Air Cap Day 2

Well, I was hoping that Sunday's outing at Air Capital Comic-Con would be as good, if not better, than Saturday's. And I was not disappointed.

Actually had more books sold Sunday than Saturday (by one book). Sold 23 books total, which was my best outing of the year. Surprising even myself, I had two people who ended up buying the whole 4-book series. But even so, I sold more copies of Heroes Die Young than anything.

So, Air Cap is now completed, and I look forward to returning next year. My next event is scheduled in February, unless something pops up between now and then.

In the meantime, if you didn't get around to catching me at this event, all of my titles are available at Amazon.

Air Cap Day 1

Sorry for the delay between posts (another post for another day). I'm trying to make a concerted effort to post more frequently, so we'll see how things go.

Yesterday was the first day of Air Capitol Comic-Con, and it was a blast. Always enjoy myself at this local (to me) convention. People really go all out on their costumes, and have a good time. Sales were fairly good, although most came in sporadic bursts through the day.

I always enjoy talking with folks about my books, although many times the conversation is rather formulaic. It seems to me that back in the days when I was first getting started, more people would ask questions like "How do you come up with ideas for your books?" or "How long does it take to write one?" But now, most are content to just glance over the covers, or sometimes pick one up and read the back blurb.

Perhaps this is indicative of our culture in general. My guess on this particular convention is that people just don't have a lot of time, and are trying to cram as much into a single day as possible. And that means not taking time to 'stop and smell the roses,' so to speak.

Or they just don't really find my books (or me) that interesting...

The jury is still out.

Air Cap Recap

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth at this past weekend's Air Cap Comic-Con. Really enjoyed myself, and so did my table partner, Candice Gilmer. I especially appreciate all the love that was given to the first in my Aston West series, Heroes Die Young! Thank you all!

Air Cap Comic-Con

Had a great time at Air Cap Comic-Con in Wichita, Kansas yesterday. Looking forward to another great day today. If you can't make it out to the event this weekend, you can still pick up copies of my books over on Amazon. Enjoy!

ConQuest 45 Recap

Just returned from another installment of ConQuest up in Kansas City. Had a fun time, even though for some reason, my name was left off the list of panelists this year (hopefully that gets corrected next year). Once more, I shared table space with Patrick Stutzman and had a good time at it. I would have preferred to have more sales, but every little bit helps. Granted, last year's event was well attended because of its attendees, so this year's had a lot fewer attendees. (Side note: George R. R. Martin is listed as editor guest of honor for next year, so hopefully that leads to a boost in sales)


Friday night, I attended a room party, where they were selling copies of the Raygun Chronicles anthology (in which I have a short story included). Great news was that over two dozen copies were brought in and all of them sold out. Thanks to everyone who bought a copy! (and if you haven't bought a copy, click the cover below to get one of your very own)

In a couple of weeks (June 7), I'll be attending the annual Author Extravaganza at Town Crier Books in Emporia. Hope to see everyone there!

ConDFW Recap

Well, I've returned from my annual pilgrimage to Dallas for ConDFW...

Had a great time, with just the right mix of panels and dealer table time. This year seemed especially productive in the sales department, with more sales this year than all of the other years I've attended. I also sold out of two of my books, which is also a first for me. It seemed to me like the traffic flowing through the dealer's room had increased, but others seemed to think it was down.

I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to sell some of my friends' books, as I used to be able to do that in my sleep. It may be that I just need to practice the elevator speech for those titles.

Panels were good (although I'm not sure how I didn't get tossed on the panel about writing sequels...), and met a couple of new (to me) writers through the process, both of whom are published with some of the larger houses. Decided to go and check out their work on my Nook, so I'll report back once I'm finished...

 

All in all, I had a great time and looking forward to next year.

ConQuest Recap

This past weekend, I attended ConQuest 44 in Kansas City. This is my third year at the event, and the first I've been on a few panels. This was, however, the first year at its new location, across the highway from The K (home stadium of the Royals). I enjoyed the hotel, though I think that its integrated water park may have been the source of severe mold problems in certain areas of the hotel.

All in all, I had a great time. Attendance seemed to be up this year (most likely due to the presence of Game of Thrones author George R R Martin) over last, about double. Panels were interesting, ranging from a discussion of world building to one on anti-heroes (like good ol' Aston). I also had a reading with my dealer room tablemate, Patrick Stutzman (pictured below). Attendance was a bit low at this reading, but I've actually had fewer folks show for other readings I've done, so...

Sales were actually high. I can confirm that I sold more books this past weekend than I had at the other two years I've attended. I'd venture to say (would take too long to confirm for sure) that I actually sold more books than I had at any other convention I've attended since Heroes Die Young came out in 2008.

I do believe Martin's attendance (though not listed as a guest of honor, surprisingly) boosted the attendance, which helped sales, but a few other notes:

- Series help sales when you make repeat apperances. I had several sales where people remembered me from previous years, had purchased my first book (or my first and second), enjoyed them and wanted to buy the rest.

- People like free stuff more than a sales pitch. When talking up my books, I'm usually a good judge of when people aren't interested. However, this year I had the added benefit of having Seeker available for free most everywhere. When I gave out bookmarks for this one, and informed them of it being free, attitudes certainly changed. Time will tell whether this leads to sales of my other books, but I think it's a good start (and can only be better than having a person leave the table with no inclination toward checking out my work).

- The curse of the introvert. I tend to be introverted, but have conditioned myself to be able to talk with people one-on-one when it comes to selling my books. Panels, however, are still a frightening experience for me. I did have some good points, but I constantly had to think through what I was going to say, which had one moderator calling on me because he thought they were skipping over me. At one point, I think I may have sparked some fire in the crowd, though, because one of my comments tended to get some rather vehement responses...but one of the folks involved came by and bought a book, so guess it wasn't a problem.

- Ensure a sufficient supply of books on hand. Patrick actually sold out of his first book in his series, and still had some of the second book remaining (which with a series, is difficult to do). Myself, I did have just enough of my series novels (the first and second books nearly selling out), but I did end up selling out of The Cure before the end of the convention. 

Like I said, I enjoyed my time this year, and am looking forward to attending next year. My next event is only in a couple of weeks, up in Emporia, Kansas. I've made sure to order some extra copies of the necessary titles, so here's hoping that I'll be able to build on the success here, and sell out of everything then as well.