I just returned from my first Bouchercon mystery fan conference in Albany, New York. This was only my second fan conference (I attended Left Coast Crime last March in Colorado.) Fan conferences are a bit different than writers conferences in that attendees are usually published authors or fans of the genre–in this case, mystery/suspense.

A lot of big-name bestseller authors were there, for at least part of the time: Sue Grafton, Anne Perry, Tess Gerritsen, Lawrence Block–just to drop a few names.

While it’s always a thrill to see the big names we all know and love, my favorite part of these conferences is meeting the up-and-coming authors and mid-list authors that readers don’t typically hear about. They are all fascinating and talented writers who get very little attention from their publishers, and therefore have to work very hard to get noticed by readers. (To see the list of author attendees at Bouchercon this year, check out the bold names here: http://bcon2013.com/attendees/.)

It’s very noticeable at these events (and everywhere else) that the same authors who were big successes ten years ago get at least 99% of the advertising budget of their publishers, while new authors are left to navigate through the treacherous waters on their own. Frankly, it gets a little tiring (at least, to me) to hear the same names over and over again and see the same books in readers’ hands, when I know there are so many wonderful newer authors and books out in the world.

I heard many more references to old books and movies from the 1940s through the 1960s than to modern books and movies. If I hear anything about Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, or even Nancy Drew again in the near future, I may have to punch the speaker in the nose. Yes, these authors (and the character) are wonderful. Yes, they were pioneers in their fields, but they have been dead for decades and many innovative trends have occurred since then. I suspect this is because these are all the “classics” still being taught in MFA programs.

Will any book published after 1990 or–God forbid–in the 21st Century ever become a “classic”? Will new authors ever be supported again by their publishers with advertising and promotion? Or are we permanently stuck in this time warp?

Is it really any wonder that so many new authors are stampeding away from the traditional publishing system?