Get Ready for This Year's Word Reading and Writing Festival

Autumn has nearly arrived and with it comes the 22^nd annual Word Reading and Writing Festival. I’ve participated at the Vancouver event nearly every year since it began and I can tell you that it’s a terrific experience.

Word has expanded over the years and now runs for five days in Vancouver. This year, events will start on Wed., Sept. 21^st and end in the main event on Sunday, Sept. 25^th, at Library Square, (at the main library on Georgia Street). You can find a schedule of events and the different venues through the week HERE.

This is a free festival with music, author readings, panel discussions, workshops, and activities for the kids. For those of you who don’t live in Vancouver, Word (also known as Word on the Street) will be held in Halifax (Sept. 17), Saskatoon (Sept. 18), Lethbridge (Sept. 24), and Toronto (Sept. 24). You can find further information about those events HERE.

I’ll be helping out at the Crime Writers of Canada table with other writing colleagues from 1 to 3 pm, but please drop by to visit our table whenever your schedule permits. Fellow crime writers will be there from 11 to 5:00 pm, and they’ll have lots of good information to share about local writers and Crime Writers of Canada.

I’m not sure of the exact location of our table yet, but volunteers give out free programs that allows you to find everyone who’s representing their organization, magazine, publishing house, indie books, and so forth. It really is a paradise for book lovers, so I hope to see you there!

Debra

Final Thoughts on Word on the Street, Vancouver

As mentioned last month, I and several others were taking part in the annual Word on the Street event in Vancouver. I wanted to give my feedback to the organizers before I followed up here. Now that this is done, I can say that, all in all, it was a great day.

I was very grateful to have a large number of volunteers help out at our Crime Writers of Canada table. They did a great job of telling people about our organization and talking about the display of books. As you’ll see from the photo, we know how to draw people in! Don Hauka thought it’d be fun to have a chalk outline in front of our table, so he volunteered to be the body, while Robin Spano drew the outline. Of course, the rain washed most of it away later.

Four of us also participated on a well-attended mystery panel called De-Mystifying the mystery. Attendees gave us great feedback, and one of them blogged about it, which you can see in the link below:

http://noahjdchinnbooks.com/2011/09/de-mystifying-mystery

The only downside to the day was a couple of organization glitches. While it was great to be on a panel located inside the library where it was warm and dry, we had to be out of the room at a specific time to make way for the next group. To continue answering questions the attendees had, however, meant following us up the stairs and outside to the booksellers’ tent, which wasn’t a tent, but a canopy above four tables, three of which were wet from the rain. There were only two chairs for several people, and most of the attendees understandably didn’t hang around.

I would have preferred to see a table outside the room, where there was plenty of space, and discussions could easily have continued, and suggested as such on the feedback form organizers provided. I’m not sure why the fair wasn’t better prepared for bad weather, but for awhile there, some of the booths looked like there were going to be completely rained out! Still, once the sun came out again at three, so did the people, and displays survived. It can’t be easy to organize something this big, so kudos anyway to all of the volunteers who helped make it happen.

THE OPPOSITE OF DARK, http://bit.ly/i983XE, now out on paperback at http://tinyurl.com/30dlx64
FATAL ENCRYPTION, http://tinyurl.com/ddzsxl
TAXED TO DEATH, http://tinyurl.com/czsy5n

Word on the Street, 2010

It’s Sunday evening and I’ve just finished putting things away after a great day at the annual Word on the Street Fair. It’s a day-long celebration of reading and writing hosted by several cities across Canada simultaneously. I love going to this event because everyone is upbeat and friendly, except perhaps for the guy who was busted by the Vancouver police and hauled off in a paddy wagon this afternoon, although I have no idea what triggered this outcome.

I’ve been attending Word on the Street since I first published Taxed to Death in the late nineties. Over recent years, I’ve volunteered at the Crime Writers of Canada table (thank you to CWC for sponsoring the west coast contingent) and help hand out brochures about our organization. It’s always a treat to talk to people who love reading mysteries but had no idea we existed, or that many more Canadians are writing mysteries than they thought. This is also a chance to let aspiring writers know that help and support is out there.

This year, there were many tables and tents featuring book publishers, large and small, magazines, writing-related organizations and, of course, book sellers. Today’s musical entertainment ranged from opera to bongo drumming. There was an area for kids’ books and entertainment, tents for readings, plus more panel discussions inside the main library. And all of it was free. For those of you who missed out this year, you’ll have another chance next year. It’s always the last Sunday of September, and even though rain was forecasted for today, none came. What can I say? It was a wonderful day.

My amateur sleuth, Vancouver-based, Alex Bellamy mysteries can be purchased at
FATAL ENCRYPTION, http://tinyurl.com/ddzsxl
TAXED TO DEATH, http://tinyurl.com/czsy5n

Popularity in Electronic Publishing?

I received an e-mail from a colleague this week congratulating me because Fatal Encryption has become "most popular" in two of amazon.com's Kindle categories. I'm not exactly sure what this means or how it translates into sales, or if it even does. Still, it's nice to know that my book's reached the top 100 of any category given all the competition out there.

When you're an unknown like me, receiving any kind of recognition is important, so I'll enjoy this moment while it lasts. With any luck, maybe the same will happen for Taxed to Death when it comes out later this month.

Speaking of last, enjoyable moments ... it's been eight months since I left my full-time job in retail to produce, publish, and promote Fatal Encryption. During that time, I also edited two other novels, found an electronic publisher, worked on short stories, started two more blogs, joined MySpace, AuthorsDen, and Goodreads. Before February, I hadn't even head of Goodreads and AuthorsDen. Now I'm contributing and meeting new friends everyday. It's been one of the most productive times of my life, but it's time to start earning a regular pay cheque again, so I have a new, exciting job I'll be starting later this month. Change is a good thing. Learning something new is even better.

For anyone interested in seeing my books, electronic and print, go to http://www.amazon.com/

Excerpts for Fatal Encryption and Taxed to Death can be read at http://www.debrapurdykong.com/

And remember, I'll be at Semiahmoo Library 1815 - 152nd Street on Saturday, September 27, and at Word on the Street Fair at Vancouver's Library Square on Sunday, September 28th. I hope to see you there!

The Nicest Thing That's Happened So Far

If you've read my posts you'll know that I've been embroiled in promotion and marketing since April, and that there've been ups and downs. Today I want to share the nicest thing that's happened so far - and I'm happy to say there've been many good things - but this particular incident happened during my first book signing on August 9th. My table was set up and I was chatting with a customer when a little girl of about eight walked by with her mom. The little girl looked at my table, then at me, and smiled shyly. She said, "I want to be a writer". I thought that was terrific and told her so. I said,

"Do you keep a diary or a journal?"

"Yep."

"Do you write stories?""

"Uh-huh."

"And you read?"

A big nod.

"Well," I said. "You're doing all the right things. Just keep doing it."

Her eyes lit up and she looked at her mom who grinned. She took a bookmark and left the store. And I was left with the sensation that it feels terrific to make a child happy.

So, here we are in September and I have two more events lined up. One is an open-mike reading on Saturday, September 27th from 1 to 4 p.m. at Semiahmoo Library, 1815 - 152nd Street, Surrey, B.C.

I'll also be helping at the Crime Writers of Canada table at this year's Word on the Street Fair in Vancouver. The event takes place at the Main Library on Georgia Street from 11 to 6 p.m., and shoulds be lots of fun with music, readings and panels.

And Big News!!! FATAL ENCRYPTION is now available on Mobipocket and Kindle! For Mobi, go to http://www.mobipocket.com/ and look under mystery and crime.

Kindle is at http://www.amazon.com/ under Fatal Encryption, where you can see the cool new cover my publisher designed.

And, of course, excerpts for FATAL ENCRYPTION and TAXED TO DEATH can be read at http://www.debrapurdykong.com/