#MDC3CON IS COMING...ARE YOU?

If you are still undecided about whether you want to make the trip to Baltimore, and think there is nothing for +Baltimore Science Fiction Society there. You would be wrong. We could write a long blog about it but we thought we would do one better. Baltimore Public Library has a podcast and they interviewed two of the principals involved with the Creatures, Crimes and Creativity conference. 

This conference is for all authors, fans, writers and publishers. Where else could +IndieAuthors.com be an active participant and have their books to sell? 

We hope to see you there. 

COME HAVE DINNER WITH SOME GREAT AUTHORS

We are preparing a great time for you at this years, MD C3 Con

Have you ever wondered what Heather Graham does on her days off? Well you can find out at the Creatures, Crimes and Creativity Con, or as we like to call it, the MD C3 Con.

You can sit and have dinner with her before she gives the keynote at Saturdays dinner.

Have you picked up her latest novel, The Dead Play On yet? If you have, why not bring it with you to the conference and you can ask her to sign it for you.

We are also happy that just before our conference, she will release another novel; The Silence and you can also have that one signed as well.

As you an see, we are bringing you some of the best authors around. So why not join us for the MD C3 Con in September. Its a bargain at $245 until March 31. 

You will get three days of conference, 5 full meals, two great keynote speakers, two local guests (yep from the DC Area) and you also get to sit in on master classes taught by +Heather Graham and +F.Paul Wilson

Beginning on April 1; the price increases by $30 to $275 but you still get all of the great stuff listed above. Oh, did we mention you get a goodie bag filled with books, coupons and you may even win a Kindle Fire.

So sign up today; we hope to see you there!

LOOK WHO WE HAVE COMING!

We have secured one local guest from the Washington Metropolitan area. 

S.D.Skye is a native of S.D. Skye is a former Senior Intelligence/Operations Analyst for the FBI Counter other 3-letter agencies. She is a highly opinionated blogger on National Security and Intelligence Community Topics. She is also a romantic mystery novelist. She is also a proud member of the MWA and Romance Writers. She is also a member of the International Thriller Writers Association.

If you want to see the fun that we had this year. Take a look at our conference website; Md C3conference. 

We hope to see you there in September

PROMOTING IS HARD

Have you ever had to promote something that no one ever heard of?

We did. Last year. It was the first year of the +C3Conference and we had no idea how to go about letting people know about this conference. You can look at the fun we had by click the link: Creatures, Crimes and Creativity

We immediately took to +Social Media Explorer and started putting it out there for people to find us.

We were shocked by the turnout! We had over 100 registered attendees to a conference that was the brain child of  +Austin Camacho .

We gathered authors and fans of Sci-Fi, Horror, Paranormal, Mystery, Thrillers, Suspense and Fantasy in +HuntValleyInn to celebrate these genres.

We had great food, had lots of laughs and even took over the bar. We were so surprised at the reviews afterwards.

John Gilstrap has spoken about how great of a time he had last year and he plans to join us this year. We have some great folks lined up.

+Eric Von Lustbader, +Rebecca York, +CJ Ellison and +Brad Parks will be our headliners this year and we have already signed up over 2 dozen writers.

We have an anthology that will be given away and will never be sold. This is a way to get fans to enjoy new authors and their stories.

Our on site bookstore was always busy and some of the authors actually sold out of their novels.

We had a first time authors panel and a spouses panel where we got to hear all about some of the authors secrets while they were working on their latest novel.

So why not take a chance and go to our website and see what we are going to do this year. We promise you that you will not be disappointed.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT CONFERENCES

This blog was submitted by one of the attendees: Bill Fietzer


What I like best about writers' conferences and this one in particular are the interesting people one meets. Not only the headliners like Jeffrey Deaver and Allison Leotta (See my blog page on the conference at: http://williamfietzer.com/2013/10/27/a-lesson-repeated-at-the-creatures-crimes-and-creativity-conference/ but the attendees I rubbed elbows or broke bread with at the breakfasts, luncheons, and after-hours soirees all had interesting stories to tell.

Allied with this is the serendipity factor. Though Baltimore is something of an outer-ring satellite of Washington, D.C., I never expected to meet the mother of a son who works for the U.S. Foreign Service. Turns out that Lane Stone and I both have sons in the diplomatic corps working in the Far East, hers in Beijing and mine in Osaka. Such a small, intimate, intriguing world globalization has created for us!

The other thing I enjoyed about the conference was the opportunity to explore the Baltimore area via the light rail line. At other conventions such as in Atlanta and San Antonio, taking the light rail or bus lines permits me the opportunity to get a feel of the city, if only through a window as a passing traveler. Never having been to Baltimore before, the hour and a half trip provided ample opportunity to witness the magnitude of Baltimore Harbor, the location of the Baltimore Orioles stadium, the rebuilding historic downtown, and the extensive sub-urbanization of many industries and manufacturing plants that reach almost to the Pennsylvania state line.

The trip also revealed that a two-story high berm or bridge need not be the environmental eyesore that opponents of one of the proposed local spurs to the light rail line in Minneapolis claim it could be. All politics, they say (whoever "they" are), are local, and the anecdotal evidence gleaned from my ride to and from the airport showed that an elevated rail track is not the odious monster some locals claim is sufficient reason for stalling a multi-million dollar transportation project.

The link to my Facebook photo album of C3 highlights is: https://www.facebook.com/william.fietzer/media_set?set=a.4645617317360.1073741829.1800969976&type=3
I'm looking forward to an even more provocative, inspirational time at next year's event.

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!

The countdown has officially began.

Well, it didn't just start, it started 13 months ago when the brain child of this conference twisted the arm of a webmaster and got the website up and running. The countdown clock was the brainchild of our webmaster, James.

Every week I would look at that clock and say, "wow, that's seems like a long way off" and then I looked at the clock today and said, "oh my gosh! it's here already".

I have been fortunate enough to work with some great people on this conference and have learned a lot about them and about myself in the process.

I learned that I love to have fun in everything that I do. Our monthly meetings started off with organization and an agenda and quickly erupted into a free for all of conversations, jokes, laughs and plenty of coffee. In the end we all have worked like a well oiled machine. We have come together for a common goal and that is to bring you the best damn conference possible.

If you are coming to the conference, I can't wait to meet you and if you aren't...shame shame, you are going to miss the best damn party, EVER!

See you in four days, 20 hours and 15, 14, 13, 12....well you get the picture....

I'm as giddy as a two year old waiting for Santa!

Submitted: B. Swangin Webster

ROMANTIC-SUSPENSE JUNKIE

Hi, It's me again, Author Deliah Lawrence and Yes, I’m a romantic-suspense junkie. You may be wondering what that means and I’ll tell you that it’s the best of both worlds. There are some folks who enjoy reading a good romance novel, especially one that’s filled with characters staring lovingly into each other’s eyes, exchanging sweet kisses and locked in warm embraces? Well, for me that would only last for a split second before I start looking for the action. You see I like non-stop action where the protagonist is on a quest to solve a murder and still finds time for a lot of kisses and warm embraces.

Typically when you think of non-stop action, you think of thrillers with high drama, a rush of emotions and excitement that truly keeps you on the edge of your seat. Thrillers are villain driven where the protagonist must overcome some obstacle amidst the desire for justice and their morality. Just think of novels by John Grisham, Tom Clancy, and Michael Crichton or movies like The Bourne Identity and Taken or some of my favorite TV shows, The X-Files, 24 and Prison Break. The action truly never stops when reading any of these novels or watching any of these movies or TV shows. Unfortunately, it doesn’t slow down enough to care too much about the romantic side of things.

Mysteries on the other hand, can be less dramatic. It involves giving the readers clues or “red herrings” to allow them to find out who committed the crime. They also contain less violence than thrillers. For example, a cozy mystery is full of clues and its plot is not full of action. It’s more of a mind game between the criminal and the detective. However, an amateur detective mystery involves a detective who gets involved in the plot by accident. These amateur sleuths don’t follow the same rules as the police but it’s fun to read how they solve the cases. Here too, not enough time is spent on romantic relationships.

There are many sub-categories of a thriller (e.g. psychological thrillers, crime thrillers, erotic thrillers, spy thrillers, etc.). However, suspense is an integral part of thrillers that builds up the “on-edge” feeling for the audience. So, for me, writing romantic-suspense novels where I strive for a balance between heart pounding action and sexual tension between the characters guarantees that my readers will be turning the pages. In my debut novel, Gotta Let It Go, the protagonist is on a quest to solve a murder, throw in unresolved feelings for a soon to be ex-husband, attraction to a hot detective and a few death threats and you have a roller coaster ride of a romantic-suspense novel. Although my novel, won the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Finalist Awards in the multi-cultural fiction category, the ultimate praise for my novel came from a family friend who said that her husband asked if she wasn’t coming to bed. When I heard this, I knew that I’ve done my job as a writer! 

MIRROR MIRROR...WHO'S THE NEXT TO DIE?

This entry comes from one of the featured authors at this year's conference, Cher'ley Grogg and when you are finished reading, make sure to leave a comment, I am sure she will answer you back.

 

A novel set in the present day Chicago and Chicago in the year 1923. A serial killer is on the lose now and the case is eerily similar to a cold case from 1923.

 

Prologue

 

     The nose that pressed against the glass at O'Hare International belonged to an normal looking man who kept his eyes glued to the plane as it landed smoothly and taxied up to the terminal.

       He looked like any professional commuting from city to city, nothing remarkable stood out.  Nothing remarkable, except for his intense stare, the way he lowered his chin, and the pucker of his mouth as he pressed his upper lip over his lower lip. He did this when he was concentrating hard, like some people stick their tongue out the side of their mouth when performing a difficult task. His lip action forced the flesh of his lower lip between his teeth. He ignored the pain as he bit the inside of his lip and his concentration remained unbroken as his clenched fist caused his fingernails to dig into his soft, smooth palms.

  His heart quickened as he waited for Maria Gonzales to file out with the other
passengers. They looked like cattle going to slaughter. He could be watching for any of
them. She deserved the title of Miss New Mexico, and she deserved more. He'd give he

more. If she would accept it, he'd give her more.

 

Make sure you hop over to her website to see more, http://cherley.webs.com/guestbook.htm

Best Way to Improve Sales: Give Readers a Free Sample!

Have you ever heard of Mrs. Fields. She’s the lady that makes those great homemade chocolate chip cookies. Do you know how she became Mrs. Fields? Besides marrying Mr. Fields.

Answer: She gave out free samples.

Mrs. Fields made up a platter of her cookies and walked up and down the street handing out free cookies. Yep! She gave them away! Then, once customers became hooked, they started buying those cookies by the bag-full and Mrs. Fields became the Queen of Cookies!

So, when my publishing company Acorn Book Services signed on to sponsor the C3 Conference, I asked myself how best to promote not just myself as an author, but those authors who I work with. Then, my thought turned to those new authors who may be nervously attending the C3 conference for the first time as an author.

How does a new author, who is promoting his or her very first book, convince readers that they are good? That they are worthy of spending a few bucks on their first book?

Answer: Give out free samples!

That is the purpose of the C3 (Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity) Anthology.  Acorn Book Services will publish and give a copy of our anthology to each attendee at the conference.

Picture this! You are a new author on your first panel. The readers are sitting in the audience thinking, “Well, he seems like a nice guy, but I can’t afford to buy a copy of all of these authors’ books. How do I decide?”

You answer their hesitation by holding up the anthology. “And you can read a copy of my short story in the anthology that you received in your welcome pack. It starts on page 42.”

The readers will read your story. Fall in love and you’ll have a fan, or two, or three, or a hundred!

Please pay close attention to their submission guidelines below:

Word Count: Maximum 7,500 words.

Limit: One short story per author, who must be registered and attending the C3 conference.

Limited to twenty-five stories accepted for publication so be sure and get registered today so your story can be part of the anthology! Space in the anthology is limited. I wish we could afford to publish a hundred stories, but we can’t.

Please include author photo, bio, website, and other information to accompany short story in the anthology.

Short stories accepted for the anthology must be edited, and will be edited and proofed by Acorn Book Services. By submitting a short story, the author agrees to giving Acorn Book Services rights of usage of the short story in the Anthology to be published in print and e-book form (at the cost of Acorn Book Services). The printed format will be given to attendees of the C3 conference. This anthology will serve as a promotional tool for the authors, who will retain all ownership rights to their story.

After the conference, Acorn Book Services will then release the anthology in e-book form on Amazon. In this e-book format, in exchange for use of their short story, the author will receive further promotion as the e-book will also include the author’s bio and links to their website and places where their books can be purchased.

All of this is at no cost to the author, other than the cost of attending the C3 conference. All proceeds from the sale of the e-book version will be retained by Acorn Book Services to help offset production cost of the anthology.

Deadline to submit: March 1, 2013.

For more information or to submit your story contact Acorn Book Services at writerlaurencarr@gmail.com

 

The Dream Book Event for an Independent Author

By Lauren Carr

Back in the days of the “giant lizard” (aka dinosaurs), after my first book, A Small Case of Murder was published; I was told in no uncertain terms, “You need to go to conferences. That is where you meet and make fans and they get to know you.”

So I started going to conferences, where I met some fans, as well as authors who showed me a few ropes that I would not have learned otherwise. As with everything, there were a few problems in fulfilling this conference attending requirement.

Problem Number One: Conferences Are Expensive—especially if they’re out of town, which is usually the case. Between the registration fee, meals, and hotel, especially in today’s economy, the cost can be prohibitive. If you are mid-list or below, most likely you aren’t going to make enough money in book sales at the conference to cover the cost. Argument can be made that the benefit of going to the conference comes from meeting fans who will buy your books at the event and hopefully continue purchasing your books in the future.

 Problem Number Two: Lack of Exposure for Independent (self-published) Authors—which, in conjunction with Problem Number One, can drive most authors to stay home.

With the vast changes in technology opening doors for independent authors, I began independently publishing my own books when I released It’s Murder, My Son.  (That’s another story.) At the same time, some conferences made the decision that self-published authors would not be assigned to author panels. This means lack of exposure to authors who have the confidence to invest in their own books. Fans don’t meet or see them, which renders attending these conferences useless.

In spite of this, It’s Murder, My Son, and my other independently published books (Old Loves Die Hard, Shades of Murder, Dead on Ice) have been receiving great reviews and great sales.

When other authors, seeing my success asked for my help, I ended up becoming a publisher: Acorn Book Services.  In working with my authors, I have struggled with ideas in how to personally introduce them to readers at great events like a conference, where they can experience the pride they have earned as authors.

I was playing with the idea of establishing my own conference when I got an e-mail from Sandra Bowman of Intrigue Publishing announcing the dates of Creatures, Crime, and Creativity Conference to take place in Baltimore. Immediately, I hit the reply button and asked, “Is this conference friendly toward independent authors?”

Moments later (seconds really!) came Sandra’s reply, “Certainly.” We set up a dinner meeting with her and Austin S Camacho (author and publisher). I was so excited that I barely ate. This was the type of conference I was looking for not just for myself, but my authors.

Days later, Acorn Book Services was a sponsor for the Creatures, Crime, and Creativity Conference (C3), to take place in Baltimore on September 13, 14, and 15, 2013.

Not only is the C3 conference friendly toward independent authors, but it is affordable. This is the first conference I have seen where the meals are included in the event for the whole weekend!

C3’s goal is to introduce fans to new authors, no matter how they are published. None of that matters. Yes, fans will be drawn by the big names who are attending (Jeffrey Deaver and Trice Hickman, to name two), but during the weekend, through author panels and other events (including a scavenger hunt), there is no way they can leave without meeting new names in mystery, suspense, paranormal, crime, and fantasy writing.

If you’re an author, you will be one of those authors that fans are going to meet!

Fans will also be meeting new authors through the C3 Anthology, which Acorn Book Services is going to publish exclusively for this event. Every fan, author, and agent attending this event will get a free copy of the C3 anthology. After the conference, Acorn Book Services will be publishing the anthology in e-book form, which means the marketing benefit will be continuing after the weekend for those authors published in the C3 Anthology. Space in the book is limited only to authors registered for the C3 event.

My next post will be more details about the anthology. To learn more right now, go to the anthology page on the C3 website and register for the conference today. This is your chance to meet and make new fans! 

What is genre?

I’ll soon see the release of the fourth book in my Stark & O’Brien series . 

When I wrote the first book I knew it was action/adventure.  That’s what they were calling other similar novels at the time.  Then at some point I was told that what I write are really international thrillers.  Okay, people seemed to understand that meant lots of action and suspense, although before that I had thought thrillers were scary.

Then the other day I was describing my novels to someone who doesn’t read thrillers.  When I mentioned that my two protagonists happen to have a psychic link that warns one when the other is in danger her eyes lit up.  “Oh!  So you really write UF or PNR!”

I nodded and smiled but when I got home I had to Google it.  UF turns out to be short for Urban Fantasy.  These books aren’t urban in the sense of books about drug lords and hookers.  In this case urban is NOT a euphemism for African American or gangbanger style.  UF literally means fantasy fiction – ghosts, goblins and demons – set in a city.  Jim Butcher seems to be the leader of this pack, although C3 conference keynote speaker Christopher Golden is also a leading figure.  A lot of this material is what I would have called horror.  Much of what Bram Stoker and Stephen King have written would qualify as Urban Fantasy.

Then there’s PNR – ParaNormal Romance.  This label seems to separate the vampires and werewolves (and other shape shifters) from the UF books.  Of course, as the name implies there has to be a romance element, but vampires and werewolves still sound like horror to me.  Except that a lot of these books (like Laurell K. Hamilton’s  work) are about vampire hunters or demon hunters, and they read like action/adventure to me… or maybe I mean thrillers.

When we set up the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity conference we tried to take in all the fictional genres that seemed to fit together: mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, fantasy and even the newcomer steampunk (a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid that would have described Jules Verne’s and HG Wells’ work.)  But we didn’t account for the rush of new sub-genres.  So it’s startling when someone writes, “I see you don’t take romance, and that’s what I write but my books have shape-shifters and elves.  Will I fit in at your conference?”  To me that’s fantasy, or horror, or SOMEWHERE in that space.

My point, (and I do have one)  is that if you think the books you love to read might edge their way into one of the categories we’re touting for the C3 Conference, then you can be sure you’ll meet others who read them, and maybe someone who writes them.  So bring your love of genre fiction in almost all its forms to the C3 Conference in September.

And let me know what other sub-genre we should call out to.

What's all the fuss about?

I'm sure you are asking yourself that very question, right about now.

No...you're not. Well why aren't you?

The noise that you hear are the gears grinding together of the collective minds of Denise Camacho, Austin Camacho and Sandra Bowman.

We have been hard at work planning the C3Conference next year.
The Creatures, Crimes and Creativity Conference; get it, C3; is coming up in September 13-15, 2012.

We have secured four great guests. Jeffery Deaver, John Gilstrap, Chris Golden and Trice Hickman.

We have nailed down a venue. The Hunt Valley Inn near Baltimore.

We have pinned down a team of dedicated volunteers. Ok, well we didn't have to pin them down, but we did have to chase them for a little while, but Ann Arbaugh, Deliah Lawrence, Juli Monroe and Cyndi Lauth graciously agreed to help us.

They have even secured a couple of sponsors, Frugal Bliss organic bath products and Acorn Book Services. Don't fret, it's not to late if you would like to sponsor something or donate something to the hospitality suite.

Yes, that noise that you hear is us hard at work putting together the best conference that $275 can buy.

Where else will you find Steam punk, Thrillers, Mysteries, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror and Suspense in one place?

We have planned a few surprises, like...wait, if I told you then you wouldn't attend, now would you?

So what's all the fuss about?
Why not click this link, www.creaturescrimesandcreativity.com and find out.

You are in for a surprise!

Welcome to the first entry on the official blog for the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity conference.This con will be the annual gathering place for writers and fans of genre fiction in the Mid-Atlantic area, something that we think has been missing for a long time.

Well, maybe not all genre fiction.We don’t expect a lot of romance writers to show up, but if you love to read or write stories of mystery or suspense, if you love a good thriller or horror tale, if science fiction or fantasy is your bag, or if you’re getting into the steampunk style, this will be the con for you.

We have a website – www.creaturescrimesandcreativity.com – we have a contact email - dbcamacho@hotmail.com – and, 346 days out, we have a spectacular slate of key note speakers and special guests.So why do we need a blog?

Well, I can think of three reasons.First, there will be too much going on at this conference for us to put all the details on our web site.We plan a scavenger hunt for attendees.There will be a beer tasting and a wine tasting.A video crew will be on hand to shoot author interviews.And the registration packet will include an original anthology featuring some of the attending authors.You’ll want the details of these and other specials planned and in the blog we’ll have the space to give you those details.

And that’s just what we know now.We expect things to grow and change over the next eleven months and we can keep you up to date here.It’s also the ideal place to call your attention to deadlines for things like early bird pricing, anthology submissions and author bios for the program.

Finally, this blog will be a chance for attending authors and con sponsors to talk directly to you about what they’re up to and what they plan to do at the C3 Con.This will help you know who you want to find and get to know better when you arrive in Baltimore next year.

Our greatest objective at the C3 Con is to provide a venue for readers to get up close and personal with writers, and for authors to be able to communicate directly with their fans.This blog is just an extension of that goal.

So check back here every week for the latest on the C3 conference.