by Julie, enjoying stunning weather in Somerville
Last Friday night Sherry Harris and I met up in Mechanicsburg, PA. Spa weekend? Writing retreat? Research adventure?
No, none of those, dear friends. We were going to Cozy-Con on Saturday.
Cozy-Cons are put on by our publisher, Kensington in different regions around the country. Saturday’s was the first such meet-up in a couple of years, but we came out of the gate strong with eleven authors, dozens of readers, and a well planned event by publicist Larissa Ackerman.
Darcie Wildside, Maya Corrigan, Tina Kashian, Libby Klein, Lynn Cahoon
Back row from right to left:
Christin Brecher, Sherry Harris, Julia Henry, Gabby Allan, Peggy Ehrhart, Darcie Hannah
The day was a full one! There were a dozen tables, and we took turns going from table to table to talk about our books for five minutes. The room was terrific for this, and we were able to have great conversations with readers.
Then there was trivia, and signing books. And boy, did we sign! The wonderful Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop was the bookseller for the event, and they made sure our books were there, and there were plenty of them. Which was a good thing, because the people who attended were buying a lot of books.
How excited was I to see The Plot Thickets available for sale? Very! The book officially goes on sale October 25, but happily Kensington made it available for the event.
Sherry and I always love spending time together. Sherry’s thoughts on the weekend:
The Kensington Cozy Con was so much fun. Kensington, senior communications manager Larissa Ackerman, and the Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop put on a fabulous event. Getting to meet readers I’ve only met online, seeing friends, and meeting so many new readers who love mysteries as much as I do was a thrill. We did two rounds of speed dating where we went from table to table and had five minutes to talk about our books. There was also a fun trivia game. Along with time to buy and sign books. The icing on the cake was getting to spend time with Julie. We drove up Friday afternoon — Mechanicsburg is in such a pretty area and the leaves were just starting to change. That meant we got to have dinner with Julie and talk for hours. There was more talking, talking, talking, Saturday morning before and after the event. I hate the goodbyes but know I get to see Julie again at Crime Bake and I can’t wait.
Sherry Harris
All in all, a wonderful weekend with Sherry, her husband Bob, writer friends and meeting readers. Thank you to Larissa Ackerman and her team at Kensington–you throw a good party!
Readers, do you attend events like Cozy-Con? Do you enjoy meeting authors?
I love this presentation! You all look like you are having great fun. Especially I’m sending best wishes to two of you, Julie Hennrikus and Sherry Harriss, who have donated wonderful chats about Massachusetts where my home is. You guys are great.
Thank you so much Reen! Massachusetts is a great setting for all of my books.
A success all around, and I’m sorry I missed it! Larissa is the best at planning events and making sure they are well-run.
Larissa is terrific, isn’t she? So many nice touches on the day.
Would love to be able to attend Cozy-Con. However, most events are very far away from me that I don’t seem to be able to go. Hopefully some day. I would love to be able to meet up with all the great authors whose books I thoroughly enjoy.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
You are such a great supporter of so many authors, Kay. We’d love to meet you in 3D at some point. In the meantime, we always have the blog.
I’m so happy you all had such a successful event! Here’s hoping for many more of them!
They had been quiet for a while, but I hope more events are planned for 2023.
Glad you had a great event! I love the smaller cons where you really get to talk to readers.
Aren’t they the best? Add a great bookstore to support it, and you’ve got success.
This sounds like fun! I’d love to go to something similar but there aren’t any within a reasonable distance from me.
They are planning more for 2023, but it is so tough to figure out locations.
It was a thrill for me too, getting to meet two Wicked Authors in person!! What a great time! Thank you for posting about this wonderful cozy event, Julia!
It was so great to see you!
I’m so glad you guys had such a good time and the event was a such a success.
Sherry and I would have had fun no matter what, but the event being such a success was icing on the cake.
It’s killing me that I wasn’t able to attend. I live so close, but had to be out of town that weekend.I met Julie in Mechanicsburg some years ago (what a delight!) and hoped to meet Sherry, too.
I remember that–at the tea festival! I’m so sorry we didn’t see you last weekend. But that bookstore is wonderful, so who knows? Maybe we’ll meet up again at some point.
Sounds like the event was a successful one, Congratulations!
Thank you so much!
I have never attended any kind of full-on book conference. I would like to some day but if finances aren’t getting in the way, the pandemic makes sure I am not going to hang out in any kind of large grouping.
There were a couple of times I went to a specific book signing for an author and there were a lot of other authors in attendance as audience members. Once was at Brookline Booksmith. It was a dual signing for Rhys Bowen and Lucy Burdette. But also in attendance as co-moderators were Hallie Ephron and Hank Phillippi Ryan. Edith came to the event as did Julia Spencer Fleming. Oh and Bolo Books head honch Kristopher Zgorski was there as well. I also found out after the fact that a few other authors were there in the back of the room.
The other time was at the now gone New England Mobile Book Fair. Hank Phillippi Ryan was interviewing author Steven Cooper (I think). Other authors that came to the event included Hallie Ephron, Joanna Schaffhausen, Edwin Hill and Dale Phillips.
There was only one Cozy Con that I even had a chance to attend but ended up not being able to make it. Since then none of the Cozy Cons for the East Coast region have been remotely close enough.
As for the question of whether or not I enjoy meeting authors…ummm…HELL YES! I love to meet the people behind the books I enjoy so much. That’s why I’ve done it as much as possible over the last 6 years or so. The pandemic has limited me to pretty much just meeting up with Edith Maxwell a few times over the last couple of years but since it is almost always over a meal where we get to talk books and other fun topics, it has been an immense thrill for this still relatively new book nerd. And it was an even bigger thrill when my best friend Ann finally got to meet Edith a couple months back for the first time.
Jay, you are such a great supporter of authors. The nice thing about last weekend is that it was free for readers, which was terrific. The New England Mobile Bookfair hosted some great events, may it RIP. I hope that we’ll all get into the swing of more in person events next year. The Wickeds are thinking about doing a couple, so stay tuned!
It’s been 30 years since I lived in Brookline, but I sure remember the bookstore. And the NE Book Mobile was one of my favorite hangouts. Thanks for bringing back some really good memories.
Two great spots. The Brookline Booksmith is still going strong.
I had so much fun seeing you and Sherry again! Two times in the span of a month (Bouchercon and the CozyCon), I’m a lucky lady!
We’re the lucky ones! Thanks for a great event, Larissa!
Looks like a fun time was had by all. What a great concept. Kudos to Kensington!
Indeed! A wonderful event to put on for their authors and readers.
I’m so jealous. I would have loved to have been there.
I attended the last Cozy-Con they did. It was here in So Cal in November 2019. It was a blast.
It would have been fun to see you! I’ll be the So Cal one was fun, with great authors.
It looks like you had a wonderful time! I wish I had been there!
We missed you!
This was my first convention, and it was a lot of fun. Meeting Julie and Sherry was the highlight. I’m actually at the table behind Sherry wearing an orange jacket. Hope to see you next year.
It was wonderful meeting you in 3D! Thanks for coming out.
Fingers crossed for a West Coast Cozy-Con! Can’t wait to attend Boucheron in San Diego next year, but would really like to attend a cozy-centric event soon!
I love meeting authors. I was not able to attend. Thank you for sharing fabulous pictures. God bless you.
I would love to attend Cozy Con, but the likelihood of it happening in NYC is nil. I do love meeting authors and I get to do that at the reader/fan convention.