CrimeFest and Other Conventions by Debbie Bennett

I've blogged in the past about conferences and conventions. I've done a fair few over the years - from the early days of the Southampton (later Winchester) Writers' Conference to the many years of attending and/or running British Fantasy Society conventions. I've been as a 'guest' to Sci-Fi Weekender, and I even once went to a Star Trek convention - purely for research, you understand?

A couple of weeks ago, I went to CrimeFest - one of the annual crime festivals around the country. Harrogate is the other biggie and I'm sure there are more. When I first booked for CrimeFest, I was a little miffed to see that they really don't recognise indie writers at all; there's one small panel featuring indie writers and to be considered for this, you have to satisfy a long string of criteria.

But conferences and conventions are not all the same. Winchester for example is very much about learning. There are talks and workshops about how to do stuff - how to create characters, how to submit to an agent, how to write a short story etc. Perfect when you are starting out and great for networking and making contacts with editors and agents (far better to start your query letter When I met you the other week, than sit at the bottom of a slush pile). FantasyCon is a eclectic mix of genre writers, editors and fans and still good for networking, but it also celebrates the small press - the anthologies and collections that make the genre community what it is. Here you can actually get to know people, drink with them in the bar and go to panels and talks on different aspects of fantasy and horror - film and tv as well as books.

Crimefest appears to be sponsored by the big boys, and exists to promote their authors to the general public. Hence it's more populated by readers and reviewers, who attend panels featuring and about their favourite authors - said authors are then available at the end of each panel to sign copies of their books which you can buy from the pop-up Waterstones, which sells only the books by the authors featured on the panels - although it was selling books by the indie authors on the one indie panel; I'm curious to know how that works. Sale or return? Or does Waterstones just skim a % off each sale? It's a slick affair and I expect it generates quite a revenue for both Waterstones and the big 6 publishers.

I've rarely been to an event like this where the attendees get their money's worth by going to every panel. There was a good selection, to be fair - lots of interesting discussions going on, but I find the most interesting discussions tend to happen in the bar, which was curiously empty during the daytime! Maybe years of running conventions and chatting to (even being friends with) a fair few mid-list authors means that I'm less impressed by seeing writers in the flesh, so to speak? Whatever the reasons, everybody seemed to be having a good time and it ran like clockwork, with no hiccups that I could see.

Now I can see how it works, I totally get it. It's a shame there wasn't much space for us indies, but it's not so much about celebrating the genre as celebrating specific authors within that genre. In that context, it works perfectly. For me, it was more an opportunity to see what's happening in the crime fiction world and see what the competition is like! Plus a chance to catch up with some good friends in a convivial atmosphere with lots of books! What's not to like?*

*that'd be trying to travel by train from Bristol to Stoke on a Sunday with engineering works, and having to get a bus from Gloucester to Birmingham, whilst realising that the curry I ate on the Friday may have had a few unwelcome bugs in it ...