Look Out, Wondercon, Here I Come!

LOOK OUT, WONDERCON, HERE I COME! On March thirty first, solely sixteen days from right now, I jet down the coast from Seattle to San Francisco to attend WonderCon. WonderCon is sort of slightly-sister convention to the mega-occasion San Diego Comic-Con, and this’ll be my first time at this annual event. Organized by the same crew that took the geek culture convention to stratospheric new heights, how bad can WonderCon be? I count on it to be awesome, and can attempt to blog and tweet my method by way of it to share my experiences. Part of the explanation for me to spend the (not insignificant) cash to get down there, keep in a resort, feed myself, and so forth is to walk the talk. I’ve informed y’all a variety of times, in a single variation or one other: Get thee to conventions. I meant that, and I’m going to WonderCon to show it. Conventions like this are nice enjoyable if all you do is show up and soak it in. If you could have a guide to sell, they’re nonetheless nice fun but with some hard but essentia l work blended in. Let’s have a look inside my conference plans, which ramp up right nowâ€"perfect timing, no? First off, why WonderCon? Well, for 3 major reasons: it’s geographically reasonably close to me, it’s placed on by individuals who know what their doing, and it appears to be a fairly large occasion that attracts in numerous people from everywhere. If you've a e-book to promote, go to whatever conference you can, starting with those inside driving distance. I broke this rule by not going to Emerald City Comicon a couple weeks in the past, however okay, whenever you stay in a metropolis that has lots of conventions you kinda can’t go to all of them. That was a lame excuse. I ought to have gone. Do not let me blow off PAX once more. Jabba the Hut and me (I’m the obese bald guy ... who’s ... standing up...) at San Diego Comic-Con Anyway, if you may get to and/or stay in a city that’s farther awayâ€"in case you have household there, or its one of those cities it†™s relatively low-cost to fly to (massive hub airports like Chicago or Atlanta, or huge vacationer towns like Vegas) get to that one. By that logic I ought to go to Chicago Comic Con as nicely. Crap. Chicago in August? The subsequent tier would be where WonderCon suits in for me. Not too distant, however a giant event. Not all conventions are created equal. In some cases you could be a larger fish in a smaller pond, as when I hit the enjoyable but modestly attended Steamcon, or a tiny fish in a massive oceanâ€"I’ll be at San Diego and E3 this summer, too. There are professionals and cons to each, so attempt to get to as many as you can. But just displaying up isn’t adequate, is it? It’s not at all times potential to engineer it, however you must do your stage finest to get on the program in some capacity. I’ve written before about convention etiquette, however earlier than you should use those abilities you must actually get to the table. I started early, emailing the progra mming people at WonderCon till I labored this onto their schedule for Saturday, April 2: 6:00-7:00 The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction: Philip Athans (Annihilation, The Watercourse Trilogy) Join former Wizards of the Coast managing editor and New York Times greatest-promoting author Philip Athans for a spirited Q&A session for aspiring writers, with recommendation from his newest e-book, The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction (Adams Media). Room 200/224 I can’t wait! I’ve accomplished a model of this at Steamcon, and I thought it went very properly. This time I’m dialing it up a notch and will have somewhat PowerPoint factor occurring in the background. At Steamcon, Seattle’s University Bookstore had a sales space and introduced some of my books to sell, and even asked me to signal their inventory after I was carried out with my seminar. I was more than pleased to do that. No one at WonderCon has contacted me about promoting books, and I can’t support my own booth, so that means I even have some work to do. Already this morning I’ve gone through the exhibitor record looking for possible vendors, and have already sent this e-mail to 3 of them: Hi, I see from their website that you guys are going to be at Wonderconâ€"me too! I’m doing a seminar at 6:00 pm on Saturday based mostly on my book The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction. Now I’m out there on the lookout for a friendly bookseller to deliver a number of copies of the guide to sell on the conference. How do I talk you into doing that? The e-book is revealed by Adams Media: /product/the-guide-to-writing-fantasy-and-science-fiction/writing It should be out there from whatever distributor you normally work with work with. Alternately, I can deliver some myself so that you can sell on consignment. For more on the book, and me, take a look at my blog at: / If you let me know in advance that the guide will be out there at your booth, I’ll start Tweeting, etc. and make sure to mention you at the seminar. See you in San Francisco! Notice that I was chatty and pleasant? I requested them to sell my books. I didn’t demand. I made no apologies for asking, bothâ€"why should I? These are people who find themselves within the enterprise of promoting books at conventions. I really solely want one of these folks to say sure. I am prepared with a variety of copies of the e-book, which I bought at a reduction from Adams, in case they want me to provide that stock. If they can order from their distributors, higher for me to not should lug them to San Francisco, however note that I am prepared to take action, and made it some extent to offer that option. Think of ways to make it simpler for people that can assist you and so they’re extra inclined to do so. If nobody responds, I’ll deliver some books anyway, and figure one thing out on the fly. Many conventions don’t like you to simply promote stuff at seminarsâ€"there are numerous rules and even laws/g ross sales tax situations, and so forth. Be as conscious of and delicate to these things as you can. I’ll perform a little research on WonderCon policies, but your greatest wager is to err on the side of warning and never sell stuff underneath the desk at conventions. Note that I’ve additionally promised to promote the sale of that guideâ€"and why wouldn’t I?â€"at my seminar and via Twitter, this weblog, and so forth. I’m on the lookout for a partner for the weekend, and I have to be keen and able to maintain up my end by driving people to that (or those) sales space(s). Those are important first steps. I have an occasion and I’m working on a retail associate. Is that every one? Nope. I signal books with R.A. Salvatore at Gen Con ... When was that? 2008? Another purpose I’m going to WonderCon is that, as evidenced by last week’s publish right right here, I’ve been drawn again into comedian guide fandom, so it logically follows that now I have the hankering’ to put in writing some. That’s right, individuals, I’m off to San Francisco, hat in hand, to try to drum up some work. To that finish, I’ll be working the ol’ contacts for the following couple weeks like . . . um, all of the analogies that come to mind are too dirty . . . like a man who desires to write down comedian books. How to do this? Well, I even have a little bit of a leg up having a pretty strong “Rolodex” (when will we stop utilizing that model name?) that includes comic guide writers, editors, and publishers, and a complete bunch of people that know them. If you’re reading this and you know I actually have your e-mail handle, now you won’t be surprised once I contact you looking for an introduction to someone else, or attempt to set up a meeting or a lunch or a groveling session. Well, I gained’t grovel. That’s unseemly. But I will pitch. So get ready for that. I also went by way of the listing of particular friends. Do I know any of those folks? Do I know any one who knows or may know any of these folks? I will exhaust all possibilities earlier than I hit the runway at SFO. Another journey via the exhibitor list. Which publishers are going to be there? I’ve received my listing all set. You by no means know who you’re going to stumble upon at a convention: Wil Wheaton and me at Book Expo America. And boy am I pleased I do not need to put on these black WotC shirts anymore. The emblem would scrape my left nipple off by the end of the first day. That's ache. Then there’s the following-degree stuff. What does this conference do this’s totally different, attention-grabbing, and worth no less than contemplating? WonderCon is doing one thing they call Comic Creator Connection. I’ve by no means heard of this before. It’s basically speed courting but designed to place writers and artists together. Now, I already know a few artists, some of whom I know you’ve heard of, however then can you ever know too many artists? I don’t think you possibly can. Am I too superior for this, too cool for college, too accomplished to speak for five minutes with some wannabe? Wow. Do not ever let me suppose that. No, I’m not too cool to fulfill people who are keen about their art. Maybe I’ll walk away with a shrug, however why go all this method to not do stuff? There, I simply talked myself into it. The Saturday session overlaps my seminar so I’ll sign up for Friday. And I’ll do that as quickly as I’m accomplished scripting this. No need to put that off, especially if there’s a hazard it might refill. I guess all this boils down to 1 word when it comes to conventions: PARTICIPATE. And that takes some planning, somewhat work, a few emails . . . but it’ll be value it. Keep an eye fixed on my Twitter feed, and the April fifth version of Fantasy Author’s Handbook to learn the way I did. And should you’re going to be thereâ€"I’ll see you in San Francisco! Be positive to put on a flower in your hair. â€"Philip A thans P.S.: As I was scripting this an e mail came through from San Diego. All the hotels are booked up and I may actually be screwed. I actually hope I don’t have to simply cancel that. Stay tuned. About Philip Athans