I just finished up three days at Minicon 58 in the Twin Cities. Set up my table, laid out my books, sat on some panels, and talked with other authors. Made some sales. Had some conversations.
Overall, it was a great weekend. Longer thoughts to follow.
My Table
My set up is pretty decent, as you can see from the picture. The table banner looks a lot better than that rolled up poster I used to have. I think putting the free pictures under the plastic sheet really helps keep them from moving around, and putting the business cards in card holders instead of spreading them out just keeps the table clear. It just looks more orderly than previous tables.
Talking with visitors is getting better. My elevator pitch for the two Renaissance Army books is okay, or at least I feel comfortable with it. I had to work through a few iterations of the Champion Bold pitch before I found one that felt right. I’ll probably practice some more before the next event.
There are a few things I’ll want to do in the future. for starters, I’m going to need to get something vertical to hold my books up, since I’m already going to have several more books once the supplements come in, and I’m going to be adding more titles in the future. Another idea I want to do is get some reviews off Amazon and Goodreads and put them up for people to read.
And, maybe, get some cool sci-fi videos for my picture display.
The Panels
I was on three panels at Minicon: Procrastination or Preparation, A Sense of Wonder in Sci-Fi, and Dealing with Writer’s Block.
I’m not going to bore you with details about each panel. They went well. I participated in discussions, responded to questions. I still felt like the junior member of the panels, but by most standards I probably am. It’s not like imposter syndrome is going to go away just because I want it to.
If I was to acknowledge one critique, I need to work on ending my response. More than once, I would say my bit, then sort of babble for a bit. What I need to do is say my thing, and the be done.
Readings
I was scheduled for one reading, I did two.
My individual reading was Friday afternoon, and no one came. Unfortunately, it was left off the schedule by accident, one of about half a dozen events that faced such a challenge. I don’t take it personally; it happens. I ended up sitting in my room reading my eBook for half an hour.
Later Friday night, I was approached by another author. he had assembled an Indie Author Reading Buffet; a handful of authors, reading for ten to fifteen minutes, but several of the authors had dropped out, and he was looking for readers. I had a copy of Champion Bold on the cloud, so I read as part of the group. Got at least one sale out of it.
From what I gather, this may be something we see more of in the future. Groups of authors reading in panels, rather than individuals sitting in rooms. I’m hoping that will mean more chances to read: a fantasy panel, a scifi panel, etc. We’ll see how they set it up next year.
Conclusion
Was it worth it? Absolutely. I made some sales of the new book, and had a lot of people ask about Book 3, which has to be my primary project for the rest of the year. I made some contacts and opened up some opportunities over the next few months that I want to take advantage of. There may be more announcements coming in the near future.
For now, I’m recovering from the con and prepping for the next projects. Looking forward to having at least one new title for next year.
Cheers!
Michael
