Saturday, October 04, 2008

Word on the Street Fair

Last Sunday, September 27th, was Vancouver's annual Word on the Street Fair. This free, one-day event is held the last Sunday of every September in Vancouver at the main library and in Toronto as well as a couple of other cities (this can vary from year to year). It's a wonderful opportunity for people to meet local writers, talk about books, attend readings and panel discussions, and browse through the many small press magazines and books published in our province. Lots of musical entertainment is also provided and it's just a great day of fun all round. Fun being the key word here.

Writing and promoting is hard work, which is why it's good to get out there and simply talk to people when you can. Find out what they like to read, what they'll buy and won't buy, and who for? Themselves? Someone else? One of the interesting things I learned was how many mystery readers are out there, yet how little they know about the local writers. Many of them hadn't heard of our national organization, Crime Writers of Canada, but we did our best to change that by handing out a catalogue of authors' books and signing people up to receive more info about us and CWW. One by one, we're spreading the word about who we are and what we write. It was great fun and if anyone has an opportunity to attend next year's WOTS as either author or reader, I really recommend it.

Near the end of the day, a couple came up to me and bought a copy of each of my books to read on their long flight back to Australia. I should be so lucky to travel that far!

To read excerpts of Fatal Encryption and Taxed to Death visit http://www.debrapurdykong.com/

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