Much will undoubtedly be written in the coming weeks of
PPWebCon, the first entirely virtual conference for mystery readers and
writers, held in cyberspace 24 October 2009. Poisoned Pen Press took advantage
of the full range of existing technologies available for the Internet (okay, a
few times it overextended those technologies) to produce a ten-hour conference
that included live and prerecorded interviews, panel discussions, and
presentations.

Registrants received goody bags, pitched ideas for novels to
editors, and chatted in the Coffee Shop. Overall, it was an amazing experience.
I cannot wait to see what Poisoned Pen does with this medium in 2010.

I participated in a text panel called "Historical
Mysteries — Do They Have Something to Say About Our Times?" with Beverle
Graves Myers moderating. Since content for my panel as well as content
for most of the rest of the conference is now available online for anyone
who didn't register, I'm not going to spend a lot of time telling you what I
saw and heard in individual sessions. But I do encourage you to explore the
PPWebCon site thoroughly.

Make sure you check out Peter May's kick-off presentation
about his research in China for his thrillers. He includes some visually
stunning footage of Chinese culture, including the making of a Chinese crepe
called a jian bing, as well as the trailer for his upcoming release, a
standalone that's set in the virtual world. Chinese on cell phones, bicycling
in the snow, practicing qigong and tai chi. Chinese propaganda delivered like
"CSI." Chinese banquet with deep-fried scorpions. Oh, my. Talk about
world building. Don't miss it.

Here are some themes I heard reiterated during my real-time
participation in PPWebCon:

• A web site is a must for every author. But authors must use
  caution with blogs and social media. The first priority of authors is to write
  and sell their next well-written book. Don't let various forms of promotion get
  in the way of that.
• Go to conferences to make friends with booksellers and other
  authors. Build a network at conferences. But don't go to gab about you, you,
  you.
• Hand selling is what sells books. Indy bookstores are
  particularly good at hand selling. But authors must realize that this process
  takes a great deal of time. So-called overnight successes have usually been
  around for a number of years.
• Don't self-publish a book unless you're an established
  author with credibility. It's almost impossible for self-published books to get
  reviews. Furthermore, most self-published books don't go through the rugged
  internal review process enforced by a publisher. This process is crucial for
  growing the author's craft.
• The ability to buy e-books from bookstores will develop as a
  competitive trend.

Later today, I'm in an author panel at the Author
Showcase, co-sponsored by Falls River Books and the North Carolina
Writers Network. I hope to see you there!