I have a busy summer in front of me.  The good news is that it includes attending two great conferences: the Southern Christian Writers Conference (SCWC) and the Faith and Fiction Retreat.

Southern Christian Writers Conference (SCWC) is a local conference for me, as it’s held at the First Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  It starts at 11am on Friday, June 12 and ends around 4pm on Saturday, June 13.  The conference cost, including meals, is only $100.  The keynote speakers are Cecil Murphy and Vanessa Davis Griggs, people I know.

I met Cec years ago at a conference on St. Simons Island.  It was during his workshop session that I began developing the idea for what became The Amen Sisters.  In fact, I wrote the first draft of the article, Helping a Friend through the Trauma of Leaving an Abusive Church, during his session.  I respect him as a writer and teacher and look forward to his message.

I met Vanessa a couple of years ago but it feels as though I’ve known her longer. She’s one of the most encouraging and loving people I know, in addition to being a wonderful writer.  Her keynote is bound to inspire as well as teach. I look forward to it as well.

You can find out more about the Southern Christian Writers Conference (SCWC) here.

The Faith and Fiction Retreat will be my getaway for the summer.  It will be held in Orlando on July 16-19. Patricia Woodside has an excellent recap of last year’s event here.  This year, I’ll be a featured author alongside ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Tia McCollors and Tiffany Warren.

The schedule for the Retreat is jam-packed with sessions for readers and bookclubs and sessions for aspiring and established authors.  I’m especially looking forward to the late night book discussions with the featured authors.  That should be a lot of fun.

The Retreat is reasonably priced at $119. Actually, that price is a steal when you look at the agenda.  The hotel starts at $139 a night, not a bad price for the location especially if you share.  If you don’t have a sharing buddy, just let the conference organizers know and they’ll hook you up.

You can find out more about the Faith and Fiction Retreat here.  I hope to see you there!

NOTE: That picture has nothing to do with the Retreat.  It’s me and my mom in New Zealand several years ago.  I’ve given up on trying to find pictures that match the content of the post.  From now on, I’ll just share pictures that tell you something about me.

If you live in the Bowling Green, KY area, I invite you attend the Southern Kentucky Bookfest this Saturday, April 18, at the Sloan Convention Center in Bowling Green.  It’s an all-day event that is FREE to the public.  There are over 150 authors and illustrators on the program, including Kevin Clash, aka Elmo!  In additon to more than 25 author panels, there will be a host of activities for children.  You can see/download the full program HERE.

I hope to see you there. It looks like we’ll have a good time!

I met with the Imani Book Club in Montgomery way back on September 27, 2008.  These ladies know they can dissect a book, but do you know what they do even better than that?  These ladies can throw down in the kitchen!  I thought I was at my momma’s house for a holiday meal.  You name it, they had it: Mac and cheese, green beans, ham hocks (yes, ham hocks!), chicken, salad, apple pie (or was it peach?).  All I know is that i was ALL good!

Thanks, ladies, for a wonderful discussion and a wonderful meal.

I had the honor of meeting with the Motown Review Book Club back in October 2008 when I was in  Detroit. I had great fun hearing the ladies opinions of my books and other books they were reading.  They read A LOT of books!

You can find out more about them on their myspace page and in an interview on APOOO.

Thanks, ladies of Motown, for hosting me. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get the photo up.

If you want to hear my confession, drop in at BlogginginBlack.com (now ReadersRooms.com) and read my post for Thursday, March 12.  You may yourself in need of a bit of confession. 

I’ll be back here on Friday with a new post.  Guess what?  It’s already written and scheduled.

I’m honored to be a featured author at this year’s Faith and Fiction Retreat in Orlando on July 16-19. This conference, founded and lovingly nurtured by author Tiffany Warren and her more than able assistant Kym Fisher, has an excellent reputation for being a great conference.

Other featured authors include Reshonda Tate Billingsley, Tia McCollors and Tiffany herself.  Conference events include everything from late night book discussions to book signings to panel discussions with 14 of your favorite inspirational writers to a fiery Sunday morning celebration.

Tiffany always chooses great sites for the Retreat and this year is no different.  You can come to the Retreat and then spend some play time in Orlando.  For details on registration, select here.

If you decide to attend, do let me know so that i can look for you there.  We’re going to have a great time!

I’ve been doing a few booksignings. This past weekend I had a couple.  I want to thank all the readers of this blog who showed up to spend some time with me–Sherri and Rhonda, especially folks I had only met online.   That’s you, Jennifer! 

I’ll blog later about the booksignings (and give more shout-outs) but I wanted to share something with you that was made clear to me again this weekend.

Booksignings are about people, not about books. 

If you know what I mean, give me a shout-out.  If you think I’m wrong, let me know why.

Last week (September 3-5) I participated in my first Christian Fiction Blog Alliance (CFBA) Blog Tour.  My publisher, HarperCollins, provided copies of Up Pops the Devil to somewhere around 50 - 60 CFBA reviewers who, in return, were to participate in the blog tour.  CFBA reviewers may post the generic review provided by CFBA or they can write their own personal review.  As of today, 62 CFBA reviewers have participated in the tour, with 14 of those reviewers providing personal reviews of Up Pops the Devil.

I would like to thank the reviewers who requested Up Pops the Devil for review.  A special thanks goes to the 62 who participated in the tour and my deep appreciation to the 14 who took the time to read Up Pops the Devil and provide a personal review. I apologize to those reviewers who haven’t yet received their copy of Up Pops the Devil or who received it too late to post a review during the tour.

In addition to getting Up Pops the Devil into the hands of readers who had never read me before, this tour also allowed me to get to know some new blogs and bloggers.  It’s been a great experience.  I’ve provided the list here so that you can check some of them out for yourself.  I’ll be updating the list over the coming weeks as new reviews of Up Pops the Devil are posted.

Enjoy!

50 Reviewers from CFBA List

Alexis at Ramblings From Life

Amy at My Life (with review)

Andie at frommipov

Angela at One Baby, Seven Dogs, and a Mommy

April at Projecting A (with review)

April at Living In A State Of Constant Kansas

Bonnie at Bonnie Writes

Caleb at Reviews Plus+

Camy at Camy Tang

Carol at Blogging With Carol (with review)

Carolyn at Serenity

CeeCee at Book Splurge (with review)

Cheryl at Writing Remnants (with review)

Dave at Dave Rhoades

Dave at Novel Spotlight

Deanna at Deannna’s Corner (with review)

Debra at Soul Reflections

Deena at A Peek At My Bookshelf (with review)

Delia at Gatorskunkz And Mudcats

Erin at Life Around Here

Janis at The Nearsighted Bookworm

Janna at Cornhusker Academy (with review)

Jeni at Allen Family Circus

Jennifer at So Many Books…So Little Time

Karen at Mommy of Three (up, review coming later)

Karla at Ramblin’ Roads To Everywhere (not up yet)

Kelly at A Disciple’s Steps

Kelly at Scrambled Dregs (with review and interview)

Kim at Window To My World (with review)

Kristi at Stamped With Grace

Kristinia at Loving Heart Mommy

Kristy at I Need To Read

LaShaunda at See Ya On The Net

Leah at Ponderings From My Heart

Margaret at Creative Madness (up, review may be coming)

Marilynn at Rhythms of Grace (not up yet)

Michelle at Edgy Inspirational Author (up, review coming later)

Michelle at Just A Minute (up, in the sidebar)

Michelle at Michelle’s Great Blogs

Nora at Finding Hope Through Christian Fiction

Pam at Pam’s Private Reflections (up, review coming later)

Pam at Daysong Reflections (with review)

Rachelle at Stifled Squeal

Rel at Relz Reviewz

Rulan at Fiction Showcase

Sean at Bookmark Cafe

Tabitha at 123pizza’s Weblog

Takiela at Beauty 4 Ashes

Tara at Tara’s View Of The World (with review)

Ty at CB Reviews (with review)

14 Additional CFBA Reviewers I Found

Jill at Christian Work at Home Moms

Marcia at Writer-lee

Todd at A Place Called Fiction

Diane at Spunk on a Stick’s Tip

Jenny at My Buckling Bookshelf

Ashley at Ashley - A Daughter of the King

Laura at Laura Williams’ Musings

Patricia at Readin N Writin with Patricia (with review)

Georgiana at Georgiana Daniels

Trish at Books and Book Reviews

AmyAnne at Sprightly

Carolina Chritian Writers Blog

Christy at Split Ends

Brandy at Brandy Bruce

For those of you in the Charlotte, NC area, I’ll be in your stomping ground on Saturday, August 30 at 1p at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in (or near) the SouthPark Mall.  Come by and visit with me if you have some time. I’d love to see you.

In news that I’m still trying to get my mind around, Up Pops the Devil has been chosen the November African-American Book Club Pick for Books-A-Million. This is great news as it means Up Pops the Devil will be featured prominently in all Books-A-Million stores from September 1 through November 31.

If you follow this link, you’ll see that Victoria Christopher Murray’s Too Little, Too Late and  ReShonda Tate Billingley’s The Pastor’s Wife have been recent picks.  LIterary great Richard Wright had two picks.

This is the first time one of my books has been chosen for as a book club pick for a chain bookstore so I’m very excited about it.  Be sure to drop by your local Books-A-Million and look for it.

In fact, you can be my eyes and ears.  If you send me a photo of you in a Books-A-Million store next to the book display for Up Pops the Devil as the African-American Book Club Pick, I’ll post the photo on my blog and enter you in a contest to win a $15 Books-A-Million gift card.  Three GRAND PRIZE winners will be selected from the entries.  The contest will continue through September 31 and the winners will be announced on October 15.

You may submit your entry (or entries) via e-mail to me at the address HERE or you may submit via snail mail to Angela Benson, PO Box 868643, Tuscaloosa, AL 35486-0077.

Each entry should include your name (first name or nickname is sufficient) or the name of your group, a photo of you standing near the book display with a book in hand, and the location of the Books-A-Million store where the photo is taken.  All photos become the property of Angela Benson and will be posted on my blog at angelabenson.com.

I’ll probably run the contest again in November so if you don’t win this time, you’ll have another chance in November.

NOTE: This is the second version of this post.  My computer ate the first one and I’m sure it was much better than this one.  Trust me.

Now get to clicking those cameras.  I can’t wait to see your smiling faces on this blog!

1. Harlequin is a good place to be.  They had four authors on the tour, three of whom started with Arabesque books in the mid-nineties around the time I did–Donna Hill, Rochelle Alers and Brenda Jackson.  These authors could write for any publishing house they want and they’ve chosen Harlequin.  That speaks volumes for Harlequin. 

2. HarperCollins is a good place to be.  Harper had three authors on the tour, including me.  I was the newbie beside New Yorks Times Bestseller Kimberla Lawson Roby and the perennial favorite Beverly Jenkins.  HarperCollins stepped up to the plate for us.  They hosted an online interview with us while we were on the road and they equipped Beverly with a video camera so she could record our stops.

3. New York Times Bestsellers come in all shapes and sizes.  Street lit author Wahida Clarke made the list and she’s only published three books, two of which were written while she was in prison.  Romance writer Brenda Jackson made the list and she’s published 56 books over about a 13-year period.  Women’s fiction author Kim Roby made the list and she self-published her first book.  Street lit author Vickie Stringer made the list and owns a publishing house.  Vickie also started writing while in prison.

4. Readers read across genres.  I sorta knew this but the tour drove the point home.  Readers who bought me, Victoria Christopher Murray and Marilynn Griffith also bought Vickie and Wahida as well as erotica author Allison Hobbs.  Of course, there were some readers who only wanted Wahida or Vickie, while others only wanted me, Marilynn or Victoria. Most of them though read widely though.

5. Authors are generous.  There were a lot of personal stories and business insights shared on this trip.  We talked about the pros-and-cons of being a Black Expressions main selection.  We shared tips on effective marketing and promotion.  We bought each others’ books.

6. Romance readers turn out for booksignings.  I’d guess that Brenda Jackson, Donna Hill, Rochelle Alers and Beverly Jenkins probably had the most readers visit them.  These readers had their full backlist so they’d been fans for a while. 

7. Publishing regularly and often has it benefits.  Brenda, Donna, Rochelle and Beverly are all wonderful writers but I think the fact that romance demands publishing multiple books a year comes into play in the characteristics of their readers.  These readers have gotten to know Brenda, Donna, Rochelle and Beverly through 15 years of books coming out multiple times a year (Rochelle will have 12 out next year!) so there’s a special relationship with them.  As an example, Brenda sponsors a cruise with her readers every two years.  A cruise!  Beverly Jenkins does weekend pajama parties with hers.

That’s all I can think of now. If I think of something else. I’ll start another list.

So how much of this did you already know and what was new to you?

UPDATE:  Marilynn Griffith has her list up HERE.  It’s well worth a read.