Sunday, February 08, 2004
LOVE IS MURDER mystery conference report
Friday I was in a state, as I've already mentioned. Really tense, nervous and edgy. Shouldn't have been posting.
Turned out I shouldn't have been so worried: The pitch meeting that afternoon was just fine - the agent who donated her time was SOOO nice, everyone scheduled to see her was nervous as all get out, but she set us all at ease. And she did it while being honest and realistic.
I was really encouraged by her response: Five years ago a graphic novel proposal probably wouldn't have been a good idea, but now things have changed and there might be some interest. It is a different project for her and her agency, but she invited me to email some details.
And that was great! I really approached this weekend as a learning experience. The fact that she and a lot of other people were receptive to the idea of a mystery told as a graphic novel, for mystery readers, fullfilled my expectations and then some.
Afterwards had cocktails - well, I had beer - with various people, including Tom Keevers, first-time author of Music Across the Wall. I opted to head home early on Friday night - and missed the 3 a.m. partying.
But that was cool - I made it bright and early and to the panel I was on at 9 a.m. Everyone else was there to talk about POD, I talked about the Moderntales web model - people were interested.
It was during the agent panel right afterward that I learned agents want to see a manuscript not a POD book. Not that it's good or bad either way, but for their purposes a manuscript makes sense. Good thing I didn't offer it the day before, and so I started giving the POD book away. First person was David Morrell, creator of Rambo among others. I just walked up, shook his hand and asked if I could give him something. He said sure - didn't care in the least!
Had lunch with a few people, including the amazing Robert Walker, and watched Warren Murphy (creator of Remo Williams, “inspired” the characters in the Lethal Weapons movies and tons of other stuff!) get a lifetime achievement award. After that I hit a few more panels and prepped for my second pitch meeting with an editor from a publishing house.
Holy cow, did that go well! It seems they're VERY interested in graphic novels, but are developing one in a standard paperback size to be placed on the Science Fiction shelves. Hey wait, does THAT sound familiar? I couldn't believe it - she was trying to explain that they weren't interested in Trade Paperback-sized books and I showed her Odd Jobs. It was SO cool!
Again, I don't know if either the agent or the publisher will be interested in Odd Jobs specifically, but I walked out of there reassured that I was on the right track - targeting mystery readers with a book-sized graphic novel for the mystery shelves. And this editor had been honest and direct with people: I was told she stopped people in mid-pitch and gave them facts they probably didn't want to hear. With me, she said it was too early - a year or more. But hey! Being ahead of the curve is not a problem! I felt a huge load of stress melt from my shoulders - and I feel inspired to continue writing and drawing for some time to come!
With that, I hit the bar and saw J.A. Konrath and his lovely and patient wife Maria. When I bought a round for the people sitting at the bar, turns out I bought drinks for some good folks who were there to attend theGrand Unification 3, an informal but cool party that drew F. Paul Wilson fans from as far as London. FPW is the author of tons of books and thrillers and creator of Repairman Jack. They invited me to their get together, later that night, which turned out to be THE place to be on Saturday night.
But first, dinner and the keynote speech by Walter Mosley. Just before the speech, they told everyone to pick up their coffee cups and if you had a dot on the bottom to walk up. Everyone who did got a pre-publication copy of the next Easy Rawlins book: Little Scarlet! Yes, it's signed! Yes, I gave him my book too!
After the terrific speech, I stole away to the the FPW party. The Konraths were there, Walker showed up later. Somehow I became the "official" photographer for Grand Unification 3, here's some of my work
So we're drinking and talking and stuff and in comes Warren Murphy! A bunch of us stayed up till 1:30 a.m. talking (I was up talking to Warren Murphy about golf and literature! How cool is that!) At the end of the evening, gave him the book. (How freaking cool is that!)
I know I'm not mentioning some people, I'll try to later - there were just so many very cool people doing very cool things.
Now it's Sunday night, I need to get tomorrow's page drawn and posted, but I still feel a high - the possibilities are there, the future is bright. We'll see what happens...
Tell me what you think?
Friday I was in a state, as I've already mentioned. Really tense, nervous and edgy. Shouldn't have been posting.
Turned out I shouldn't have been so worried: The pitch meeting that afternoon was just fine - the agent who donated her time was SOOO nice, everyone scheduled to see her was nervous as all get out, but she set us all at ease. And she did it while being honest and realistic.
I was really encouraged by her response: Five years ago a graphic novel proposal probably wouldn't have been a good idea, but now things have changed and there might be some interest. It is a different project for her and her agency, but she invited me to email some details.
And that was great! I really approached this weekend as a learning experience. The fact that she and a lot of other people were receptive to the idea of a mystery told as a graphic novel, for mystery readers, fullfilled my expectations and then some.
Afterwards had cocktails - well, I had beer - with various people, including Tom Keevers, first-time author of Music Across the Wall. I opted to head home early on Friday night - and missed the 3 a.m. partying.
But that was cool - I made it bright and early and to the panel I was on at 9 a.m. Everyone else was there to talk about POD, I talked about the Moderntales web model - people were interested.
It was during the agent panel right afterward that I learned agents want to see a manuscript not a POD book. Not that it's good or bad either way, but for their purposes a manuscript makes sense. Good thing I didn't offer it the day before, and so I started giving the POD book away. First person was David Morrell, creator of Rambo among others. I just walked up, shook his hand and asked if I could give him something. He said sure - didn't care in the least!
Had lunch with a few people, including the amazing Robert Walker, and watched Warren Murphy (creator of Remo Williams, “inspired” the characters in the Lethal Weapons movies and tons of other stuff!) get a lifetime achievement award. After that I hit a few more panels and prepped for my second pitch meeting with an editor from a publishing house.
Holy cow, did that go well! It seems they're VERY interested in graphic novels, but are developing one in a standard paperback size to be placed on the Science Fiction shelves. Hey wait, does THAT sound familiar? I couldn't believe it - she was trying to explain that they weren't interested in Trade Paperback-sized books and I showed her Odd Jobs. It was SO cool!
Again, I don't know if either the agent or the publisher will be interested in Odd Jobs specifically, but I walked out of there reassured that I was on the right track - targeting mystery readers with a book-sized graphic novel for the mystery shelves. And this editor had been honest and direct with people: I was told she stopped people in mid-pitch and gave them facts they probably didn't want to hear. With me, she said it was too early - a year or more. But hey! Being ahead of the curve is not a problem! I felt a huge load of stress melt from my shoulders - and I feel inspired to continue writing and drawing for some time to come!
With that, I hit the bar and saw J.A. Konrath and his lovely and patient wife Maria. When I bought a round for the people sitting at the bar, turns out I bought drinks for some good folks who were there to attend theGrand Unification 3, an informal but cool party that drew F. Paul Wilson fans from as far as London. FPW is the author of tons of books and thrillers and creator of Repairman Jack. They invited me to their get together, later that night, which turned out to be THE place to be on Saturday night.
But first, dinner and the keynote speech by Walter Mosley. Just before the speech, they told everyone to pick up their coffee cups and if you had a dot on the bottom to walk up. Everyone who did got a pre-publication copy of the next Easy Rawlins book: Little Scarlet! Yes, it's signed! Yes, I gave him my book too!
After the terrific speech, I stole away to the the FPW party. The Konraths were there, Walker showed up later. Somehow I became the "official" photographer for Grand Unification 3, here's some of my work
So we're drinking and talking and stuff and in comes Warren Murphy! A bunch of us stayed up till 1:30 a.m. talking (I was up talking to Warren Murphy about golf and literature! How cool is that!) At the end of the evening, gave him the book. (How freaking cool is that!)
I know I'm not mentioning some people, I'll try to later - there were just so many very cool people doing very cool things.
Now it's Sunday night, I need to get tomorrow's page drawn and posted, but I still feel a high - the possibilities are there, the future is bright. We'll see what happens...
Tell me what you think?
Boy, can you tell from my previous posts that I was stressing out about this conference? I don't think they're that bad, and I won't go back and change them in anyway because I think that would be dishonest. So I'll just reiterate - I going to agree to disagree with Dirk - I really like the work he does and hope my tone wasn't too compative. I'm just passionate about the model I'm following. And I was freaking stressed getting materials together for the conference.
And speaking of graphic novels in the mystery field, the conference was GREAT. Everyone was completely receptive. You will NOT believe the cool guests I got to hang out with, nor will you believe who I gave Something To Build Upon to! But I did! And you'll have to wait till later to find out who!
Plus, agents and editors are the NICEST PEOPLE!
And speaking of graphic novels in the mystery field, the conference was GREAT. Everyone was completely receptive. You will NOT believe the cool guests I got to hang out with, nor will you believe who I gave Something To Build Upon to! But I did! And you'll have to wait till later to find out who!
Plus, agents and editors are the NICEST PEOPLE!
