Any and All Things Cozy?

[L.Jones]

Long time multi pubbed romance and women's fic writer has accidentally stumbled on a character set up that seems perfect for a cozy mystery series. Has written one cozy - uber cozy for that matter, no bodies, no blood - as part of a long running work for hire series. All books are small town, women helping women cozy-with-snarky humor at heart types. Has no clue of "DA RULES" other than what she reads in other books.

Is thinking she may not go through her agent or even attempt print pubbing this grand experiment as she's done a lot of platform building (again by accident but still) already and her friends are saying not to bother with the old school route for a cozy because the print runs and money are not there.

Where does she start to educate herself on the dos and don'ts? Where does she connect to other cozy writers? (I have seen our local chptr of Sisters in Crime, may attend but not expecting a realistic level of help there)Are there cozy conferences or is that all folded under the mystery banner?

ANY advice on entering the fray is warming welcomed.

annie jones
DearHelenHartman.com

[BfloGal]

Generally, cozies are under the mystery banner. I do know that Malice Domestic is heavily geared toward cozies.

But were you looking for a conference where only writers-agents-editors gather to learn/network? Or a fan event that brings readers in?

And if you do find a conference geared only to cozies that I might have missed, please share.

[L.Jones]

Barbara - first I LOVE the cover and title of your book. Sounds right up my alley since I've written a lot of Insp romance, though would not go that route in my mysteries.

Thanks for the mention of Malice Domestic - I have a lot of pals who do that one.
I am just flailing around trying to get some ideas about where and how to network in the area of cozy mysteries. Have been a loooong time member of RWA until a year or so ago when I began to let go of the literary life. As anyone who has tried that can tell you, at some point it will rebound on you and suck you back in so I am trying to get pulled in the right direction.

annie
http://dearhelenhartman.blogspot.com/

[BfloGal]

Thanks, L.Jones. No, there's only a tiny market for the inspirational cozy right now, unless one of the characters happens to be Amish. (sigh) But it was a start for me.

Sisters in Crime, as you mentioned, might be the best option, especially if you have a local chapter nearby. Mine's not in driving distance, unfortunately.

Best wishes.

[HistorySleuth]

We have some very good cozy threads in the MTS area.

The All Things Cozy Discussion Thread This is a very good thread with some lively discussion on cozy elements, and links to cozy specs, authors, books, review sites ... (I'd like to see this one as a sticky and added to, just to keep it all together, since a cozy tends to have different elements than thriller/suspense/or even regular mysteries. .)

What Makes a "Cozy" Mystery Elements of a cozy and some discussion on which agents/agencies like them.

Cozies *without* recipes, craft ideas, other gimmicks A more recent one discussing cozies that don't have those things (because a lot of them of late do.)

[heyjude]

Originally Posted by HistorySleuth

(I'd like to see this one as a sticky and added to, just to keep it all together, since a cozy tends to have different elements than thriller/suspense/or even regular mysteries. .)

I put the links to those in post 14 of the definitions thread for handy reference.

[L.Jones]

Thank you so much. Will be checking out these threads and hoping to soak up info.

annie
DearHelenHartman

[HistorySleuth]

Originally Posted by heyjude

I put the links to those in post 14 of the definitions thread for handy reference.

Thank you Jude.

[cornetto]

The "All things Cozy" thread rocks.