When we reached the Lorraine Mildred Cook Conference Center, Fox parked the van at the curb, and we ran inside.The halls were empty; the final session was about to start, and as was typical of the last day of a conference, a fair number of the attendees had left early.It didn’t matter.The person I needed to talk to was still going to be here—for a few more hours, anyway.
Sam and Frodo—I kid you not—were coming out of the ballroom as we reached it.
“Hey, they’re looking for you—” Sam started to say to me.
“Sorry,” Frodo said to the Last Picks.“You can’t go in without your badges.”
Darting past them, I said, “Keme.”
I didn’t actuallyseewhat Keme did, but behind me, Sam said, “We’re sorry!”and Fox yelled, “Into the breach!”
Which I took to mean Keme had successfully bullied his way through.
The ballroom was full.And I meanfull.Apparently the topic of traditional publishing versus indie publishing still held some interest for prospective writers, to judge by how many people from the conference were here.Graeme must have anticipated it, though, since he’d given us the ballroom rather than one of the smaller multipurpose rooms.That was the mark of a good conference organizer: they anticipated everything.
The kerfuffle behind me faded, and I hurried toward the table at the front.Margaux was already sitting there next to a weedy-looking man who, I suspected, had gone to great lengths to shine his head before today’s meeting.As I dropped into the seat next to her, Margaux gave me a scowl.
“Morning,” I said.
“It’s twelve-thirty.”
“Uh, afternoon.And sorry about yesterday.”In case she needed clarification, I added, “The whole accusing-you-of-murder thing.”
Margaux pressed her perfect nails against the table and stared out at the crowd.
A moment later, the microphone warbled as Graeme picked it up.“We’re going to get started.I’m excited to welcome you to our final session of the 2019 Northern Noir Writing Conference.We’ve got three experts on our panel today who will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the various paths to publishing—whether authors today might want to consider going indie, working with a traditional publisher, or finding a hybrid path.Dashiell Dawson Dane, author ofA Work in Progress, is an independent author.Margaux Mendez is the president of the Margaux Mendez Literary Agency.And Maximo Bonilla is head of marketing for Black Hat.Why don’t we start with—”
“Graeme,” I said.
Well,triedto say.
The feedback on my mic wasintense.
“Graeme—”
It wasn’t any better.
“You don’t have to shout,” Margaux muttered next to me.
Maximo leaned past her to say, “Hold it like you’re eating an ice cream cone.”
Which was exactly zero help because the stupid microphone was in a stand, and even if it hadn’t been, I had my doubts about the ice-cream-cone model of public speaking.
“Graeme—”
The screech of feedback cut me off again.
“We’re having a bit of technical difficulty,” Graeme said, and a polite laugh rolled through the audience.
Keme, I saw out of the corner of my eye, didnotlaugh.Keme looked like he was going to die from secondhand humiliation—he was even sinking down in his seat like someone might spontaneously recognize that he was associated with me.
(Fox, for your information, was trimming their nails.)
Giving up on the microphone, I stood and projected as best I could.“Graeme, aren’t you forgetting another path to publishing?What about small presses?”
Graeme gave me furrowed eyebrows.“That’s a good point, but unfortunately, most small presses have closed in the last ten to fifteen years—”
“Like yours?”
