Category Archives: Conventions

Tricks of the Tradeshow

A lot of authors and publishing insiders talk about the importance of going to conventions — which is great. It’s a wonderful place to meet agents, editors, to sell your books directly to fans, and a lot of other great things. However, there’s another resource that tends to get overlooked. Tradeshows.

Tradeshows aren’t just for air-conditioner salesmen in bad suits, and overpriced cars and speed boats. There are multiple shows across the country throughout the year for the book business too. Except instead of it being a show for salesmen or the average reader, these shows are just for bookstore owners, event coordinators, book buyers, and librarians — the very people you need to know to make sure your book gets on the shelves.

These shows range in size. The biggest is the BEA (Book Expo America) but giant shows are pretty much out of reach of indies and hybrid authors like myself. So I’m going to focus on the smaller regional shows like the PNBA (Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association) fall tradeshow.

As you can imagine, in the Pacific Northwest there are a lot of indie bookstores and libraries, which is why this is such a great show. It’s usually two or three days in early October. The night before the show opens there’s a mixer for the attendees that’s also a massive book signing. There’s usually between fifteen to twenty authors and the books being promoted run the full gambit. There’s cookbooks, photography books, outdoor guides, YA, kids picture books, middle-grade novels, adult novels…pretty much everything. During the actual show there’s classes for the booksellers and librarians, and a sales floor for publishers and sidelines vendors, but the big attraction are the meals. During the show there’s an author breakfast, author lunch, and author dinner. At each of these meals there’s between five to eight authors and each one gets about fifteen minutes to talk about their new release while the booksellers and librarians eat a catered meal. At the end of the meal all of the booksellers and librarians get a gift bag with the books that were plugged — which is the show’s real draw.

This is the sort of show that attendees don’t fly to, they drive cross-country to it so they can fill their car with all the free books. If you think your Worldcon haul from the free table was impressive just wait till you see what is given away at book tradeshows. The last one I went to I was only able to be there one day because we were short handed at the shop, but just in that one day I came home with three large cloth shopping bags (the bags themselves were gifts from the publishers) full of ARCs (advance reader copies) and first editions! If I’d stayed through the rest of the show the book haul would have been three times that!

Herein lies the tricky part. For the regional shows like this there is an application process for indie authors to come promo their books, either at the big meals or as a vendor on the sales floor, but you can’t sell your newest book to the attendees. You have to give them away. All of the attendees come with the expectation that all of the books are free and anytime the booth staff say otherwise, it’s met with sneers. I realize that this means these shows are out of the realm of possibility for a lot of indie authors. I can’t afford to give away 500+ copies of my book. But if you can afford it, and your pitch is on point, you can make back that investment. You’re pitching directly to people who will stock, and hand sell, and promote your book to readers that may not hear about you and your work any other way.

So when you’re planning what conventions you’re going to go to, be sure to ask yourself if it’s better to spend $1,000 on hotel, airfare, and a badge for a big convention, or if it’s better to spend that on an appearance at a regional tradeshow.

Speaking of books, there’s a fantastic deal going on at StoryBundle. Their annual Epic Fantasy Bundle is currently available and this year’s selection has some great titles by R.A. Salvatore, Brandon Sanderson, Michael Stackpole, and three Fictorians! Gregory Little, Scott Eder, and myself all have novels in this bundle.

 

For $5.00 you get four DRM-free ebooks and for $15.00 you get all fifteen books! That’s a dollar a book! Plus, at checkout you have the option of donating 10% of your money to The Challenger Foundation, which helps fund science programs in schools across the country. Yay science! It’s only available until September 21st! You can buy it and even find out more about each of these titles here. You don’t want to miss out on this deal. It’s a lot of quality fiction for a small price!

Readercon

Back in 2014 was when I attended my first (and to date) only true convention: Readercon. At the time I just had crossed into the ‘serious’ phase of my fiction writing. It was now something I tried to work on every day and attending a speculative fiction writing convention seemed like a good next step.

Readercon is a Boston-area science-fiction and fantasy convention that is pretty exclusive in its focus on books as opposed to the other forms of media. It is heavily attended by regional writers and readers of the genre, and at the time was being held in Burlington Massachusetts.

So even though I had signed up of my own free will, I was pretty nervous to attend. At that point I had written a grand total of two things: a 130k word fantasy novel and a 8k short story. I had also submitted a grand total of zero things, to say nothing of being published. While I had plans to attend a writing course, that had not happened yet – so I didn’t really even feel like I knew what I was doing.  I also knew no one in the writing community.

In every sense of the word I was a neophyte. I suffered from a problem I think many new writers have: I didn’t think I ‘deserved’ to be there. Yet, I was going anyway. Getting myself to do things that make me a little nervous had certainly worked out in the past, and as I’d find it was about to work out well again.

My plan was simple, if lame:

  1. Get in
  2. Learn things
  3. Talk to no one
  4. Get out

I did learn a great deal, much more than I expected.

PANELS

The panels were lively and engaging and I learned a lot from the content. I also learned how different authors behave when they are on a panel. Some were respectful and appreciative, responding kindly to questions and were effusive in their praise of other authors. Others … were not. Both left impressions on me, teaching me what to do and what not to do.

BARCON / HALLWAYS / SELLER’S ROOM

Yes, there was a barcon. I don’t drink and I have pretty bad tinnitus so I can’t hear that well in those environments. I avoided the barcon.

I did see some authors I recognized walking the hallways, but I never approached them. I wanted to be respectful of their privacy and allow them to enjoy the Con too.

In the seller’s room though I found I had a great time. All of the authors there really wanted to talk about their books, but also their process and just speculative fiction in general. I think the big lesson I learned here was that enthusiasm sells. I bought more books from the folks who were excited to be there and excited to talk to me.

“TALK TO NO ONE”

Yeah this didn’t go so well, and that was a good thing! I was at a reading and signing (Brian Staveley and Max Gladstone) and sitting by myself and some of the other attendees just started chatting me up. They were both Viable Paradise graduates and got me to come out of my shell and talk about my writing. It was a really great experience, finally I was with people who I could talk to about my speculative fiction passions and they got it, because they had the same passions!

SUMMARY

It is worth mentioning I have not been back to Readercon since that time, nor have I attended any other conventions. This is not due to having a bad experience, but more to me moving farther north and just being too far away from the Cons I’d like to check in on. Maybe someday.

So in the end I had a great experience and I learned a lot about how I want to act in the future, both as an author and as an attendee. There’s a great community of fans, readers and writers out there – not everyone is nice but the vast majority are. I’m very glad I attended and I am sure it benefitted me greatly.

SLC Comicon – A Feast for the Eyes

SLCCC LogoSo far I’ve attended several comicons, and they are all tons of fun. I’ve been to Emerald City in Seattle twice, and loved it. I’ve traveled down to Dallas once, and my only regret is that I haven’t been able to make it back there again. Great people, and they buy hardcovers like candy.

My favorite con though is SLC comicon. Even though I live in Oregon, SLC has always worked well for my schedule. It’s usually in September, and although it’s a fair hike, the trip is always worth it.

Do I make a profit? Not yet. But I love the people we meet there, the other authors and vendors I’ve met, and the fun experiences working the Wordfire Press booth. Plus we have some family and friends in the area, so those visits are extra perks.

When I first considered going to conventions, I’ll admit I was worried. I had never attended one as a fan, so I didn’t know what to expect. And I only had one book released, so getting my own booth space didn’t make much sense.

SLCCC talking with fanThat’s why joining another group of writers or, in my case, signing up to work the WordFire Press booth, is such a good idea. I got my book on the table with a couple hundred other titles, learned how an effective booth should be run, networked with lots of other authors, and got to experience the convention without tons of up-front expense. Most importantly, working the floor is an unrivaled opportunity to meet new fans and spend a few minutes talking with them. Sean Golden already talked about Working the Floor this month in this post. He’s absolutely right. The experience can be intimidating, but is necessary for every author to understand.

The effort of working the floor is definitely a major part of a con experience, and I highly recommend very comfortable shoes because standing on that hard floor all day can be extremely painful. By the end of each day, not only were my feet hurting, but usually my legs hurt pretty badly. If you’re going to be behind the booth, definitely bring a padded mat to stand on. You’ll thank yourself for it!

Working the floor is not the only part of a con, though. You get to meet tons of great people, from other authors and artists, to fans and vendors. Then there’s the cosplay. People watching is such a fun part of any convention. The work many people put into their costumes is nothing short of amazing, and many of them are jaw-droppingly awesome. There are always a few that make you shudder, but the vast majority are impressive, and it’s fun to meet people and ask them about their favorite fandoms. Here are a few photos of my SLC comicon experience.

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And of course there are the panels. As a vendor, working a booth, it can be hard to slip away to lots of panels, but I strongly recommend making time to attend at least parts of a couple each day. Seeing authors or celebrities you admire and hearing them in person is a big thrill. Plus, for us it’s a learning experience. Pay attention to how well the moderators manage the panel, and how panelists handle the questions. Are they well prepared? Are they courteous to other panelists? Are they professional?

Frank Morin Guest imageOne major goal in attending cons is to get onto the panelist list so you can sit on panels. It’s a great way to get seen as a professional and to connect with new readers. And it’s usually a lot of fun.

I’ve been on some great panels, from “Removing Blood From a Trunk and other Google Searches that Probably Got me Added to Terrorist Watch Lists”, to “Writing Humor”, to a fun panel on Assassin’s Creed. This year, I’m sitting on a “Magic the Gathering” panel and one on Minecraft. They both should be loads of fun.

The Stats:  SLC comicon is one of the big ones.

  • Attendees – Over 125,000
  • Dates:  September 21-23, 2017
  • There’s also a second FanX con in the spring. This year it was March 24-26. Attendance was capped at 50,000 for a more exclusive experience.

 

The Unconventional Con

In Arizona we have Coppercon, Phoenix Comicon, Tucson Festival of Books, and a number of opportunities to be a small fish in a large pond paying upwards of $150 for 3 feet of booth space in the hopes of grabbing readers’ attention. I go, I love it, but I don’t always break even.  By the time I pay for lodging, my books, the con space, and my meals, my profits seem to disappear. Is it still worth it? Usually, but not always.

Last year, however, I was invited to a rather unconventional con, the Tempe Library Comicon. It was small, just covering the back lawn behind the library, but it was well attended for a community event. People came in costume, just like any other convention, and unlike most outdoor events in Arizona, since this was in early February, it wasn’t even hot. Well, not too hot. I didn’t sell many books, but I did make a profit. As an invited guest, I didn’t have to pay for my space, I brought my own table, and I even managed a sack lunch. Since it was only one day long, there was no lodging to worry about and I was home for dinner.  Was it worth my time? I don’t know, but it was nice to be able to relax and just interact with other people who love to read without worrying about whether or not I’d sell enough to pay for my booth.

So, when you consider your conventions this year, you might want to spread your net just a little wider. Enjoy the comicons and regional cons, but keep an eye out for the occasional unconventional con. You might be surprised at how much fun you can have in a less-stress, small-attendance environment.

Have a great day, a great year, and con on my fellow readers, writers, and fans!

Colette Black Bio:
Author PicColette Black lives in the far outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona with her family, 2 dogs, a mischievous cat and the occasional unwanted scorpion.  She loves learning new things, vacations, and the color purple. She writes New Adult and Young Adult sci-fi and fantasy novels with kick-butt characters, lots of action, and always a touch of romance. Find her at www.coletteblack.net