Book Festivals Rock!

By: Karen Syed.

Well, I am a couple days ate on my follow up to the Virginia Festival of the Book 2009.

Where to begin. Katie Hartlove and I drove in on Friday night so we would be fresh as spring daisies on Saturday morning. I have to tell you, I was not as fresh as I would have liked to have been, but we made it to the Omni a bit early and what to our wondering eye should appear, but Martin Bartloff. Martin is one of Echelon's upcoming authors and he is a prince among frogs. And if Martin wasn't enough, he brought his son Dean, Dean's best girl, Heather, and the Super Seth! We had a full crew, which is good since I'm not supposed to be lifting anything.

Martin and Seth helped us set up our tables and get things ready to go and at 9:00 a.m. I sold my first set of books. The day stayed pretty steady from that point on.

As usual, the most popular books on the table was The Grace Marsden Mystery series. I always sell more of The Rosary Bride than any other book at an event.

These types of events are AWESOME for networking. I ran into many old friends. I grazed by Tasha Alexander several times as she rushed from one place to another-very busy author of A FATAL WALTZ. I saw the delightfully handsome Andrew Grant, author of the upcoming EVEN
.

I got to hang out with Gayle Trent and her great kids. What a couple of smarties! They hung out with me for a while, gave me some tips on reaching young readers, and what not to do as an adult. Seems I make a lot of mistakes as an adult.

One of the day's highlights was hanging out with Nikki Leigh, the author of BOOK PROMO 101. If you are an author and you don't read Nikki's books, shame on you! She is about as smart and savvy as they come.

All in all, this was a great event. We sold books, we saw friends, I got a little mini interview done with Gayle, and did I mention we sold books?

I think my favorite part was getting to talk to people. People often ask why I keep going to events when my health is so bad. I don't plan to die any time soon, but I want to make certain that I enjoy every single day of my life, and outside of my husband, selling I love selling books and chatting with readers more than anything. It's what I do.

So, if you are ever at a book festival or conference that I am at, don't miss your chance to talk with me. I really am a hoot. Ask anyone who knows me. I am fun, cute as a button, and charming as can be. heehee See for yourself.

On March 27-28, 2009, I will be in Allentown, PA at THE WRITE STUFF Conference. This is my second time at this one, and while it is small and cozy, it packs a real punch!