 A
MESSAGE FROM KILLER NASHVILLE 2007
VOLUNTEER ORGANIZER CLAY STAFFORD
Thanks for visiting
Killer Nashville 2007 online. We look
forward to meeting you in person at the
conference.
This is the second year
for Killer Nashville, which saw its premiere
in 2006.
Killer Nashville has
two overall objective categories:
curriculum and showcase.
For curriculum, we have
4 criteria:
- To
assist writers of all writing genres and
formats.
- To
develop a better understanding of the
craft of the mystery, thriller, and true
crime genres.
- To
discuss such topics as investigative
techniques, verifying crime information,
and submitting one’s manuscript for
publication.
-
To portray law enforcement and forensic
science in a fair and accurate manner.
Killer Nashville
assembles groups of individuals and experts
in all areas and makes them accessible to
attendees through workshops, seminars,
networking lunches, awards ceremonies, book
signings, and social events. In some
cases, we limit the number of attendees so
that individuals can have an intimate
setting in which they can spend quality time
exploring a subject.
Everyone has been so
supportive of our efforts that we’re...honestly...overwhelmed.
Killer Nashville 2006 received curriculum
support from FBI, TBI, ATF, Franklin Police
Department, Brentwood Police Department, and
Wilson County Sheriff’s Department.
Attendees last year included Authors,
Screenwriters, Playwrights, Filmmakers,
Fans, Attorneys, and Editors. This
year we’re
adding Agents and Publishers. We
received organizational support from
Mystery Writers of America and its
southeast region, the
Southeast Mystery Writers of America,
and numerous mentions on listserves and
member lists from various other
organizations via
volunteers who took it upon themselves
to spread the word, and volunteers who
helped with the actual event. And we
can't forget the attendees who showed up
last year. By being here, by
supporting this effort, they join the list
of co-creators. It is an event that
has been created by them and for them.
Last year, our first
year, we had around 115 in attendance.
These attendees came from nine different
states, and as far away as New York and
California.
In our second year it
appears as though we are going to increase
our attendance by more than 50%, which has
allowed us to expand our programming by
tripling our number of programming hours to
keep in tune with our objectives for a more
intimate environment.
Killer Nashville loves
authors and their books and this brings us
to our second overall objective:
showcase.
We make every
effort to give each author who attends
Killer Nashville a platform to:
- sell his/her books,
- sign his/her books,
- network with other
writers,
- and talk about
his/her unique perspective on the writing
process.
In our first year, we
generated more than $3,700 worth of book
sales for our attending authors. This is an
area that Killer Nashville feels is vital
to the future success of this conference and
the careers of our writers, and we are constantly tweaking our approach to
maximize the sales and exposure of our
attending authors. Based upon data
from Bacon's Media, last year we gave
our authors potential exposure to over 74,000
television viewers, over 471,710 print
readers, and a vast audience of Internet
surfers. We got exposure for our
attendees last year in print, radio, and TV
in the United States. We successfully
publicized our authors in the British press.
And we reached out worldwide via our
Internet marketing with inquiries coming
back to us from as far away as Italy and
France.
This year, our
partnership with
Barnes & Noble in creating
an onsite bookstore throughout the run of
the conference is just one step in ensuring
that the books and authors who are
highlighted onstage are
just an arms reach from any prospective
book buyer. It is our hope that we can increase
book sales exponentially for authors on a
year-to-year basis.
To accommodate our
growth this year, Killer
Nashville is being held across the street
from where it was last year at the
Marriott Cool Springs Hotel and Convention
Center in the Franklin / Cool Springs /
Brentwood area.
Shops,
malls,
golf, and
restaurants galore are within eyesight
of the convention center while the
picturesque and historical is less than
a ten-minute drive away. And with
downtown Nashville only 15-minutes away
via Interstate 65, we feel the location has
something to offer all, including families
who might wish to accompany their
writer/author members.
We want your stay to be
a pleasant experience, and we want your
knowledge, available resources, and career
to grow. And always remember, this is
a conference created by you and for you.
Send us your ideas. Anything we can do to assist your
needs,
please do not hesitate to
contact us.
We look forward to
seeing you August 17-19, 2007.
Sincerely,
Clay Stafford
on behalf of all the team members and
volunteer supporters of Killer
Nashville 2007
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