My Jet Setting Journal: Printers Row

Okay, I don’t exactly jet set, but sometimes I do get a little heavy in the foot and speed…shh that is a secret…so it feels like I am jetting. Last weekend my absolutely incredible husband and I drove to Chicago for the Printers Row Lit Fest.

First order of business. We had a giveway for a Slick eBook Reader and the lucky winner was Laura Pond. Congratulations and thanks for your support of Echelon Press.

Some of you might rememeber that last year (2010) I had some unhappy words to say about the Chicago Tribune and their treatment of Echelon Press and my authors. If you search back you can find my blog post, but don’t bother. After I posted that Blog I was contacted by a Trib employee and she told me she would do everything she could to help me out this year.

The men of Echelon hard at play!

Now, don’t get me wrong, I was in no way asking for special treatment, only for what we had already earned in the way of seniority and placement. At any rate, this little gal obviously moved heaven and earth (and after meeting her this weekend, I can see that she would be quite capable of doing so) and the organizers of the Lit Fest took pity on us and we ended up back where we had been several years prior. It was a grand location and it afforded us the opportunity to be in the direct path of tens of thousands of eager readers of all ages.

Award winning authors J.R. Turner and Luisa Buehler

2011 proved to be the 2nd most successful event in Echelon’s ten year history. Now, I’ve been hearing authors talk who are not all that keen on book fairs/festivals, well, I am here to tell you that Chicago has one of the BEST book fairs I have ever been to. This was our ninth year attending and I fully intend to keep going back. I would like to thank Amy Guth for all her help and for being so damn beautiful (and I don’t mean that to sound creepy), if you ever see her pictures, they do not do her justice. Best of all, she is an absolute delight!

I also want to thank the authors who attended this year with Echelon. Gale Borger, Luisa Buehler, Norm Cowie, Marlis Day, Robert Goldsborough, Sean Hayden, Sam Morton, J.R. Turner, Marc Vun Kannon, Claudia Whitsitt,  and Jen Wylie. Also, big thanks to our special guests, Martin Bartloff and Tami Su.

The smallest dill pickle chip I ever sawed!

Special and sincere thanks to our two helpers Shannon (Gale Borger’s daughter) and Julia (Marc Vun Kannon’s daughter). Without the two of you we would have been in a fine pickle. You are incredible young women with hearts of gold.

In closing, I just want to say again, that the people who came by our booth over the weekend were incredibly enthusiastic and eager to meet our authors. You are a tremendous group of people and we hope to see all of you next year. 

Special thanks to my absolutely, incredibly, splendiferously, wonderful husband. Goodness, how I do love you!

Authors Claudia Whitsitt and Mary Welk