Katharina Gerlach's Blog, page 13

Cosplayer Two

The rear entrance hall seemed to be a point where cosplayers met because there were so many of them.

This is what you waited for, right?

The first Cosplayers I found were busy doing things. Later, I found several who actually posed for me. Enjoy the costumes and feel free to share. The boys and girls put so much effort into their costumes that they’re quite happy to share them with the world.

Impressions from Leipzig Book Fair

Here are finally the photos. Today I’ll introduce the book fair itself, but from tomorrow on I’ll showcase cosplayers. I’ll round if off with a few celebrities (that some people will know others won’t).

In front of the book fair’s entrance, I found this beautiful rose:

Seems small, right? See the true size compared to a visitor:

The area of the book fair consists of a central glass hall, the congress center (that’s the smaller building front left beside the glass hall), and five halls with the booths. The additional buildings in the front are for administration purposes, and everything is interconnected with glass tubes. Here is a photo of the model in the entrance hall (the glass of the display case reflected strongly. I couldn’t take a better picture):

Once inside, you found the fair’s logo everywhere, even on the stairs (I blacked out the visitors’ faces for privacy reasons):

Those who managed to squeeze through to hall five Booth B302 found the Qindies (for me always the highlight of the day):

The booth of Qindie!
with Boris and two authors

BTW, Qindie is the German equivalent to the B.R.A.G. Medallion, and several of my books won both.

the final day

Sorry for the delay in posting about the final day of the book fair. When I sat down to write it yesterday, I opened my Inbox to 160 eMails with only a very small percentage of spam. Also, I had forgotten about an important meeting I had to go to in my lunch break. So instead of getting things done, I helped my kids with their appointments. Life happens.

Now to the book fair. The final day was less busy than the Saturday. Still, the book fair had a new visitor record. Two hundred and ten thousand people wanted to see what’s new. When I roamed the halls, I had the feeling that at least a third of them came dressed up, although I’m sure it only felt that way.

The Sunday was also the best day for selling books, especially since we were allowed to sell them without paying a commission to the mess after 3pm. Naturally, we didn’t sell quite as many books as we wanted or had taken along, but we did sell some. And more important, we were seen. I managed to give away more than 300 free eBooks (printed and signed, see picture). Since the idea of a printed eBook is relatively unheard of so far in Germany, I’m sure that most people will download the eBook and read it. I already see spikes in my download statistic. I just hope that the readers will move on to my other books as well.

Toward evening, the crowd began to thin out. I saw the best Cosplay costume (Mononoke Hime from the film Princess Mononoke) but couldn’t take a photo because I had left my camera at the booth. Sigh… Still, I can picture it in my mind and it was truly gorgeous.

I was extremely grateful for the two colleagues who stayed to the end with me and helped to empty the booth. We were done in record time and I was home before my kids went to sleep. That was a wonderful conclusion to a great weekend. I hope I’ll be able to repeat that next year.

Over the next few days, I’ll post a couple of the Cosplayers I photographed to showcase how much time and effort some people put into their costumes. I’ll also post the promised pictured of our booth, of Boris, and of my fellow German Qindie-authors.

choking hazard

There were so many people on third day of the book fair (Saturday) that the corridors between the stalls were choking. Sometimes, it was impossible to move more than one tiny step every other minute. I missed two of the three events I had meant to visit this way.

As recompensation, many people were bored waiting for the cues to move and stopped at our stall to talk, grab some flyers, and buy books. Thus, I’m considering this day as the most successful.

At one point, I thought all my flyers had gone but then found one more cardboard box in my car with more flyers. I was quite relieved knowing there were some more for the final day. I just wish I’d found a spare set of feet in my car as well…

The second day flew by

It was a whirr of activity. Since more people came than yesterday, it became harder to get from one place to another. However, I managed to get some books I bought years ago signed by the author (Scott MacCloud, photo pending until I’m home).

I visited a lot of discussions about marketing but didn’t hear anything I hadn’t heard before. Essentially what people are saying is that they don’t really know which marketing works. Also, here in Germany, many suggest using traditional marketing tactics (readings, adverts, etc), and as any Indie can tell you, those do not work well online. When I suggested mailing lists, people looked at me as if I was crazy.

The best thing so far were the countless Cosplayer. I saw some fabulous costumes and will present the best ones I managed to photograph over the next week (as I said before, I forgot an important cable).

Now, I need to get breakfast, so I’ll have strength enough for the third day. It’s Saturday, so even more people than yesterday will come.

start of the book fair and new release

I arrived at the book fair with 250 copies of two fairy tale novellas in tow to give away. Hopefully that’ll build up the buzz in Germany a bit.

So far, the fair has been exciting. I surely walked several miles yesterday trying to get from one interesting point to the next. Unfortunately, I dropped my camera twice, now the display is cracked. Also, I forgot to take the cale along that I’d need to upload the fotos. Thus, you’ll get all the good bits on Monday earliest.

Today also sees the release of my newest fairy tale retelling: The King’s Mechanic. If you like The Beauty and the Beast you might want to check this out.

Leipzig Book Fair

The Leipzig Book Fair is approaching fast; it’ll start next Thursday already. I’M already very excited. The books of several fellow authors from the German Indie-publisher platform Qindie have all arrived (as far as I can tell) and are waiting to be loaded into my car. Since we’ll start setting up our booth at 8:00am on Thursday, I’ll have to leave home by half past five latest. That means I’ve got to go to bead early on Wednesday.

If you’re in Leipzig, Germany, at that time and want to meet me there, I will be in Hall 5 Booth B302 with the Qindies. We’ve got a Meet and Greet on Saturday, 14th of March at 1:15p.m. in the Autorenlounge Hall5 Room B413. If you’re there, come by and say hello.

If possible, I’ll post something about the book fair every day here on my blog. Should I have problems getting access to the Internet, I’ll post a very long report after my return. Promised.

New Release: Fairy Tale Retelling #3

This year, I will be attending the Leipzig Book Fair (Germany) where I will display my fairy tale series. The first book in the series already received the Qindie-award AND the B.R.A.G. medallion, both seals of quality for Indie authors.

The third book in the series, also honored with the Qindie-award, will be available as an eBook on March 12th, the day the Leipzig Book Fair opens (for those who are there, I’ll be in hall 5 at stall B302). The German print version is already available, the English print versions will follow soon.

About the Book:

Once upon a time in a world where magic and technology collide with unexpected consequences…

After her father is caught in the act of stealing a jeweled rose, Luna and her brother face a penalty worse then execution unless she works as the king’s mechanic. With her brother’s safety in mind, Luna does her best to please the king, trying to ignore his best friend, who is very interested in bedding her. As if these troubles weren’t enough, the king crashes a machine she considered safe to use and nearly dies. Can she keep him alive long enough to avert danger to herself, her brother, and possibly the whole kingdom?

What if Charles Perrault’s Beauty can do more than soften the heart of a beast?

The book includes a bonus story and the original fairy tale.

Pre-order it on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or any other amazon shop. Other retailers will follow asap.

more Liebster questions

I’ve been nominated again by Elizabeth McCleary, but will not post everything again that I’ve already posted. I’ll just answer her questions.

What color shirt are you wearing right now?

My jumper is bright red and the T-Shirt blue.

Have you traveled outside your native country? If so, where’d you go?

America, Scotland, France, Denmark, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Austria (for five minutes ), Switzerland, Netherlands

I think that’s all; at least it’s all I can think of.

You’re all writers. Tell me your primary genre, any secondary genres, and what genres you prefer to read. (Not all writers read in their own genre.)

I love to READ anything Fantasy and SciFi and some Romance as long as it is well written with interesting characters, plus I love good Non-fiction especially all things history.

I write mostly Fantasy with some SciFi and Historical novels on the side. At the moment, I’m writing Fairy Tale Retellings (that reminds me, I’ve got to put up the page about the next release on March 12th)

Who or what has been the biggest inspiration for your writing?

My overactive imagination

Computer or longhand?

Computer, longhand hurts after a while.

Location of your ideal writer’s retreat. Where would you go to just write? Would you take someone with you, or go alone?

I don’t need to go away to work. I would go to my tiny office (2.5sqm) and I will need my family in the afternoons but not while I’m working.

Aside from writing, what other creative pursuits do you enjoy?

I used to make dolls, but haven’t done so since the kids were born. The last toy I made was a donkey with a music box inside for my baby (which is now 13 years!).

If your life was a movie, who would you want to have play you?

Roseanne

She’d have the right size to do it.

If your book/story was a movie, who would you want to have play your main character and/or antagonist?

I’ve written many books, so this is a tough question. I’m going to answer this for my novel “Paralan’s Children“. For the antagonist I’d like to get either Merryl Streep or Jamie Lee Curtis (obviously they’d need to wear a wig), and for the protagonist, I’d like Kirsten Dunst.

Coffee? Tea? Soda? Wine? Water? Double bourbon, no rocks? What is your beverage of choice?

Plain water, unflavored

Roller coaster or carousel?

Roller coaster — I love the mixture of speed and safety

What interesting writing rituals do you have? Include anything you want… music you listen to, habits you have, whether the TV is on in the background, whether you pour coffee and let it sit there getting cold while you’re working (like I do). Whatever. The question is wide open.

I write from 7:30am to 1pm. First I’ll answer my eMails, go through the forum where I’m moderator once. Next, I’ll write 1500-2000 words on a new project. If I’ve got a new release planned or need to write a new blogpost, I’ll work on that next. If I’ve got nothing scheduled, I translate. I need silence for working but can listen to music when doing other stuff.

Thanks for the questions, Elizabeth.