Report from ScrapFest 2009

News Flash--Had to show you the project I'll be teaching people to make at Bouchercon. How cute is this? A designer at EK Success did it for us! WOW!

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Last year Paper, Scissors, Death debuted at ScrapFest, the gigantic scrapbooking event that Archivers holds annually at Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This year I was fortunate enough to be invited back to share Cut, Crop & Die at the same event. Wow, what a weekend. What a party. What a totally crazy experience.

More than 3,000 scrapbookers showed up late Thursday and stayed until Sunday. They stood in long lines to create “Make-n-Takes,” the projects that can be completed on the spot. They took classes in the open mall spaces where long rows of tables were set up. And of course, they shopped.

What a total delight it was to say, “Hi” to fans who’ve read and enjoyed my series. I was greeted with hugs, requests for photos, books to be signed and green peppers. Yep, Kathy at Archivers remembered how much I love veggies, so she brought me two green peppers from her garden. I also saw other folks from the scrapbooking community—including the adorable Julia from Bo Bunny Press, my longtime friend Joy from EK Success, and the wonderful Katey from ANW Crestwood. You know, when you’ve been in an industry for a decade, you meet a lot of people, you go through a lot of changes, and you might make a lot of detours, but you still see the same faces.

My philosophy when leaving town is to schedule multiple engagements. That way, I know I’ve spent my time and marketing dollars wisely. So I started Friday morning at ScrapFest (9am to 1pm), coffee with my Midnight Ink publisher and my publicist from 1 to 2pm, went to Barnes & Noble at MOA (2 to 5pm), then onto Uncle Edgars to sign books, and finally, dinner with my wonderful editor, Connie Hill. The next day (Saturday) started at ScrapFest again, Barnes & Noble again, and then onto Scrapbooks Too, a lovely store nearby, where I met the sweetest people. One shared her Diet Dr Pepper with me, and another gave me two beautiful cards she'd made. On Sunday, it was back to the Mall where I signed until 5pm, then left for the airport. Home at midnight. Posting this morning here and at http://www.spottedcanary.com/ where we're running a six-week long contest. You could win $500 in scrapbooking supplies and a chance to name a character in Book #3, out this coming May (National Scrapbooking Month).


I thanked Archivers in the Acknowledgements of Cut, Crop & Die for all their help and support. This year—in my upcoming book--I owe them an even larger thanks, because this year, it was more like old home week. I don’t sit down when I sign. I think it makes an author harder to approach, so by Sunday, my energy was totally flagging.

One of the Archivers staff noticed I was fading. She hustled me into their back room and fed me chili. I mean, you’ve got to love people who work as hard as they do and yet have the time and kindness to other people.

We moved a lot of books. We pressed a lot of flesh. More importantly, we solidified old relationships and build some new ones. All in all, it was a great weekend.

Rock My World--Results of a Weekend at ScrapFest

This morning at 2 a.m., I returned home from three days at ScrapFest, the nation’s largest scrapbooking get-together which is held yearly in Minneapolis at Mall of America. The sponsor is Archivers, and they kindly invited me to sign copies of Paper, Scissors, Death at their flagship store there in the mall. My husband David came along with, to help me sell.

And sell we did.

More than 300 copies of Paper, Scissors, Death flew out the doors! People loved the idea, loved the story of Kiki Lowenstein, loved the coupon in the back for 50 free digital prints, and the whole idea of a mystery involving an expert scrapbooker.

You know, we write in such a vacuum. An author puts her dreams, her fantasies, and a lot of her ego into her characters. The acquiring editor makes a purchase, based on her own tastes and her assessment of the market. The publisher packages the book, hoping it will capture the interest of the target readership.

But until you put your product into the hands of the readers, it's all a big crap shoot.

And this one is paying off.

How successful was our launch?

You know you’ve done something right when the “buzz” starts, and demand builds--pulling the product you formerly pushed into the marketplace. By mid-way through Day One, we had to call Midnight Ink, my publisher, to ask them to drive over more boxes of books. (Midnight Ink's home office is in Wooddale, about 25 miles from Mall of America.) We went through the same re-stocking panic on Day Two, and this time the new head of publicity at Midnight Ink drove over boxes of books. He and two friends hand carried them into the flagship store.

By Day Three, well, the buzz about my book had reached a fevered pitch. Word had spread throughout the mall, and many of the 5,000-plus scrapbookers in attendance were talking about my protagonist, Kiki Lowenstein.

How do I know this? Well, folks came in to share their enthusiam.

For example, I learned that a woman waiting in line at a make-n-take booth in the Rotunda, started reading Paper, Scissors, Death aloud to the others in line. When she quit, three women who had been listening came upstairs to the Archivers store and demanded copies because they wanted to know what happened next! Another woman bought five copies, determined to send a book to everyone on her holiday gift list. And then there was the woman who bought books on Day One and made a special point of coming by on Day Three to say, “I’m so enjoying the book. I can’t wait to tell all my friends.”

Perhaps most gratifying was the reaction from the Archivers staff members. They weren’t allowed to make purchases until the last day (Sunday/Day Three). So early on they brought me a list of who all wanted the book, and asked me if I would have enough copies to sign books for everyone on the list. (That's a photo of me with the staff. They were so great to work with!)

Immediately before David and I left to drive nine hours back home to St. Louis, the Archivers store manager Jodi announced over the public address system that folks had ten minutes to get a signed book—and a small crowd raced over to ask me to personalize their copies.

It was like a dream come true.

So here I am today, back in my little office. My dogs are snoring. David is off at work. Everything seems so normal, except…my whole world has changed.

I'm not alone anymore. Now Kiki and I have friends.