hershey Arts Fest (10 years and counting).
Make sure you ask other authors what’s coming up on their schedule.
If you’re unsure of applying to an event as an exhibiting author, attend the event as a reader. Most of them are free to the public. You can look around, chat up the authors, and maybe buy a few, new books. Seeing how the event is run will give you a better idea of whether or not you’d fit in next year.
That’s the other reason to read an event’s FAQ and their application form carefully. Do you fit into what they’re looking for? If you write blood-drenched horror, a children’s book festival will toss your application into the trash. Don’t waste their time or yours.
There will nearly always be a fee for a table. The venue has to rent tables, may have to buy extra insurance for the day, provide security and port-a-potties, and may have to pay to rent the space. The venue also has to pay for advertising. Your author fee pays for those costs, so don’t carp about it.
Do not expect to sell books at a book festival. Maybe you will. Probably, you won’t sell enough books to cover your vendor fee. Or, you may sell nothing. Book events are publicity for your brand, marketing experience, and they let you practice your book pitch. Remember to put down your *^&$$ phone and pay attention to the potential reader in front of you.
If you want to do events in 2023, now’s the time to start planning.
Thanks again for joining us and we’ll see you again in February.