Until 20 years ago, I thought I was too busy to invest several days at a reader and writer’s conference. I was building companies and doing business and political consulting all over the world. It turns out that not attending was a mistake.
Recently Carmen and I spent a week in Nashville at Bouchercon. The conference is a lot like COMIC-CON but for book writers and readers. It was a great opportunity to listen to and mingle with creators and consumers to see how close the industry is to what readers really want. My observation is that the publishing industry’s current model to keep on publishing what worked in the past is getting stale. We sat in on discussions where much of the excitement came from self-published or indie authors. We added new books from new writers to our own library.
There were more great writers there than we had time to meet. Two who did stand out were A.M. Adair and A.C. Frieden. Adair is an amazing woman who recently retired after a long career in Naval Intelligence. Her real-world experience gives her work a realism and yet she doesn’t write the stereotypical thriller. Frieden is an attorney with experience all over the world, experience with the elites of business and government. He brings the perspective of dual citizenship and a critical examination of issues to stories that can launch you from Ukraine to North Korea. Both of these authors create entertaining adventures, but also challenge you to think. That’s something I hear about in my writing. I love to hear things like, “I was ripping through the book prepared to finish it in one night, and then in chapter X you took me some place and into a situation that I didn’t expect. I put the book down just to think about it for a day before I jumped back on the thrill ride.”
So, if you’re a reader, take time to attend a reading and writing conference, even a local one. You may well find a writer you have never heard about who takes you on an adventure you never expected, set someplace you might never visit. For me, that is what drives my writing. And, being from Alaska, a place twice the size of Texas with fewer roads than New York, you can count on visiting a place you probably have never heard of. I’m fortunate that I can climb into a plane, fly somewhere, strap a .44 magnum on my hip because of bears, and head out across lands that, even today, humankind might have never visited.
Come with me in my writing. And someday I would like to meet you at a conference like Bouchercon. And, if I’m not in attendance, you will meet another author who offers you a lift into their adventure world.
PS: While in Nashville, we attended The Grand Old Opry. While there, we were introduced to singer-songwriter Drew Baldridge whose decade long path to success mimics today’s most common road to writing success. Drew toiled, played, and wrote, for a dozen years, spending the COVID years playing gigs in people’s backyards. He married the girl of his dreams, and wrote She’s Somebody’s Daughter. It reached number one on the country play charts the week we saw him perform. Like so many great books today, it was self-produced and funded, the first chart topping song ever that wasn’t backed by a record label. Looks like publishing history is beginning to repeat itself in the music world.
Thank you Drew for the amazing song and for your persistence.