Local Guest of Honor J.A. Konrath

[Love Is Murder Conference]

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 Daniels series titles on the Staff Picks display. All readers advisory staff promote his books also. In addition to helping new writers, he is a big supporter of libraries.

A couple years ago, it was my pleasure to take one of Joe's writing classes at College of Dupage. I had seen Joe speak, and figured he was nice and funny, so this would be a fairly easy course for me to take and maybe learn something about mystery writing. I was just thinking of writing a mystery for young adults at that time. Joe the teacher is a different person - still funny, but a serious taskmaster. I realized from the first class when he said it would not be unusual to write 20 - 30 pages a week that this class was going to change my writing in a big way. That class was better than some graduate library school classes I took! I can't remember when I've learned so much - or worked so hard! (Until of course, my new class on Forensics for Writers which is still killing me!) After the class, Joe has continued to support my writing. I was lucky to have his help, and also the help of a YA librarian with my manuscript. I don't like to think about what it was like before...

I asked Joe a few questions for this blog:

What do you enjoy about Love is Murder? What do you think new writers can get from it?

LIM is a unique opportunity to pick the brains of industry pros. Meeting and mingling with agents, editors, and writers is better than a graduate course in publishing.

Why do you enjoy teaching?

No one helped me get published; I was a slush-pile success. I promised the universe that if I ever sold I book, I'd help other writers do the same.

What writing projects do you have coming up?

The fifth Jack Daniels thriller, DIRTY MARTINI, is coming out next year. So is a horror novel I wrote under a pseudonym.

You’ve done a lot of creative promotion. What is a favorite thing to do to promote your books?

The most effective thing I did was last year, visiting 618 bookstores in 29 states. But conferences are my favorite. It's great to kick back and have a few beers with fellow writers and fans. Especially if they're buying. :)

I run into folks who say you’ve helped them all the time in this business, and you’ve obviously helped me a great deal. What are some great ways published writers can mentor new ones?

The most important thing is to be accessible. People can contact me through my website, or take one of my classes, or approach me in public. My professional life is becoming increasingly busy, so I can't help as many writers as I'd like to. Plus, my to-be-read pile is stacked up to the ceiling, so I can't possibly read everything that's given to me. But I'm always willing to chit-chat and offer advice. As Tom Waits said, we're chained to the world, and we've all got to pull...