Conference Season – Ilkley

Conferences and festivals come thick and fast this time of year. Normally, April sees the Crime Writers’ Association annual conference, but it wasn’t to be held this year. As soon as we heard the news, half a dozen of us in the conference bar decided to bag the now vacant slot in the calendar. Over a couple of drinks, the Northern Symposium was born – or rather re-born as several have been held in years past. I ended up as one of the organisers and we plumped for the pleasing North Yorkshire town of Ilkley for the venue. To keep costs down it would be a day conference, but around two dozen delegates decided to make a weekend of it which brought a very jolly vibe to the occasion.

Most of you reading this will not be members of the CWA, and we deliberately made the event members only, running it under the auspices of the Northern Chapter. However, the symposium concentrated on career development for writers, whether old hands or just embarking on their career, which should be of wide interest.

Aspiring writers may look with awe at those of us with ten or twenty books in print, but writing is not an easy process at any stage. What are termed ‘mid-listers’ with respectable backlists can suffer from publishers or agents losing interest, their books no longer matching the current trend, or the structure of the modern publishing scene shifting from what was the norm 10 or 20 years ago. We know that it is no longer the case that a book that deserves to be published must eventually find a publisher.

A leading editor and an agent in conversation addressed a variety of questions from the audience, considering what was in demand on the crime writer’s scene; in particular how the established author can compete against ‘exciting new voices’ who seem to be the ones grabbing the headlines in the book review pages. Some worried that chances of having their latest book published might be affected by disappointing previous sales, or a long back-list that had gone out of style. The answer was that an outstanding book will be judged on its own merit, not by what the author had done before. (I’ve not named our excellent participants so they are not bombarded with new queries as they already have overflowing slush piles).

We also considered marketing, the elephant in the room for many authors who are with small presses with little marketing budget or with bigger publishers who concentrate their promotional efforts on a few books they think will be bestsellers. PR specialist Anna Caig says a key factor is to develop your brand as an author, and carry this across your various platforms. A website is essential, and the importance of the newsletter continues to be stressed. With social media the advice is to find one or two channels you are comfortable with and develop them well.

This continued into a presentation on successful self-publishing, led by Alison Morton, author of the Roma Nova series. Self-publishing has become an easy option but it needs to be done professionally to stand any chance of success. Writing a good book is just the starting point. It needs to be professionally edited by an experienced/qualified person, who will expect to be properly paid. Cut-price services off the internet or family friends just won’t do. The book also needs a professional cover, then needs to be set using one of the bespoke e-publishing tools such as Atticus. And then the elephant rears its trunk again – marketing! All the tools in the box need to come into play to make the self-published book sell. Not every writer is comfortable with all the work and up front expense required, but without it a self-published book will likely vanish among the tens of thousands that appear each year.

As crime writers we also like a bit of murder and gore at our conventions, especially hearing about real-life cases to inspire our plots or correct misapprehensions about police work. Retired detective Roger A Price, himself now a crime writer, gave a presentation on undercover police work and his involvement in major crimes. Coroner’s Assistant and author of The Real CSI, Kate Bendelow bust a number of myths about forensic work at crime scenes. These are perpetuated by TV dramas and movies where attention to detail is thrown out in pursuit of a story. You may be disappointed to learn that the outline of a dead body is NEVER marked in chalk.

As with many conventions the high point is mixing and mingling with fellow authors, catching up on news and sharing experiences. Being a writer can be a lonely existence, so fifty of us coming together at a weekend in a convivial atmosphere lets us know we are not alone.

You can find out more about the Crime Writers’ Association on its website, and also the allied Crime Readers’ Association which is free to join and open to any member of the public.