Regulars to Love is Murder are all familiar with Joe Konrath, the 2008 Local Guest of Honor. He has a vibrant, dynamic personality and a genuine drive to help others in the writing business. His very popular blog, the Newbie's Guide to Publishing, has great tips on the business side of writing - marketing, conferences and more. Joe is a patron of the Schaumburg Township District Library, so it is unusual to not find one of his Jacqueline…

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We're ready! If you wish to be considered for a position as a panelist
or moderator at our 10th annual Love is Murder Conference/Convention,
please answer our 2008 Call for panelists ASAP--deadline is 1 November 2007!

On Monday night at the Schaumburg Twp. Library, we had the pleasure of hosting YA author John Green. John won the Michael L. Printz Award for his first book in 2005 then a Printz Honor for his second in 2006. John is very funny and clearly loves teens. Groups of teens came to the program, but not because of his books or awards, which is why several librarians were there. John and his brother Hank have a Video Blog called Brotherhood 2.0 at…

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This week at Schaumburg Twp. Dist. Library we had the pleasure of listening to authors and policemen Michael Black and Dave Case talk to an audience about crime scenes. They set up a 'body' and a 'scene' and the audience helped 'process' the scene. We had about 115 in attendance. This is an enormous reponse for us for an author program, and we were thrilled with the entire event. If you have not heard these gentlemen speak at LIM, make it a point to do so. I can't believe what an excellent…

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Last year at Bouchercon, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel and got to meet fun folks like Dan Hale, who is currently Executive VP of MWA. After that meeting I joined MWA and serve on the Reads committee, which runs a national writing contest for children and teens. This has been a great experience, and further led me to get to know the Midwest Chapter of MWA. This group is now a partner of Love is Murder, as of last year.

The…

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In last week's issue of the Love is Murder e-news, there was discussion of the Loveys. If you've been to LIM, you know that these awards are voted on by attendees and the winners are announced on Saturday night at the wonderful dinner, which over 300 people attended. Someone wrote in Crimespree that they questioned the purpose of the Loveys, and the LIM Board responded. See below.

Librarians - and publishers love awards. Do they guarantee that a book will sell thousands of copies…

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We had a fabulous teen author, Jack Gantos, at the Schaumburg Twp. Library not too long ago. He is class personified as well as funny, a very skilled writer for different ages, and an artist. On the days we took him to the high schools and grade schools, he got up at 3:30 to do his writing for the day. Yes, I mean A.M.

I know I do not have that kind of discipline, yet I handle many freelance projects and my library deadlines professionally. I suppose I am then the type of person who…

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Hello -

I'm Amy Alessio, the Teen Coordinator of the Schaumburg Twp. Library and a writer. I've been lucky enough to be a panelist the past two years at LIM and was a participant before that. I'm going to be blogging about writing, mysteries and more over the next few months to help tide us all over until the big event. I look forward to good discussions and comments on this blog!

Obviously, in addition to my own pleasure reading of mysteries and non-fiction, I read a great…

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There's been some discussion on various writers's forums and blogs

about certain conferences only allowing writers who are on certain

"approved publishers" lists to sell their books or participate in

conference panels or presentations.



This is unfortunate, because when a conference limits participation, that conference, in many ways,

can do a disservice to the reading and writing community. There is

simply no way that fewer choices can be better.



So… Continue