Friday, March 01, 2013

Book Festivals and Meeting Author Friends

Last weekend I attended the second annual Book ‘Em NC. It was a wonderful time and I got to meet up with several author friends.

The big treat was meeting Carolyn Howard-Johnson, the Frugal Book Promoter herself!

I’ve known Carolyn for years through our online connections, but this was our first opportunity to meet in person. She is THE book promoting expert, with numerous books, websites, seminars, and media appearances. Carolyn was also gracious enough to supply a blurb for How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now! -

“She gives an unbiased take on the advantages and disadvantages of traditional publishing and self-publishing and publishing paths that combine the two… It's the perfect book for those who want an overview to begin the decision-making process.”
- Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning series of how-to books for writers

Here we are with author Linda Morelli:

I also got to spend time with some other cool authors:

Author and fellow cat lover, Judy S. Walter:

Fellow NC author, Susan Whitfield:

Author, poet, and long-time friend, Denise Sutton:

Author and illustrator, Bonnie Watson:

What authors have you been hanging out with lately?


$14.95 Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-9827139-5-2
$4.99 Ebook ISBN 978-0-9827139-9-0

Purchase at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Kindle UK, and Powell’s.

39 comments:

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Looks like you ran into a lot of great people at Book 'Em! Sorry I couldn't make it this year...enjoyed last year and meeting you!

Misha Gerrick said...

None. Unless you count my grandmother. :-D

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's blurb is really good.

Unknown said...

Oh, I bet this left you so charged and inspired. What a great opportunity!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Elizabeth, I really enjoyed meeting you last year!

Julie, it was fun and inspiring.

Elise Fallson said...

This is what I wish I could do, meet other authors at book/writing events. Thanks for sharing the pics, looks like you had a great time and met some wonderful people. (:

Laura Eno said...

It looks like you had a wonderful time!

Summer Ross said...

I have yet to meet any of the fine authors I actually know. But hopefully at some point in the future that will change. Happy Friday!

Mark Means said...

Looks like a great time and thanks for the link to Carolyn's site...I'm going to check it out.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Cool you got to hang out with friends!

Anonymous said...

Great that you could meet all these amazing people. I know Carolyn Howard-Johnson but haven't visited her in a while.

And I have yet to meet any blogger in person. Maybe one day I will.

VR Barkowski said...

Wow, looks like a great time! Carolyn's books sound terrific. These days, writers have so many choices, it's important to learn everything we can.

~VR Barkowski

Gwen Gardner said...

Lucky you, Diane! I wish I could hang out with my author friends. I haven't met any face to face, but I have gotten to speak to my CP, Angela Brown, on the phone several times. It was pretty awesome.

D.G. Hudson said...

Most of my author friends are online. It's nice you got to see yours in person. Nice photos, and everyone looks very happy to be holding their books, including you.

M Pax said...

What fun! All those awesome books, and how wonderful that you got to meet friends. It would be wonderful to have a bloggyland book festival some year where we could all meet. :) Have a wonderful weekend!

Kym-n-Mark Todd said...

Diane, well, *here* is where we should have posted the comment below (which we dropped into Ciara's blog earlier this week!)


Just picked up your pub/promote book. Wished you'd pub'd it months ago. Would have saved us a lot of time if we'd read the early chapters first (and some great tips and advice there).

Fortunately for us, your later chapters on networking and promoting are just in time!

Karen Lange said...

Sounds like great fun! It's always nice to meet our online friends in person. I've had the privilege of meeting a few so far, and hope to meet many more, like you. :)

Happy weekend!

Carol Kilgore said...

Looks like you had loads of fun at the conference!

Happy Weekend :)

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Mark, she posts some great tips.

VR, it is.

Mary, that would be fun.

Kym and Mark, thank you so much. Hope you can at least benefit from the promoting part.

LD Masterson said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. That's great.

I got to finally meet in person my online buddy Maria Zannini this month. Also met author Angela Brown. We spent a few days together and had a lot of fun.

Annalisa Crawford said...

I was hanging out with Kyra Lennon last night! It's so cool you get to hang out with lots of authors. Meeting up is such fun!

Unknown said...

I'm so jealous! Sounds like a wonderful event.

Michelle Wallace said...

What a wonderful opportunity... hanging out with these authors!

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I'm so jealous. It's been months since I had a chance to hang out with other writers.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson said...

What a treat to find such a great review of Book Em, Diane. Anyone who wants to know more for next year will find it at http://bookemnc.net. p.m. terrell (no caps) makes it very easy for authors to participate.

I was absolutely stunned at how many authors I KNOW that I ran into! On the east coast! I always expect to meet lots of new authors and readers but this was amazing. Probably that was possible in good part to the way this conference PROMOTES! Ha! (-:

Diane, you know how much I enjoyed showing authors your new book. There are few on publishing that make the point (well enough) that marketing is an essential part of publishing.

Best,
Carolyn

Jo said...

Looks like a good event for all of you. Never met any authors f2f although consider a couple very good cyber friends.

JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

klahanie said...

I think that's really neat you got to hang out with some other authors. No doubt, an inspiring time for all concerned.

I've never actually hung out with an author. Although, rather strangely, a number of authors, published and aspiring, forward me manuscripts and ask my opinion. Okay, I do hang out with one author, Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar. Not only is she an author, but an established um 'pawblisher' :)

Be well and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Gary

Tammy Theriault said...

you've definitely won the book promoting author's most popular girl award!!

Anonymous said...

That's awesome. I love hanging out with authors. I'll be doing that tonight.

Trisha said...

To answer your question... Way less than you, evidently!! Great pics!

Unknown said...

How cool to hang out with author friends at a book fair. I miss going to conventions and book fairs. i haven't been able to afford to go in a while, but I'm hoping to get back into it.

Philip Verghese 'Ariel' said...

Hi Diane,
I am a bit late here,
Nice to meet all these wonderful authors and publishers and ha the wonderful illustrator too,
Keep Going
Keep Inform
Best Regards

Phil @ Philipscom
An ambassador to A to Z Challenge @ Tina's Life is Good
And My Bio-blog

Jennifer Shirk said...

Oooh, you lucky girl!


I've been hanging out with my computer. And my guinea pig. LOL

L. Diane Wolfe said...

LD, that's wonderful.

Carolyn, thank you so much again for all you've done!

Gary, Penny is a special author.

Tammy, thank you.



Carolyn Howard-Johnson said...

Just got back for my post Book 'Em fun. My mottoe. Always make conferences fun like Diane has! (-: Wanted you to know, Diane, I picked up your photos from this blog to use elsewhere. Yell, if you don't want me to do that. (As IF! Ha! )
Best,
Carolyn

Unknown said...

That is soooo awesome!! I love, love, love, meeting writerly folks.

Arlee Bird said...

Sounds like fun.

I've been meeting some local authors of late, but they haven't published much and that has been self-publishing. But I've gained some interesting insight from them. I've been particularly inspired of late by 90 year old Jack Eiden who has two massive novels near completion. The guy's enthusiasm, sense of organization, and quest to learn new things has impressed me. I've convinced him to start a blog and he is diving into the effort with great excitement about the future.

Lee
Writers Workshop
An A to Z Co-host blog

Susan Whitfield said...

Thanks alot, Diane. I look like I've been on a three-day drunk.

randi lee said...

Sounds like you had a great time and made/met some great connections!

Michael Di Gesu said...

Sorry I'm so late to the party.... What a great time you all had!

It's so awesome to meet other authors. Congrats on your new book L. Diane....