The Poisoned Pen mystery bookstore and Poisoned Pen Press, will co-host the world's first virtual mystery and crime writing convention on October 24 2009. Publishers, editors, writers, and fans, will get together online to meet and mingle live on video, by audio and via text, online in a virtual environment.
All the Benefits With None of the Expense
Mystery fans will already be aware of conventions such as Bouchercon, which bring together everyone who is anyone in the world of mystery and crime writing. However, attending such conferences can be an expensive business, with air fares, hotel expenses, plus subscription fees to be a part of the event.
Poisoned Pen's WebCon will allow fans to participate in live interactive discussions, attend author panels, watch on-demand videos and audio presentations, as well as have access to exclusive articles, book trailers, and other interactive web-based events.
Participants can attend from the comfort of their own homes meaning no travel or hotel expenses. And the nominal fee of 25 US dollars, includes a 20 US dollar voucher for Poisoned Pen's bookstore, as well as a goodie bag of E-books (with all profits to be donated to a library drawn from a list made up by attendees).
Poisoned Pen – a Force in the Mystery World
Barbara Peters founded The Poisoned Pen -– a mystery bookstore and more, in 1989, and together with her husband, Robert Rosenwald and daughter Susan Malling, founded Poisoned Pen Press – publishing excellence in mystery in 1997. Peters and Rosenwald were joint recipients in 2008 of the Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award as recognition for their contribution to the world of mystery and crime writing.
They had the idea to host the virtual mystery convention to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Poisoned Pen bookstore. Rosenwald said of the idea: “Traditional mystery conventions are as popular as ever. The Poisoned Pen WebCon will let us extend our reach and satisfy an even larger audience. This online format will let us bring together mystery fans, authors, and editors from opposite ends of the world to collaborate, interact, and discuss all things related to mystery writing and publishing.”
Barbara Peters added: “This event has been 20 years in the making. I don’t want to say that we had this idea 20 years ago, but we are always looking for ways to serve mystery fans and support mystery writers. Those are the interactions that drive us, and now we are making those interactions interactive.”
The Poisoned Pen WebCon Guest of Honor will be author Dana Stabenow, whose A Night Too Dark is the 17th title in the Kate Shugak mystery series. The International Guest of Honor will be Lee Child, the author of the Jack Reacher series, which was recently cited as the best-selling mystery series in the world by The Daily Telegraph.
Find out more about Poisoned Pen's WebCon here
 |
