MY TAKE ON PRINTERS ROW & A NARROW ESCAPE By MORGAN MANDEL

CATCH ACME AUTHORS LINK BLOGGERS, MORGAN MANDEL AND MARGOT JUSTES, AT AUTHORFEST THIS SAT, JUNE 14,10AM-4PM - SCHAUMBURG TOWNSHIP DISTRICT LIBRARY,SCHAUMBURG,IL - ALL INVITED!

PRINTERS ROW BOOK FEST

What I liked - Browsing the books, meeting the readers, connecting with author friends and making new ones, seeing my fellow bloggers, Margot Justes and Norm Cowie, getting a chance to sell my books, the whole ambience of the Printers Row surroundings, with the quaint little shops and restaurants and the classic clock tower at Dearborn Station.


What I didn't like, but couldn't be helped - The weather!! Very hot, with violent storms arriving at inconvenient times. Saturday I made it home before the storm set in. Sunday I just got through the revolving doors at Ogilvie Transportation Centre when I heard bam,bam,bam,bam. I thought for sure we had a tornado. The long bank of windows gave a spectacular view of torrents of rain sheeting in odd configurations. Not taking chances, I rushed to the other side of the room. I heard rain pouring and wind howling, but fortunately none of it came inside.

When all had calmed down, I ventured back to the revolving doors to find them broken, with glass scattered. No tornado, but evidently a wind of such force to break the doors. I was very thankful I'd made it in right before the glass flew. Also, no one else appeared to be injured.

What are the chances the same thing could happen next year? I'll find out, because I do plan on going back to Printers Row. I wouldn't miss it.

Now back to my new computer setup - the subject of another blog. (g)
Morgan Mandel
www.morganmandel.com

Signing in the Rain

I spent the weekend with Echelon Press Publishing's authors at Printers Row enduring several extreme examples of Chicago weather. First, there was the heat ... not so bad .. but mix it up with enough humidity to drown a muskrat and it gets sticky. So you try not to get too close to the author next to you or you might end up sticking together.

Fortunately for me, on the first day, I was signing next to some lovely authors (Camile Hyytinen, Jackie Sylvan, Margot Justes, publisher Karen Syed, Luisa Buehler, Shannon Greenland).

You don't mind getting stuck with these ladies.

For these same reasons, I kept my distance from my new hero Kevin Helmold (an especially focused salesman), and especially Tim Broderick, not to mention Sam Morton, Bob Goldsborough, George Kulles, and ... uh, I think I got them all. If I missed anyone, let me know.

The next day brought more muggy stuff and then the rains. Half of Lake Michigan detoured on top of us from the skies and we took refuge under trees, umbrellas and each other (yeah, there were some tall people there ... like Sam Morton).

And I'm not going to mention the tornado that missed my house by five miles while I was in Chicago.

Oh, wait. I just did ... heh.

Anyway, I also ran into a few of my fellow Mystery Writers of America authors including Michael Black, July Hyzy, Libby Hellmann, Joe Konrath and Mary ... er, Morgan Mandel. We had a great time together and sold a ton of books. I sold out of both my Adventures of Guy titles by the end of the second morning and spent the rest of the day hawking The Heat of the Moment anthology.

One of the cool things about the Heat of the Moment was whenever I sold one I would bring the buyer around to meet all of the authors who were on hand (seven, I think?). I think they all saw it as a special treat.

I had a blast and can't wait til next year's event!

Norm

www.normcowie.com
The Adventures of Guy ... written by a guy (probably)
The Next Adventures of Guy ... more wackiness
The Heat of the Moment

Booksignings and stuff

Here's my take on author book signings:

I rarely sit at my assigned table ... unless I'm just resting from bouncing around. My way of getting someone to look at my stuff is to wander around putting a book in people's hands.

It's easier than you think.

You just stalk, er, follow someone who's browsing around for something, get into their personal space (it helps if you've showered recently), hold the book out (most people will take it) and say, "I wrote this. See the picture on the back? Yeah, that's me."

If they don't run away shrieking, I continue, "All I'm asking is that you read just one page of this. I'm going to leave you alone. No hard sell here (well, I do keep a hammer available). If you don't like it, put it down anywhere. If you do (and I point) I'll be over there signing them."

This works pretty well, and I sell most of my books at signings.

Now the thing is, your book has to be good ... every page ... for this to work.

And I hate to brag, but if you read any page of one of my books, it will most likely put a smile on your face.

And that's what it's all about. The books.

Anyway, I'll be at Printer's Row in Chicago this Saturday and Sunday (June, um... 7th and 8th? Yeah, that's it. 10am-6pm). Come on out and meet me. I'll be hanging with publisher Karen Syed and a slew of talented Echelon Press Publishing writers at the intersection of Polk and Dearborn ... next to Starbucks.

Starbucks ... woo-hoo!

(ahem, sorry)

So c'mon out and take the challenge of reading one page of one of my books ... and, if you're lucky, I'll let you buy me a White Chocolate Mocha.

See ya there, I hope.

Norm

www.normcowie.com

The Adventures of Guy ... written by a guy (probably)
The Next Adventures of Guy ... more wackiness
The Heat of the Moment