WHY KINGS CONFESS Signing at Garden District Book Shop

Thanks so much to everyone who turned out for the booksigning on Saturday. After a horrific stormy night that dumped ungodly amounts of rain on the city, the day itself managed to be pleasantly warm and sunny. We had a nice crowd, and I had a great time meeting everyone and talking about the books and Sebastian and Hero and Hendon and Kat and, well, just about everything.

This was our ninth Sebastian St. Cyr signing at Garden District Book Shop. We'll be doing another one next year for number ten, Who Buries the Dead, so hope to see you then! 

Booksigning This Saturday!

I'll be doing a booksigning and talk this Saturday, March 29, from one to three at the Garden District Book Shop on Prytania Street in New Orleans. There'll be bread and cheese and wine, too, so if you're in the area, do stop in and say hi.

Yesterday's Kindle Daily Deal for What Angels Fear was an astonishing success: the book hit number 10 on the Kindle best seller list! We should know next week exactly how many sales that translates into, but I noticed a huge spike in visitors to my blog and website on Monday. Hopefully the promotion will have attracted lots of new readers to the series.

And, finally, he's a picture of Whiskies that I took when my daughter was visiting. She's his special person, so he was really glad to see her. And yes, he is on a diet. It's just not working....

A Huge SORRY to My Readers in Houston

I have had to cancel my planned booksigning at Murder by the Book in Houston this Saturday. I can't tell you how sorry I am; I was really, really looking forward to it. MBTB always has a wonderful crowd of readers and I've so enjoyed my last two trips there. But I finally admitted to myself that I am simply too ill to make the flight there and back.

If they're willing to give it another try, I would love to come next year for the release of What Darkness Brings. Hopefully I'll be better by then!

My sincerest apologies to all who were planning to attend.

Booksighing at Garden District

I had my first When Maidens Mourn booksigning at Garden District Bookshop on Saturday. I have a wonderful group of friends from SOLA, our local chapter of RWA, who loyally turn out for my booksignings every year. But this year I actually didn't know over half the people there, which made me feel pretty good until the bookstore staff started telling me about a bestselling vampire writer who'd just done a signing there. She's on a multi-state bus tour with her male cover model (complete with red contact lenses), a small army of staff, and a promotional budget that included a case of champagne and a giveaway in which the grand prize was an iPad (one per signing). Sigh.

Still, I had a great time, and I hope everyone else did, too. Thanks so much for coming!

Weekend Whirlwind

Friday morning I flew to Phoenix, Arizona, for Poisoned Pen's June 2011 Conference (that's the pool of the Arizona Biltmore, site of the conference, above). This was my first visit to Poisoned Pen, a fact for which I was gently chided by Barbara Peters, the famous bookstore's impressive owner. And I can honestly say she's right, I should have made the trek out there long ago, because I had a fantastic time. Both my Friday afternoon panel (with Laurie R King, Peter Lovesey, Lauren Willig, Patricia Wynn, and Dana Stavenow) and Saturday morning's presentation (with Patricia Wynn) were loads of fun; I met lots of enthusiastic readers, aspiring writers, and published authors, and was really, really sorry I had to leave early.

I took my camera, but of course I never used it, except to snap this shot of British author Peter Lovesey singing a hilarious ditty about mystery books to the tune of an old Irish drinking song (yes, I recognized it, Peter). Unfortunately, this is one case where a picture is definitely not worth a thousand words, because the words and delivery were priceless.



Then, Saturday night, I flew back to New Orleans in time to participate in a mystery and thriller panel with S. J. Watson, Erica Spindler, and Cammie McGovern on Sunday morning at the American Library Association Conference. I took along Steve, who is better about remembering to take photos than I am. (Note to self: do NOT drink a giant latte in an attempt to stay awake for an evening flight if you want to go to sleep that night and avoid looking like you've been on a three-week bender the next day.)



I signed books both after the panel and then again Sunday afternoon at the Penguin booth. All told, I signed something like 300 books, which was quite amazing. Yes, Penguin was giving the books away, but the recipients could simply have taken their free books and walked off without waiting in line to meet me, so the entire experience was quite humbling. Thanks to everyone who came; it truly was a pleasure to meet you!

Murder by the Book

Last Saturday I did a signing at Murder by the Book, a wonderful little mystery bookstore in Houston, Texas.

I suspect the publishing industry would be in much better shape if we still had more bookstores like Murder by the Book. These people know books, they know authors, and they know their customers. "Hand selling" is something that used to go on in bookstores all the time--a familiar customer walks in the door, the book dealer says, "I just got in a book that you're going to love!" and puts the new book into the reader's hands. This is how new authors find readers--by word of mouth. And no one is better at generating positive word of mouth than a bookseller.

But with the slow death of independent bookstores, hand selling is disappearing fast. The clerks at Barnes and Noble tend to turn over constantly. Many of them don't read themselves, and they certainly don't take the time to learn the reading tastes of their customers. So the disappearance of the independent bookstores is one more factor contributing to the disappearance of midlist authors and the dominance of the franchised blockbuster.

But Murder by the Book is doing just great. They've carved out a niche selling autographed books, so that about a third of their business comes from mail orders for signed releases. I was amazed at how many people turned out to listen to me talk and have their books signed. People actually had numbers. You know, like at a Sarah Palin booksigning (only there were about 30 people there rather than 2,000). Frankly, I was stunned to realize that I had so many devoted readers in the Houston area. This was my second signing at Murder by the Book, and I fully intend to go back again.




Photos by Marc Brubaker--I forgot to take pictures myself

Booksignings and Interviews Coming to Someplace Maybe Near You

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Things are gearing up for the release of The Babylonian Codex on 30 November. So far, Steve and I will be doing a booksigning on December 11, from 1-3 p.m., at the Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania Street New Orleans, Louisiana. If you are unable to attend, you may contact the bookstore to preorder a signed, personalized book. Their telephone number is 504-895-2266.

We will also be doing the following radio interviews:

Los Angeles
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
12:15 PM to 12:30 PM CST LIVE
LA TALK RADIO
Sam & Suzy Show

Phoenix
Friday, December 3, 2010
5:00 PM to 6:00 PM CST
KYCA-AM AM 1490 LIVE
“KYCA Talks”

North Carolina
Monday, December 6, 2010
8:30 AM to 8:40 AM CST
LIVE
THE PARADISE RADIO NETWORK
WCBQ-AM 1340 WHNC-AM 890

California
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
8:30 PM to 9:00 PM CST LIVE
SUSPENSE MAGAZINE with John Raab

Personally, I much prefer live TV interviews to live radio interviews. I find it very disconcerting to have tens of thousands of people eavesdropping while I talk to someone I don't know and whose face I can't see. It's a weird experience.

I'll let you know when more events are scheduled.

The Booksigning from Hell

I doubt there's an author alive (well, maybe a few whose careers have been blessed with pixie dust) who can't relate to this. I laughed ruefully all the way through it.



h/t to Sphinx Ink for the link

A Tale of Two Sisters Booksigning

Steve and I will be doing a booksigning this Saturday afternoon, November 28th, at the Tale of Two Sisters Bookstore, at 214 Lee Lane in Covington, Louisiana, from 2-4 pm. The bookshop is a new venture by a friend of ours, Kathy Spiess. So if any of you are in the area, it would be nice to see you there.

I trust all had a pleasant Thanksgiving. We had a relaxing day with both my daughters, my mom, and one of my daughter's friends from med school who couldn't go back to Michigan for the holidays. It was a lot of fun.

Booksigning for The Solomon Effect

Steve and I will be doing a booksigning for The Solomon Effect at the Garden District Bookstore in New Orleans this Saturday, October 10, from 1-3. The Garden District is always a wonderful place to have a signing, with wine and cheese and friendly, book-loving people. If you're in the area, hope to see you there!

A Literary Event

Last night, Laura Joh Rowland and I hosted a “Literary Event” at Octavia Bookstore in Uptown New Orleans.

It was a lot of fun, with vast quantities of food and wine, a literary trivia contest, and an informal panel moderated by Elora Fink. We talked about our books and the writing process and (of course) Katrina. The audience was wonderfully enthusiastic, we signed scads of books, and in general had a great time.

All in all, a lovely evening spent with friends, fans, and new acquaintances, all enthusiastically in love with books.

"No, I Don't Know That Author"

The American Library Association had their convention here in New Orleans this week. They are the first convention since Katrina that hasn't cancelled, and I can't tell you how grateful everyone is. The businesses downtown need conventions to survive, so this was an important boost to the local economy. Thank you, ALA

I did a book signing at the convention yesterday. Those signings are enormous fun because the publishers give the books away for free and there are always lots of people eagerly lining up for an autographed copy. A small taste of what it would be like to be Pat Conroy.

My favorite was this one woman, who when I asked, “Would you like a free, signed book?” looked at the poster advertising my signing, made a face, and said, “No. I don’t know that author,” and walked off. I guess Pat Conroy doesn’t get that too often!

One nice benefit of signing at the ALA: you come home with bags and bags of free books. Now, where to put them all?

What I’m reading…

Fiction: A mystery I won’t name, in adherence to my policy. There’s a quote from People on the front, describing the NYT bestselling author as “The female John Grisham.” Ah…no. It’s a very straightforward mystery with none of the complexity or Faustian overtones of a Grisham novel. And this author either is a very bad lawyer, or else she has no respect for her readers’ intelligence. She seems to make it a habit of ignoring whatever might get in the way of her lazy plotting. For example, we have a long scene in which a witness is giving hearsay evidence, and our heroine attorney does not object—not once. Why? Because the author needed the testimony as a plot device. I won’t be reading another.

Nonfiction: THE HUNDRED YEAR LIE, by Randall Fitzgerald.