Hanford Bookfest

Sunny Frazier did an outstanding job putting together the Hanford Bookfest. You never know how these book events will go. Some are okay, others are not good at all, and some turn out wonderfully well. This was in the wonderfully well category.

The venue was great--plenty of room for all the writers (nearly 40) and for people to roam without being crowded.

Though the walk-in crowd wasn't large, people did wander in on a rather steady basis. I have a feeling if this is repeated next year, there will be far more attending.

I had a great time. My spot was right between Sunny and Sue McGinty from Los Osos. Both are Sisters in Crime and members of PSWA. We got to meet two new members of PSWA while we were there.

Authors who so desired could get up and talk about whatever they wanted for 10 minutes. Of course it's the perfect time to give an elevator pitch about your book. I told a bit about what led me to writing about law enforcement subjects--both No Sanctuary and Kindred Spirits are about people in law enforcement. I ended by confessing I was a big liar when I was a kid, now I tell lies for money.

Two of my critique partners came along, Shirley Hickman, who has two published books and Lisa Duncan who isn't published yet but was inspired by her day among writers.

The good thing about bookfests is people expect to see authors with books displayed and offered for sale and they want to talk to you and find out about you and your work. Some of them may even want to buy.

It was fun to see what people had done to display their work and the enticements they had on their table to help people linger. Homemade cookies were offered as well as tangerines--and chocolate candy--always a good treat. Sunny had small boxes of raisins with labels with her book cover.

I never think to bring food, but I always have business cards and a guest book for people to put their email addresses if they'd like to receive my monthly newsletter.

Sometimes I give away one of my mass market paperbacks in the Tempe Crabtree series--but I didn't have room in my cart--nor did I bring my husband to help out.

Once again, thank you Sunny for a great day!

Marilyn a.k.a. F. M. Meredith

You can see what my table looks like in the above photo.