Clare C. Marshall's Blog, page 10

Saskatoon Expo 2016 Post Mortem

This was my first time to Saskatoon, and to Saskatchewan itself. I liked the city more than I thought I would. It reminded me a bit of Edmonton and Winnipeg. Edmonton in that it had trees and quaint boulevards, and Winnipeg in its flatness. The leaves are starting to turn and that reminded me of home.

Saskatoon Expo is in its third year and saw over 15,000 people through its gates. That’s slightly less than what I was expecting (20,000 was my expectation based on previous years, and having Carrie Fisher as a headliner).

To follow my journey and read my other post mortems of conventions I’ve done across Canada, click here.

General Impressions

I’m writing this on the Greyhound bus on a twelve hour journey back to Calgary (Saskatoon to Edmonton to Calgary). I didn’t expect to take the bus. I was going to drive. But about a week before, I was obsessing and stressing over the seven hour trip—a big trip for someone who has driving anxiety, and for someone who isn’t used to driving alone. So I broke down and booked a bus. I’m losing a day anyway each way, and at least on the bus I can sleep and work. It also worked in my favour because on the Thursday night, I miscalculated some stairs and sprained my right ankle. I would not have been able to drive seven hours, as it was extremely sore the next day. Friday on the bus was a good rest for my foot, and I was able to function more or less normally on Saturday and Sunday.

Location

I don’t think my location was great, and the layout of the con in general seemed mal-spaced. We were in, as Chadwick called it, “the butt of the con.” Or, more politely, the ring-road, periphery aisle, across from the artist guests. Being in this aisle can be very good or very bad. Very good if that aisle is a main through-fare from an entrance. Very bad if it is not. It was not. It was opposite of the entrance. So people took about half an hour to reach us when they first entered. This problem was exasperated because where our aisle was very wide, the interior aisles were narrow. People struggled to get through those interior aisles, but they had to move more slowly, causing them to see more of the vendors’ merchandise. Because our aisle was wider, people moved quickly, and barely saw us. Our whole row was complaining about this.

Also, I think I’ve mentioned this before, but being across from the creator guests can be a mixed bag too. I like seeing what they do, and sometimes meeting them, but from a sales perspective, a lot of them don’t have big displays or anything for people to look at. Because of this, there’s always the possibility that people will zip by or won’t go down that aisle because it doesn’t look like they have much to sell.

In any case, I think I made the best with what I was given—and that’s what you have to do with these things, since you’re not in control over where you’re placed. Next year I think I’ll request a booth or a non-artist alley space. The artist alley was really cheap and worked for my sales targets to maximize my profit (especially since I had to shell out for the bus!) but it’s always a gamble.

Display

Here’s where it sucks to take the bus or plane. You’re limited by your luggage. I think I did a decent job of packing though, so I was able to get all my bare minimums in there. I was happy to have enough risers to put my books up at eye level, though I didn’t bring any book stands (I NEED new ones, my current ones suck). For the most part, I can prop the books up or have them stand on other own. A couple of times things fell over but nothing too major.

I was happy that I was able to FINALLY put up my horizontal banner again. I got new galaxy print duct tape, and it held nicely to my table cloth along the bottom. A disadvantage of artist alley is you don’t have any pipe and drape backing (some artists have their own), so my poor stand-up banner had to do all of the work in the back end (besides my smiling face, of course!) I’m having another one made for November, and it will be sturdier and less of a hassle to set up.

Another improvement I made this time around is that I remembered to put out a newsletter signup sheet. I didn’t really talk it up, or have any particular signage for it, I just had a shiny clipboard and a pen right out in front. I found that quite effective—I was surprised that I got almost 20 new email subscribers. Not bad for passive effort. Many people felt obligated to sign up because they’d bought something. Others were just interested and wanted to learn more and develop a relationship with me before buying. That’s all good. Now that I have that baseline, I can work on improving it at subsequent cons.

Not exactly part of my display, but I FINALLY put out money for plastic bags. They’re just transparent white and blue bags that I ordered wholesale online. They’re decent, and I ordered them in two sizes, though I miscalculated the size on the smaller ones so they are too small. Big enough for my lil ebooks but not much else. The “big” ones are perfect for a couple of books. Now I know for next time. Chad and I both used them and people were pleased to not to have to carry stacks of books around in their arms. Though I will say, the Expo did a good job at providing large branded bags, and a lot of people had those to put stuff in.

Sales

I hit my minimum sales target for this con. Basically, it’s a number that I’ve calculated based on sales from my previous cons, and how many people are supposed to attend. What really pushed me to that goal this weekend was my first-day sales strategy. I don’t do my sales on the last day. On the last day, people don’t have money anymore. People have money on the first day. So I did fairly well on the Saturday, and decent on the Sunday.

The stand-out seller was The Violet Fox, because of the discounted first day, and because of the bundle I have with The Silver Spear. People just see it, they want to touch it, and then they want it, 95% of the time. I am happy that I sold some Sparkstone Saga bundles though. Having the review sheet out really helped I think, and I also upsold it to great success (why by the first book when you can have both for just $10 more?) No pre-orders were taken for Hunger In Her Bones, but I expected that.

I had Within off to the side on the first day, but I moved it to the middle on the second day, and that helped me sell it better. I think that’s a good placement for it—I always struggle with how to display it since it’s my only stand-alone, and it’s quite different than my two series, yet people still find it interesting enough to buy when they see it! Plus, it’s the cheapest book on the table at $12. The other reason I moved it into a more prominent place was because I was seriously concerned that I would run out of Violet Foxes. I only had six left at the end of the convention. Like I said—once people touch it, they buy it!! Selling out isn’t the worst problem to have, but it does make me regret not driving. Driving means I can bring more stock.

Strangely enough, I sold a surprising number of buttons. I think it might be because the sign displaying them is more visible, and they weren’t in their usual wooden box, making them more visible to potential customers. They may have also sold because there were several people new to the brand, and while they may not have had the cash or sufficient interest in my stuff yet, they were willing to throw a buck my way to try me out. Also, button people are almost always going to buy buttons.

I’m not sure whether it was because Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) was a guest, or if it’s just the nature of Saskatoon itself, but there was a considerable number of teen girls present. Many were in groups, others were with their parents. It was really great because that’s my target audience!

The BEST thing that happened at this con was—people ACTUALLY KNEW WHO I WAS! I expected no one to know me (besides regular vendors), but I had more than a handful of customers come up to me, and say they saw me at Calgary Expo, or Edmonton Expo, and they’re from Saskatchewan, they read my books, and they loved them! I was so excited. The same thing happened to Chad, and though he’s done a few readings in Saskatoon, he hadn’t done Sask Expo before either. It really just goes to show that everything you do adds up, and if people see you at one show and don’t buy, they might see you at the next one and give you a try!

Good People

I was extremely fortunate to be able to stay with Chadwick’s friend Mike, who is a professor of literature at the University of Saskatchewan. Mike incorporated Chadwick’s Thunder Road into his course. Very cool!! Not only did I get to have lots of hangout time with Chad, I got to know Mike as well. He was a wonderful, gracious host. Many thanks to him for making the Saskatoon experience very pleasant.

Chadwick and I were next to each other (we arranged this) and that helped to pass the time during the dead zone hours where there weren’t many buyers. I also got to see up close what he has on his table, and we excitedly discussed future cons and selling strategies. We’re sharing a booth at the upcoming C4 Con in Winnipeg.

Chadwick has a lot going on at his table—he’s very good at coming up with unique ways to supplement his trilogy of books. It all expands on his core Thunder Road universe that his readers have come to enjoy. One thing in particular that I think is neat is his flash fiction greeting cards. He commissioned some art from our friend Sam Beiko for the front, and then on the inside wrote a little 500 word vignette relating to his trilogy. He sells them for $5. I think I’d like to do that—one for The Violet Fox Series, and another for the Sparkstone Saga. That would go over really well (I hope) for the shows closer to Christmas.

It was also good to see Greg and Peter again. Peter is looking well, and I’m very proud of him for finally leaping into comics full time. Very exciting. His poster empire is looking impressive, reigning above all the rest. Greg was his usual self, and his display with Justin was of course, top notch. Looking is free, as he would say! I’ll see them both next weekend.

Something else to mention that doesn’t really fit anywhere else: there was a real lack of food vendors at the con. No doubt there’s some sort of exclusivity clause so Prairieland Park can make money at their canteen. Chadwick walked around the entire event on Sunday trying to find a fountain to fill up his water bottle, and ended up having to find a vending machine with bottled water–none of the volunteers knew where to get water. BUT on Sunday, thank goodness, the volunteers walked around handing out bottles to the vendors for free. YAY! Love it when the cons think of the vendors like that. Hal-Con is great at this–every time I’ve had a table OR a booth, they give each vendor eight to twelve bottles of water for the weekend.

The Weird

Two weird observations.

First – there was a guy dressed as Deadpool (there’s always at least five) whose onesie costume was bursting at the seams because it was so tight, and he looked like he wasn’t wearing underwear. Nothing was left to the imagination. Did I mention there were a lot of families present? Each time he passed us, it seemed like more and more of his costume was coming apart. Yikes. At least the second day he looked like he was wearing underwear.

Second – there were disconcerting numbers of young girls (pre-teen or younger) wearing sexy Harley Quinn costumes. I saw one elementary school aged girl wearing a Harley Quinn “Property of the Joker” jacket. I’m not super familiar with the Joker/Harley relationship, I know it’s complicated and intricate, that it’s not the only thing that defines her, and I haven’t seen Suicide Squad. It’s just kinda weird to see really young girls idolizing this very sexed up, subservient version of Harley, likely without understanding the implications of being someone’s “property.”

Would I go back?

I think so. I exceeded my minimum sales target, though not by much. Next year hopefully I’ll be comfortable enough to make the drive and then I can have my full display. Saskatoon is a doable drive from Calgary, fortunately. With a better location, and more returning fans from those who bought this year, I think I can really exceed my ideal target.

I came away from this con feeling confident in my brand and my ability to perform. Now, I just have to make sure I rest up for Edmonton in a few days! Eep! Fortunately, I will have the intrepid Jessica Corra, editor of the upcoming Hunger In Her Bones, accompanying me on that adventure. Yay!

WWC 2016 Post Mortem

This is my fourth year doing this convention. Convention isn’t really the right word for When Words Collide. It’s a festival, a celebration of (mostly Western) Canadian speculative fiction. I’ve spent the past week recovering, and writing this post-mortem. It’s long. Some of you won’t like it.

To follow my journey and read my other post mortems of conventions I’ve done across Canada, click here.

General Impressions

The previous week had been very busy for my freelance business and I was coming into the festival half burnt. On the upside, my dear friends Samantha Beiko and Chadwick Ginther came in from Winnipeg (and arrived in the middle of the night – driving from Winnipeg, maybe not such a great idea in retrospective) and I was looking forward to a fun weekend of hanging out with them, selling some books, and relaxing.

With everything going on, three days went by quickly. By Sunday, I was pretty much brain-dead. After a very busy birthday, I had a breakfast meeting and a morning presentation on websites. Not sure if it was just me, but Sunday seemed deader than usual in the merchant room – did everyone party hard after the Aurora Awards? I feel like I gave a lot of myself this weekend, and became a zombie as a result.

Display

I had a table right at the front of the room – as soon as you came in the main entrance, you could see me. While I don’t think this necessarily benefited sales, it definitely benefited my branding. It’s also the first con this year that I had 100% of my table space – Kate had a table next to mine.

I still make a profit on the table, certainly, and one could argue that having a table at WWC isn’t worth it. It’s a networking con, as I’ve said in the past. My argument for having a table is completely based on developing a brand. ChiZine has a table. Bundoran has a table. EDGE has a table. If I want to be a player in the publishing circuit, I have to display my branding and let people know that I exist. Doing programming helps this a lot, but a lot of people need that visual cue.

The downside of course is I’m behind the table for a lot of the con – when I’m not doing programming. I was on considerably less programming this year. On one hand, I didn’t mind this. It was more time to hang out with my friends behind the table. I got to know Glynn Stewart and his wife Jack – who commandeered the empty table next to mine and set up shop. Glynn is a great example of someone doing very well on Amazon. It’s great to see Canadians navigating that space, writing what they love, and making a good living out of it. I had fun chatting shop with Glynn and Jack.

Sales

I did what I expected for this con, pretty much on par with what I’ve done in previous years – maybe a little more. For this weekend, I did my first-day discount for all three days, because of my birthday. ^_^ People mostly bought The Silver Spear, since that’s my new book for this year. I had some pre-orders for Hunger In Her Bones. It’s at the point now where a lot of people attending know me, they’ve heard of my books, and they probably have one or two. It was nice to see some new faces at the event as well – WWC sells out (especially when there are large author guests attending, like last year’s Diana Gabaldon), so it’s good that newcomers are able to get in.

Credit card sales accounted for about 20% of total sales. I had only one person ask me if I took debit, and then paid with credit card.

Birthday! Birthday!

August 13 is my birthday – I turned 28 this year.

For my past two birthdays, I was completely alone for most or all of the day. It was a nice change of pace to go somewhere and be showered with birthday wishes and unexpected presents. Thank you to everyone who stopped by the table and made me feel special. I have a rule: I don’t work on my birthday, except on my writing pursuits. Faery Ink Press falls within that realm.

It was a very busy Saturday. Tabling, paneling, more tabling (the afternoon was very long). Then, to the pub for a drink and pre-dinner snack. Then, Aurora Awards, which started half an hour late. Then, finally, supper – Indian food! We’d brought a vegan gluten-free cake that I made – Sam is vegan, I’m gluten-free – and the restaurant kindly put candles in it and served us. I think we were uncomfortably full after all of that.

Then, back to the hotel for more partying and socializing. At that point, I really did not want to be around people, but made an appearance at Chadwick’s whiskey party, and the Bundoran room party. I was very happy when I finally got to go to sleep, but sad that my birthday passed so quickly! It was a good birthday though. I was glad to spend it around friends. It made me feel valued, and loved.

Apples and Oranges

Something happened on the Sunday that I want to share with everyone, because it made me feel uncomfortable, and it took me a while to come to terms with it.

A young woman came to my table. Although I don’t know her well, I happen to know that she is a big fan of a male YA author also in attendance at WWC. She had come to the table a few times to browse my books cautiously, at a distance–interested, but not completely willing to engage yet. The final time she came back, she asked me without preamble two questions that made me bristle.

“How many books have you sold?” and “How many reviews and stars do your books have?”

I’m never going to answer the first question – that’s confidential information, as far as I’m concerned. I’m happy to give general answers about my sales expectations and compare sales to last year, which are stated above. Because of her obvious love of the male author’s books, I can’t help but read this as her comparing me to him. I also happen to know that the male author sometimes gives out his sales information – and that’s fine. But that’s not something that I’m going to share. So I answered the first question in general terms.

As for the second question, that’s publicly available information that anyone can look up at any time, on Amazon or elsewhere. Why would I have that memorized? That’s not a stat that people want to know when I’m selling direct at cons – that’s not why people buy from me, why I’ve been able to scrape a living from it. Really what she was asking was, “Do you have as many reviews as the male author?” The answer is no. He has lots more reviews than I do. I have maybe ten reviews per book on Amazon? He is very good at soliciting reviews (important for sales on Amazon), where I have scaled back on that front, preferring to focus my energies elsewhere.

Again, in the context of the situation, it was easy for me to read the question as, “Are your books as good as his?”

Which, to me, can also translate as: “Prove to me that you’re good enough to be here.” And: “Prove to me that you are as good as this man.”

My knee-jerk reaction is to provide a condescending explanation: I don’t need to prove myself to you. I know what I’m about. You can decide for yourself if you like me or not. I’ve been doing this a long time. Read my writing samples online and make an informed decision, or look up the stars if that’s something that matters to you.

But I didn’t say any of those things.

There are two issues I’m exploring here.

a) the young woman was rude and should be able to form an opinion about my books without heavily resorting to external social proof.

b) the deeper consequences of her words, which triggered my feelings around being compared to a man.

What I really wanted to convey to her, and the others who have compared us (this isn’t the first time), is this: Just because he has more reviews, and is better at making time for ensuring they get done, doesn’t mean his books are better than mine. Reviews, while very important (especially on Amazon), are a drop in the sea of things that make a good book. And, most importantly: comparing the two of us serves no one.

He and I are apples and oranges. Apples and oranges are equally tasty fruit. You’re always going to have people who like apples more than they like oranges, and vice versa. We are both targeting the same kind of fruit lovers. While we are in competition for these fruit lovers’ dollars, that doesn’t mean that they can’t like both apples and oranges at the same time. Reading, like eating fruit, is a healthy life choice.

At WWC, the entire merchant room is only books. And yet, I don’t feel like I’m in competition with anyone. We are there to display our work, proud to be part of a community. We are both active in this business, and we have our strengths and our weaknesses. We have a good working relationship. I enjoy talking shop with him. This particular young woman has ranked his books above the rest – which is 100% fine. Everyone has different tastes and opinions. Yet it’s the bluntness of the questions that stays with me, and always stays with me whenever I’m compared to a man in my field.

In high school, I was always in competition with the boys in my class. Who is better at English? Who is the best at math? Who’s the best at science? Who is better in gym class? Being compared to men, being put in a setting where I must compete or justify my work alongside them, it puts me on edge. My peers decided I was the smartest girl. There was a guy who was the smartest boy. Math and athletics came naturally to him. English came naturally to me. I think science was a toss-up between the two of us. But looking back, our genders were very much tied to our performance ranking. In a lot of ways, being Smartest Girl felt like a consolation prize. I don’t know whether I gave this prize to myself to make myself feel better, or if someone else noted it and made it a thing, but it remained prominent in my mind, even though I hated it. It felt like I was always going to be Smartest Girl, and never Smartest, period.

I recognize this is a personal feeling I have, that this has nothing to do with the male author, or any other male authors, yet it remains a remnant from my teen years where I was very insecure about myself and extremely conscious and conscientious about my performance. I’ve come a long way since then. Ninety-nine percent of the time, my self-worth is not in question. I’ve accomplished a lot of things in my life, in publishing and otherwise. Yet when I’m faced when a situation where I’m being compared to a man in the publishing community – either deliberately or not – I’m suddenly aware that I’m a woman, and the possibility that being a woman isn’t enough. It’s like I’m not only fighting to be good at publishing, I’m fighting to be good at being a human being too.

It doubly sucks when I feel I have to justify myself to another woman, who in all likelihood, has and will face similar situations.

I can hear some of you thinking, “Oh, but that’s just your FEELINGS. She didn’t MEAN to bring up your UNRESOLVED ISSUES.”

No she didn’t, but just because you didn’t intend to make a person feel a certain way, doesn’t mean that you’re not at fault for your actions. Not considering a person’s feelings or how they may react to your words before speaking is rude – especially if you don’t know them. When your actions don’t match your intent, your intent becomes essentially meaningless because it wasn’t properly conveyed. This is true in relationships, and it’s true in business.

I have opted not to reveal this YA author’s name or the name of the young woman who asked me this not because I want to protect them, or because I’m afraid they’ll be mad at me, but rather because it’s not about them. It’s about my feelings. It’s easy to dismiss incidents like this as “part of the job,” especially when you are a woman putting yourself out there, selling a product in sometimes hostile or ignorant environments. I have to remind myself that my feelings are valid, and not to be dismissed lightly.

I’m not angry or sad that this happened. I’m annoyed that it took me so many hours to parse these feelings, write them coherently, and edit them for civility. I also didn’t write this to elicit sympathy. If you find value in my post mortems, that’s good. I write them to remind myself of what happens at these events, so that I can do better next time. For me, next time, I’ll be able to recognize why I feel anxious, and acknowledge the feeling faster, so I can get on with my day.

I’m a competitive person, and I do what it takes to sell my books. Readers have the power to pick their fruit and eat it. I can tell you my books are great, and that these other people think I’m pretty great, just like the next author can. Stars don’t tell the whole story, comparing apples to oranges is pointless – more hurtful than productive – and ultimately, as a discerning reader, you have the power to make your own decisions about the books placed before you.

There Is More Than This

There was something about this year that was different. Of my four years doing conventions religiously, this was the first year that WWC felt more tiring than usual. Granted, I was more tired. But I came to a realization this weekend.

For a Canadian writing and publishing festival, there is a real lack of Canada represented.

I’ve always known Canada’s publishing scene to be very small in comparison to the rest of the world, and Canada’s genre scene even smaller. Yet WWC doesn’t actually represent all the spec-fic authors, all the publishers, and all the editors in Canada/United States. It’s easy to have that mindset when you’re first arriving to the scene. Writing is a solitary pursuit, and when we open our eyes to the community around us, we are overwhelmed with a feeling of camaraderie. We think that this is all that there is, and are happy for its existence.

Publishing is de-mystified for me–my views on this convention are going to be very different than someone who goes as a newbie writer. I don’t go here with hopes to get published. I go to sell books, and connect with potential clients & readers, and hang out with my friends. The panels are largely the same from year to year, writing advice in general never changes, and it’s the same faces in the dealer’s room. Fun for seeing old friends and buying new titles. But beyond that…I fear I’m seeing the beginnings of stagnation.

For a country that prides itself in multiculturalism and diversity, this Canadian writing and publishing festival does not represent it. It has done well presenting Western/Central Canada’s genre presses. It does well featuring local Alberta authors, even independent ones. Yet Alberta and Central Canada are not ALL of Canada. And the white, cis people (including myself) in this industry aren’t all there is either.

And while WWC has been predominantly genre-lit, Will Ferguson is a guest next year. He’s won a Giller. WWC is trying to attract the CanLit community – a good thing, I think – we should celebrate all of Canada’s writing communities. So that means we need to attract Canada’s known lit publishers too, incentivize them to come from Ontario and the East and beyond. Next year, we’ll lose some people to Worldcon 2017 in Helsinki, since it’s the same weekend.

The festival has done well. Randy knows how to run a tight ship. It is a hub of celebration for Western Canadian genre authors. It is a place where I have a good time with people I only see once or twice a year. While it’s good to celebrate the successes, we can’t get caught up in a perpetual circle-jerk. It’s easy in this business to get stuck doing things one way until you die.

We can do better.

Things I’ll Do Differently Next Year

I had fun at the festival this year, and I’m always glad to go, though I think I’ll go back to doing 5-6 panels/presentations in 2017. Presentations take a lot out of me but they garner results. With the direction I’m taking my freelancing business, I may have two or three one-hour quality presentations in the can that I can give without much thought. My display is solid – it may change as I add more books, but not too much to innovate there at the moment until later this year.

This is the end of my “small” cons for 2016. The next four are larger expos – Saskatoon, Edmonton, C4, and Hal-Con. I’m really looking forward to going to Winnipeg, and home to Nova Scotia especially – where I’ll be a guest at Hal-Con! Exciting times.

Sparkstone University You-Choose

The current you-choose story in the newsletter follows the basic plotline of Stars In Her Eyes – but it will vary with the choices YOU make! Sign up to participate in the story. Newsletter subscribers receive other benefits as well – see the newsletter page for more information.

#1 – The Beginning

As you stare up at the formidable main building on the Sparkstone University campus, you’re starting to wonder if you’ve made the right decision to come here.

The last two weeks of your life have been overwhelming for you and your family.

First, your mom received a mysterious phone call saying you’d been accepted to a university you’d never even applied for. Sparkstone University, in the middle-of-nowhere, Alberta. Both you and your parents thought this was a scam at first, but after multiple phone calls to the police and the local school board, you discover that it’s common for Sparkstone University to pull records from the high schools themselves and recruit the top performing students with the promise of large scholarships.

The semester was starting soon, and it was barely August. You needed to get your butt to campus, or lose your chance at a lucrative scholarship and the opportunity to study with the top minds in your field. Since your other college choices didn’t offer you much money, it seemed a no-brainer, and your parents urged you to choose this relatively unknown Canadian university in the middle of nowhere over Harvard, McGill, and Cambridge. In fact, they dropped you and your bags off with few tears shed before Rogers Hall—the giant gold plaque shouts the university’s wealth to your recently emptied bank account.

The university village beside the large campus seems to only exist to serve the students and faculty, which is convenient, as there’s no other town for miles. A few other students mill around the surrounding trees, studying, chatting, and enjoying the precious sun in the remaining days of summer.

One girl leans against the main building, alone. Her bushy blond hair waves lazily in the gentle wind, and her bright blue eyes regard you with wary caution. You give her a little wave in greeting.

She motions for you to approach.

Before you can do so, the doors to Rogers Hall burst open and a tall, slender woman dressed in a flowing white skirt and a cream blouse floats towards you. “Floats” being the most apt descriptor, as her footsteps are so light and graceful, she barely touches the ground. Her long silver hair is perfectly straight, and seems at odds with her bony, angular, yet kind face.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were waiting out here. I hope we haven’t kept you,” she says. She doesn’t appear as frazzled as she suggests. “I’m Ms. Agailya, the head housemistress here at Sparkstone. Let me show you to your dorm room, and then I have a few things to go over with you. Does that sound all right?”

You glance down at your two suitcases. It would be nice to have a place to put everything instead of wheeling them around campus. The girl leaning against Rogers Hall, however, is still staring at you intently. She seems like she wants to speak with you.

What Do You Choose?

Go with Ms. Agailya to your dorm (0%)

Speak with the girl (100%)

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Vul-Con Post Mortem

Look at that Hunger In Her Bones cover! So big and pretty, soon to be in the flesh with the other Faery Ink Press books.

Check out my other convention write-ups here:

– Red Deer Expo

– Calgary Expo 2016

– Hal-Con 2015

– Edmonton Expo 2015

– When Words Collide 2015

– Calgary Comic Expo 2015

– Hal-Con 2014

– Keycon 2014

– Hal-Con 2013

– C4 Winnipeg 2013

– When Words Collide 2013

– KeyCon 2013

General Impressions

I’d never been to Vulcan before – I guess I really haven’t been to many places in Alberta – and Vul-Con being a small Star Trek convention, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I knew it would be one of my smaller, more specialized events of the year. I knew I could probably push the Sparkstone Saga successfully, since it’s a young adult science fiction series set in Alberta.

Vulcan turned out to be what I expected: a small town in Alberta surrounded by farmland. It was a pretty drive once we got off the highway! But a little scary being surrounded by nothing but open farmland. Where does it end?!

Also, I was nervous leading up to this trip because I knew I had to do some of the driving. I have some driving anxiety that stems from many different sources. Mainly, not enough practice in a heavy urban area, and irrational fears of cars crashing into me. But I did some practicing leading up to the day, and I ended up doing 50% of the driving for this trip. I’m celebrating as a success because a week before, my body would not have handled that much highway driving, lane-changing, and intersections. So this has given me more confidence to do more driving in general, which I need if I’m going to drive to Saskatoon in September. Haha – there’s no if in that, I need to drive to Saskatoon in September, else me and my many boxes/banners would miss SaskExpo 2016!

Location is Everything

If you’ve been following my post-con articles, you’ll notice that I place a lot of emphasis on my location. That’s because it matters – a lot! Especially at events like these. There’s a natural flow of traffic at cons, and if you’re not in the right place, if you’re off the beaten path, chances are your audience is going to run out of money before they get to you, or they’re not going to notice you as much as the next person.

When I first arrived and got my spot, I was disappointed. I was across from the main stage, and to the right of that was the guest signing area. This is bad, I thought. This is off the “main” through-fare.

Boy, was I wrong. I really, really lucked out with this table.

Turned out, the stage and the guests – most of the time – were the heart and centre of the con. The main presentations were there on that media stage – and most people congregated to listen. What’s more, the big name guests were signing at those tables, and that was big event for a lot of the attendees. For hours on Saturday, people lined up to get autographs from Adam Nimoy, Leonard Nimoy’s son. The line went right in front of my table, which meant my books got a lot of exposure and interest.

On Sunday, it was not as busy – the afternoon was dead! – but in the morning, people lined up for Dominic Keating (Lieutenant Malcom Reed in Enterprise) Andrew Robinson (Garack in DS9!!) and Robert Beltran (Chakotay in Voyager). Most of our sales on both days were in the morning, with a couple in the middle, and one or two last-minute purchases.

Display

Unfortunately because I was at a small, six-foot artist alley table, my eight-foot horizontal banner is too long. I’m going to have to buy some sort of retractable setup for it so I can have it behind me if I wish, no matter my table size. Also, because I’m building up my height, my display blocked the Faery Ink Press logo on my tall banner. Another reason to find a better solution for the horizontal banner. Sigh – the more stuff I get, the harder it is to lug around!!

This is the last con that I’ll be sharing the table with Kate, so next time I’ll have more room to spread out. I need to push my newsletter signups. I also need better book stands. I’ve been saying that (and Kate too!) for ages now, but it’s one of those things that slips the mind in between shows.

One vendor commented that I should have a smaller eBook sign, since it was blocking access to the buttons. Kate had the excellent idea of attaching the buttons to a ribbon and hanging them on the whiteboard, but that didn’t stop people from going through the box itself, trying to see the designs. So I think I need a better solution for that. Buttons aren’t a huge seller for me, but if I optimize their display, then I should expect a couple more sales per con. Once I sell out of them, I’m going to rethink the design of the next batch based on what sold the best.

I’ve also stopped giving away my bookmarks in favour of the postcards, which have more information and act as a catalogue substitute. People who buy got bookmarks – that seems only fair! I think another good merch option for me might be designer bookmarks – whether they’re tassled, or super sparkly, or those fancy corner ones. I’m going to think more on that, especially if I’m going to do more artist-focused shows.

Sales

My expectations were pretty low for this con. But I did really well, a lot of it thanks to my location. Almost half of my sales were made with credit cards. I had a few people ask if I take debit, but when I said no, credit or cash was fine. I made more money in Vulcan than I did in Red Deer – and there was maybe 1,000 people in attendance at Vul-Con.

I had quite a few people tell me they’d visited my website, or they’ve seen my logo before around, or say that my covers looked familiar. Yay! This previous exposure to the brand also drove a couple of sales.

I did a discount on The Violet Fox and The Silver Spear print copies on the first day, and that went over well. Stars In Her Eyes was about on par with The Violet Fox, which is what I was expecting, since it’s a Star Trek con, and the Sparkstone Saga is YA sci-fi set in Alberta. I pushed the Hunger In Her Bones pre-orders a bit harder, and was rewarded with some new customers willing to lay down some cash. I can’t wait until I have that book in my hands. I got lots of compliments on the cover.

I was surprised that Kate didn’t do better – going in, I thought this might be a strong con for Crash and Burn because a) it’s a space opera and b) Star Trek fans, generally, seem to be open-minded, accepting, knowledgeable people. Yet I think it was the older crowd that didn’t get what “queer space opera” meant. Apparently Vulcan also has a large conservative streak. Ah well. One memorable sale she made was to a proud mother and father, who intended to give it to their kid, who belongs to the LGBTQ community. Yay! We also chatted about how she could expand her display, and include more flag types – she has the rainbow flag, but intends to get the asexual and the agender pride flag, and many others. The flags are a great idea because it’s an easy visual that will attract the appropriate audience. Crash and Burn has a diverse set of characters that are still being introduced, and I’m looking forward to observing and hopefully chronicling more of the comic’s growth.

Other vendors I talked to said that they did okay, and that Saturday was the busiest it’s ever been for this con. Many said that last year was pretty dead. In any case, I think I made the most out of my very good location.

Celebrities & Cool People

I was very close to the Star Trek celebrities and got a good eyeful while they signed and chatted with the attendees. I thought about going and introducing myself to Andrew Robinson because I’m such a DS9 fan – and a fan of his character – but I also didn’t want to word vomit all over him, or exude self-importance (“Hey, I’m at that table over there, look at me and my pretties, I LOVE YOUR WORK SO GIVE ME ATTENTION?!”). There’s also some etiquette surrounding interaction with celebrity guests that I’m a little iffy on – I didn’t pay them for their time or their signature, so I respectfully keep my distance unless they approach me and express curiosity about my work. But that’s just me. Sometimes attending con authors give books to guests – I find that brave and a bit ballsy, personally. I have visions of the guests saying, “Oh thanks” and then throwing my hard work away if I were ever to try! Maybe someday I’ll work up the nerve, but I’d rather approach them as an equal with a business opportunity than a gushing fan.

It was the Star Trek actors that drove attendees at this con, and it was their draw that helped to bring attention to my table. So I’m grateful for that.

Sally Kellerman, the woman who played Dr. Elizabeth Dehner in the Original Star Trek pilot episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before” came to my table. She was browsing the artist alley row. She looked tired. She’d been sitting at a secondary signing table all day, but there were no more people lining up for autographs. She expressed some regret at staying for the second day. I guess she was only scheduled for Saturday.

Aside from that, a couple of friends from Calgary/Edmonton came and said hi – Neil Enock (pictured) and S. G. Wong (she’s a finalist in the Whistler Independent Book Awards, for which I also received an honourable mention for The Violet Fox). It’s nice to see friendly faces!!

I also got to meet the guy who sells wood carvings and jewellry, whose products were next to me at Red Deer Expo. We had a really good chat about expo sales and the different shows we were planning on doing. While wandering around, looking at the other vendors, I also bought a pretty dress from CC’s Leggings, Etc. This dress? for business!

Red Deer Expo Post Mortem

Look at that vertical action on the display. I’m wearing a pretty dress! My hair is a mess, but that’s FINE.

Check out my other convention write-ups here:

– Calgary Expo 2016

– Hal-Con 2015

– Edmonton Expo 2015

– When Words Collide 2015

– Calgary Comic Expo 2015

– Hal-Con 2014

– Keycon 2014

– Hal-Con 2013

– C4 Winnipeg 2013

– When Words Collide 2013

– KeyCon 2013

General Impressions

Most of my impressions of the con are below in the “First Con” section, because there are a lot of them.

This was my first extended stay in Red Deer. I’ve driven through it to get to Edmonton. It’s about what I expected–as if someone chopped off a piece of MacLeod Trail and dumped it in the middle of the prairie. Sorry for the unromantic description. My Nova Scotian heart, used to oceans and lakes as natural city boundaries, doesn’t quite feel right in cookie-cuttered, constantly expanding metropolises. How does one know when the city ends? It doesn’t. It keeps on growing.

I stayed at Kate’s house on Friday night (and became integrated into her clan of kitties!!) and we drove up very early Saturday morning. We had to be ready to sell by 9:30am. That timing worked out (just barely!) because the two of us are pretty good at organizing ourselves, which is why we work well together. But it ended up being a very long Saturday. I’m also off coffee at the moment, which made the weekend even more long and stressful. I had to rely on sugary hot chocolate and green tea to keep me going instead of potent Starbucks caffeine. Big thanks to Kate for getting me through, being my brain when my brain wouldn’t brain the details, and just generally being there!!

Winnipeg eBook Workshop & Reading – Post Mortem

There’s nothing quite like being around your creative peers.

Not only do they have similar goals to yours–but they’re out there, creating art in the world. They’re not waiting for the gatekeeper to let them through. They’re saying yes to their art and finding ways to make it happen. That’s why I like Winnipeg. Because there are so many of those people that live there, including Samantha Beiko and Chadwick Ginther. I’d never pass up a chance to visit with them. Their support and friendship means EVERYTHING to me.

So here are the things that happened. I was there for a week, on a mission: one, to do a reading, and another, to give an eBook-creation workshop.

ChiSeries Winnipeg Reading

ChiSeries Winnipeg is a quarterly, non-profit reading series run by Sam and Chadwick, meant to promote Canadian spec-fic authors. McNally Robinson is the perfect location for the readings. I rambled through the store the day of to see where they had stocked my books–and found The Silver Spear had been given face-out treatment. Everyone goes for that kitty cover, I’m tellin’ ya. It was very humbling to see it in the YA section, next to some other fairly well-known authors. I don’t often get to see the results of my work in the world when I’m typing away at my computer, here in the basement in Calgary.

I think my reading from The Silver Spear was well received. I was among two other authors who read–Sierra Dean and Melinda Friesen, both locals. About twenty people showed up. The audience was attentive to the readings–each reading was about 10-15 minutes long. I’m always afraid that a reading longer than five minutes will cause people to get antsy but nope, people were there to take it all in (Tod McCoy, you were right?!?!) Sam said my reading was “SO ANIMATED” and people laughed at a few parts. I keep meaning to create and practice some sort of musical element to the reading – since there’s some music in The Silver Spear and the Sparkstone Saga – so it’s a little more of a performance than just me talking for 15 minutes.

Workshop – eBook Creation

I was strangely not that nervous on Saturday morning as Chadwick and I left the house and made our way downtown to the Manitoba Writers Guild on the bus. Sometimes that’s not a good sign. A little bit of nervousness can help me perform better. I was more nervous about it earlier in the week, when I was struggling to finish up some other projects before I hopped on the plane.

I’m used to performing for about an hour. Presentations–musical and otherwise–usually run that length, and sometimes there’s someone to spell me off. But here, it’s all me. In some ways, talking is easier than fiddling–there’s less to concentrate on, and I have notes if I get stuck. When fiddling, I’m always two seconds ahead of the tune in my head, and when performing, I have no music in case I get stuck. If I get stuck, I improvise.

The bonus here was, I know this stuff. I’ve been doing it for six years. It was a matter of breaking the process down into steps, and firming up everything I wanted to talk about in three hours.

It also helped that the day before, I did the workshop for Sam and Chadwick. That helped A LOT. I think I was more nervous doing it for them than I was for a room full of people. It’s different performing for two people than twelve. I was reminded of my Alexander Keith days, when we’d have to do the tour for three or two or even ONE person! It’s also harder to perform in front of your peers.

And boy, was I glad that I’d already showed Chad and Sam everything. Because they were a big help in the classroom! The attendance cap was twenty–ten people showed up. That was plenty. Because the workshop had some HTML stuff in it–and while HTML isn’t strictly necessary, it’s VERY useful for the way I create eBooks–I had to go around to every person after I explained a concept to ensure they got it. I guess I expected it to be a little easier than it actually was for people. There’s a big difference between knowing zero code and knowing how to decipher what’s going on. I was also really surprised at the number of people actually interested in publishing their own books–only three of the ten raised their hands. I guess the rest just wanted to know how an eBook gets made? There was an eighty-year-old woman who was keeping up brilliantly–she wanted to put a memoir she was writing into eBook format! Very cool.

I think next time I need to have more contingency plans. I cut out some material that I felt too advanced in the moment, which gave me more time to talk about Amazon and keywording practices, but I’m wondering if I could have devoted that time to something else. Also, I should have been more vigilant about upselling my services. I mentioned it at the end but I should have had cards at the ready.

Doing workshops like these is something I really enjoy, and it’s a good use of my skills and time, and it’s part of my business that I want to develop further.

Seeing Friends Again

I’m glad I was able to get some visiting time in with Sam. We went to the public library in downtown Winnipeg and spent the afternoon there working and chatting about work. It’s a very beautiful library with large windows and lots of work areas.

At one point, Sam and I were discussing independent book distribution when an older man came to sit at our table. I’m not entirely sure why. There were plenty of empty tables around. He was reading a paper left there by someone else, but he kept giving us dirty looks as we continued our conversation. Eventually, after about five minutes, he stood up, and admonished us for being loud. Sam reminded him that this was a public library, and he was free to sit wherever he wanted. He remarked, “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

“We are working,” the two of us said.

The old man seemed to disagree, and left. Just because we’re not typing away quietly doesn’t mean we’re not evolving a potential project or moving something forward. Sam and I are both independent publishing professionals, doing our own thing, living and breathing the industry, and the two of us sharing info about the latest developments and future plans is vital. Also, no one can tell me not to talk to my BFF!!!

Calgary Expo 2016 Post Mortem

Look at our power stances! IT’S OUR SECRET TO SELLING A ZILLION COPIES OF EVERYTHING. Photo taken by Laksa Media.

Check out my other convention write-ups here:

– Hal-Con 2015

– Edmonton Expo 2015

– When Words Collide 2015

– Calgary Comic Expo 2015

– Hal-Con 2014

– Keycon 2014

– Hal-Con 2013

– C4 Winnipeg 2013

– When Words Collide 2013

– KeyCon 2013

General Impressions

This is the biggest con of the year, and I made the most out of it! It was a strong start to 2016 and my many, many events. My location was pretty great; excellent compared to last year. I was in the BMO, not the Big Four, and it made a huge difference on my sales. I was close to an entrance, in the row across from the guest artists. It’s a double-edged sword being across from the guest artists/media, since sometimes they have little to sell, or they’re not always there. I was a little worried on Thursday because some of them hadn’t shown up to populate their tables. Fortunately this did NOT impact sales at all! Most of them had attractive, colourful displays, especially by Friday. I bought the economy/small press table, which came with a draping–this, I think, is key to increasing presence.

Upping My Game

Knowing that I would be in a higher-trafficked area and competing with larger, overwhelming displays, I brought everything to the table for this year’s Calgary Expo.

New horizontal banner? Check. We had to put the grommets in ourselves because I was dumb and didn’t order the banner WITH them. Turns out, the banner was slightly too long for the space and drooped a bit. I had to fix it with clips throughout the con. But overall, it was extremely effective, and I got a lot of compliments. It was also funny to watch people walk by and whisper “Faery Ink Press…” as they read it, like they were doing a quiet incantation. I only set up my tall banner the last day, because there wasn’t a lot of room until Sunday when our left-side neighbour vacated his space (more below).

Display items like flowers (from Michael’s), the purple chest (Value Village find!), and the mask (Kate’s) to communicate what I’m about? Check! Everyone loved the mask. I may have to start selling masks, from the number of people who touched it and asked about it.

Brand new tablecloths? CHECK CHECK! They arrived just in time. They are exactly the colour I wanted, and I got them from Amazon.com. Bye-bye raggity purple sparkly fabric!

Elevating my display to eye-level, so that my covers can do the heavy-lifting? CHECK CHECK CHECK. Everyone loves The Violet Fox and The Silver Spear covers, so I ensured they were extremely visible to the public to reel in reluctant customers.

Better signage? Check. I created “YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION” and “YOUNG ADULT FANTASY” sheets with the cover art and pull quotes from reviews on Amazon and Goodreads so potential customers could see that actual people have read and enjoyed the work. I could’ve had better display for my buttons, but people tended to notice them anyway.

We also had candy to entice people to visit; mostly we got sneaky young children (too young to probably enjoy my stuff) taking some when they thought I wasn’t looking. By the Saturday, it was hungry con-goers who just needed a sugar boast to make it through. I don’t think having the candy necessarily boosted interest in my stuff, nor did it really afford the opportunity to open a conversation. I suppose it did keep young children busy when I was pitching to the YA-interested parents, so I may continue to do have something sweet on the table.

Everything was on point. I’ve talked before about how my display is evolving from an author display to a publisher display, and I was definitely in the publisher camp this time around. That’s GOOD – that’s how I’m branding myself. I am Faery Ink Press, but Faery Ink Press is also something separate from me; it’s the immortal part of me that will still be here when I’m gone.

Things I can still improve upon: I think I need more book-specific bookmarks and take-aways, so that people have a clear representation of a book that they can get in the future. At this point, I need to think seriously about publishing a story with faeries in it, because I had a lot of questions about that. My potential serial, tentatively called DARKEST FAE, will probably be next on the list besides The Violet Fox Series and the Sparkstone Saga. I also had a couple of people ask about audiobooks, which I currently don’t have. I think I’m a little ways off to justifying the cost of producing them (I think I’d want to just hire someone instead of revenue-sharing to ensure quality and have more control over the finished product). I also need better book stands/shelving (and more of them). Lastly, I think I’ll consider getting a larger space for next year (especially if I share with Kate) to maximize my display and presence.

Sales

All of my work and preparation paid off; I had my best con EVER, purely from a financial standpoint. I sold a lot, and made more money than I was expecting. I’m glad I moved from the Big Four building into the BMO. Thursday was surprisingly busy; I broke even on the first day! I think that gave everyone in our row high expectations for the rest of the weekend. Everyone seemed to be expecting a larger Saturday and Sunday, sales-wise, but we didn’t see that weekend “bump” that’s common at cons (most people attend on the weekend and drop most of their money then). Part of the reason for the lack of surge in sales could be the economy; Calgary is not doing so hot right now. Attendance was only up slightly from last year (103,000 from 102,000, if I’m remembering correctly).

On Thursday, I had a 5 eBooks for $10 promo, which went over really well. Even the regular con price (5 for $15) attracted a lot of people – it’s an opportunity to try everything without breaking the bank. I also knocked down the price of The Violet Fox and The Silver Spear for the day. I think I’ll continue to do that for subsequent cons.

Overall, I think my sales technique was vastly different from previous cons. Maybe it was the confidence from my display, or the amount of coffee I drank, but gathering the courage and the energy was surprisingly easy. Once I had caught their attention and interest, offering them a copy to interact with worked 90% of the time. Once again, The Violet Fox is a winner here because of the unique binding. It’s the most expensive product (singular) on the table yet it sells the most purely because of the quality of the production. Also I get very animated when I’m talking about it, and I’ve got that pitch down. That could be it too.

The Violet Fox and The Silver Spear pairing sold lots, and it’s a very good price point for me and the customer. The lil eBook bundle, even at full price, did very well for me too. People continue to buy the bundle and not individual eBooks.

People paying with credit cards made up 12% of my total sales, so about the same as Hal-Con 2015. Adam Dreece, who was next to me, managed to get a debit machine from TD Bank – it has a ~$15 monthly cost and it looks like a really old calculator, haha! I only lost $25 in sales because I didn’t take debit, so I’m still on the fence about getting a machine. I am doing quite a few cons this year, so that’s good to know that there’s a debit solution for Canadians that doesn’t break the bank for when I’m ready to take it on.

Many people said they’d find my book in bookstores: I told them where they could find it. I usually put little stock in follow-through, but I was more vigilant this time with making sure that people took my card or my bookmark. Because you never know!

Returning Customers

It’s always awesome having people come up to you out of the blue and ask, “When is the third book coming out?” I had quite a bit of that for the Sparkstone Saga. Hunger In Her Bones doesn’t come out until later this year – date currently unknown, late summer maybe – hopefully before September. I loved hearing that people adored my little science fiction series. Even though The Violet Fox gets the most love sales-wise, there’s a large chunk of my heart in Stars In Her Eyes and Dreams In Her Head. At its core, it’s about being away from home, standing strong, finding common ground with the people around you, and losing and re-finding hope in the face of fear. Also surprisingly were the people who told me they loved Within. It’s a weird little book too that’s hard to categorize sometimes, and probably doesn’t represent my writing style now (2011 is a long time ago!) but hey, cool if you enjoy it!

Cons are Exhausting

Face-blindness kicked in pretty early on in the four-day run. It’s like part of my brain said, “Nope, too many people to process. BYE!” If you talked to me, said you were interested in buying but had to think about it, and then came back, it’s possible that I would not have realized I had talked to you earlier. Even trying to remember faces by particular characteristics (“Person with the short brown hair and glasses”) was impossible, because it seemed like at least a third of the people I talked to fit that description. Only if people said, “I’m back!” would give me a cue to NOT go into my pitch. I’d get this sometimes when I worked at Alexander Keith’s–because hundreds of people would go on that tour every day, I’d accidentally end up pitching the tour to people who I LITERALLY just sang at five minutes ago.

But Calgary Expo saw 100,000 people over four days. There were times when I’d even approach the neighbouring table persons as they walked by, as if I hadn’t seen them before. I don’t know whether this is just me and my brain having a low tolerance to face differentiation (I am already terrible at telling actors apart if they have similar hair, body weight, and roles in various TV shows/movies) or if there is scientific basis for your brain “switching off” in the face of overwhelming stimuli (seems plausible?). I’m just so in the zone at cons, that if I see someone who I KNOW but don’t see on a regular basis, I will blank on your face, name, and everything else about you until you tell me who you are. I even did this to Lizzy at Hal-Con last year, a FRIEND who I WENT TO SCHOOL WITH AND HAVE KNOWN FOR 10+ YEARS. Sorry!!

As for physical exhaustion, this con took the cake. I stood for 99% of the time for four days. Kate and I got smart and had a yoga mat, which helped A LOT, but because of the high traffic, and the height of my display, sitting down and being seen wasn’t really plausible. I’d come home sore and ready for bed…

…except that my brain wouldn’t let me sleep. My mind would be reeling, thinking of new selling strategies, thinking of ways to improve my display, thinking of what books to publish next, thinking of how I can improve my website further and oh yes, do I need more bookmarks, more business cards, more take-away items? It’s just part of being a entrepreneurial author, and I often harness this creative energy to get more done immediately after a con.

Young People, Again

Even more than last year, I noticed teens with their parents attending the Expo. Some even were exploring on their own. Man is it ever getting harder to tell what age people are, though that could be the aforementioned face-blindness. I had a lot of younger teens asking the parents to buy my books. Some had their own money, and spent it gladly at my table. I even had some parents buying for their absent children, physical or eBook – because some younger teens prefer the eBooks, and read them on tablets. Good to know!

Crash & Burn – The Queer Space Opera

My assistant/friend Kate has been a huge help to me and this year, she and her friend Finn have a brand new comic, Crash and Burn. There’s new pages on Fridays, posted for free online, but they had print copies of the first two issues done for the various cons this year. Kate asked if she could have copies on the table to sell, and I agreed. Tables are expensive at Calgary Expo, and it’s difficult to get into when you’re first starting (it took me two years of applying/being on the wait list).

All reactions fell into one of two categories:

1. “Queer Space Opera? SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!”

2. “Space opera? What does that mean? Queer? I am confused but tell me more!”

To be clear, Crash and Burn isn’t about the LGBTQ experience, all the characters/alien races just happen to fall into one or more of those categories and they’re trying to survive being stranded on a planet after crash-landing. You can read it for free online!

Having it on my table made me doubly aware of how I interact and gender people. Lately I’ve become more aware of my language when addressing and interacting with the public, and I know that I’m still learning a lot when it comes to LGBTQ issues. One major change is how I explain who my books are for. I used to lean towards the “my books have young female protagonists, so yes, girls would probably enjoy them more” camp. But now I’m realizing that my books aren’t “for” girls–they’re for people. Your gender doesn’t make you like a certain story more than another. It’s the experiences of the protagonist and the themes of the story that speak to the individual.

The comic was on the table for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Finn came and helped me out and sold on Saturday, and it was nice to get to know them. They’re the illustrator. We bonded over our mutual love of Mass Effect and especially Garrus! On Sunday, the table to the left of us had to vacate due to a family emergency, so Kate moved the Crash and Burn stuff over to fill part of that table since the Expo staff didn’t want an empty table showing. Kate continued to sell fairly well, and Finn showed up again for support and to sign copies. At the end of the day, apparently three young persons approached the table, extremely emotional, because they had finally found a comic that represented them.

When we were cleaning up, Kate herself was almost in tears. It’s overwhelming when your sell your work to people for the first time, but to see her speak to and resonate with her community is pretty amazing. Also, did I mention that Crash and Burn is nominated for an Aurora Award? I’m really happy to have Kate on my team; she’s someone I can trust, and I’ve learned a lot from her these past few months. I’m hoping we can collaborate more in the future and it’s going to be fun watching this comic grow into something more powerful than itself.

Cool People

Kirby Krackle (Kyle) came and chatted with me about indie publishing. His booth was almost directly across from mine. I hadn’t put two and two together and realized that he’s on Peter Chiykowski‘s Borken Telephone record that I backed on Kickstarter last year. Peter and I had our usual chats during the show and after. It’s nice to see his friendly face and hear about how his projects evolve.

Greg Chomichuk was there, being his old self, of course. It was good to hang out with him, however briefly, before exhaustion overtook me. I enjoy his energy. It’s nice to be around people who have similar brains to mine; who are always thinking about the next project. DO A BUSINESS GREG. We’ll have more time to scheme at WWC this August.

Thank you to all my Calgary writer/publisher friends who came and chatted with me throughout the show. It’s nice to see a friendly face to keep morale up.

Also I met Wolf Cop, and he licked my face! CHADWICK IS JEALOUS. Also, I’m like a grandma in this picture, clutching my purse so that the big bad wolf does not steal it. Also-also, I only noticed Peter in the background later being like WHAT.

Final Thoughts

Calgary Expo is a staple con for serious independent creators, especially if you live in the west. For as long as I’m able, I’ll go.

Check out my other con experiences here:

– Hal-Con 2015

– Edmonton Expo 2015

– When Words Collide 2015

– Calgary Comic Expo 2015

– Hal-Con 2014

– Keycon 2014

– Hal-Con 2013

– C4 Winnipeg 2013

– When Words Collide 2013

– KeyCon 2013

How to Finish What You Start – 3 Tips for the Anxious Writer

My newsletter has needed a revamp for many moons. It’s one of those things that’s been on my to-do list for ages but always gets bumped back in favour of client work, or writing, or anything else that’s way more fun.

But since one of my 2016 goals is to improve Faery Ink Press sales, one night I finally sat down and outlined The Perfect Newsletter. It had all kinds of cool things in it. The You-Choose stuff. Links to stuff I’m doing, but also links to what my creative friends are doing, and cool stuff that relates to the Faery Ink Press brand. From there I also redesigned the newsletter template to match my website’s new look. Things felt good. They felt right. I wrote up the majority of the newsletter draft.

Key word there being “majority.”

When you exercise your creative muscles regularly, you start to figure out your natural rhythms. My natural rhythm is: get excited about a project. Write down ideas and projected outcomes. Work on the project until the excitement or the hours in the day run out.

And then…I get a new idea. Or a new project gets dropped in my lap. The passion for my current project has flickered out. It’s yesterday’s candle. What’s more fun: lighting a brand new, fresh candle with an undiscovered scent, or returning to a used bit of wax and string?

For me, the last ten percent of a project isn’t just the hardest–it’s an insurmountable wall. I will put it off for days or months, not because I can’t make time for it, but because with every day that passes that I don’t work on it, my anxiety surrounding the project grows. I haven’t worked on this story for months–I can’t go back to it today. I can go back to it tomorrow. It’s that chronic anxiety-fueled procrastination that builds up the project in my mind, and eventually becomes so anxiety-filled itself that I can’t touch it without stressing myself out.

Scheduling a time to complete the tainted work is only successful about half the time. It’s easy when you work for yourself to shift projects around. Usually the project I’m putting off is mine, and what’s worse, I’m more likely to prioritize my client work. Saying, “I’ll work on this tomorrow afternoon” is all well and good until you actually arrive in the moment, and the anxiety overtakes you, or a client calls with a pressing issue that you need to take care of.

You’re probably wondering at this point how I get anything done.

Well…I have to trick my mind.

“Let’s just open the document and take a peek. Peeking is not a commitment,” I will say.

Yes, that sounds good, says my brain. Looking is safe.

“Hmm,” I’ll say. “Well, this is mostly done. As I suspected. All I have to do is A, B, and C. And I can do C right now.”

Tip #1: Do the easiest thing first.

Oh, my brain says. Okay, we can do C. But A and B are SO HARD. They will take HOURS and they are very boring and why don’t we check YouTube for that upbeat song maybe?

“Okay, C is done. A and B are hard.” This is the first test. I have a calming music list that I will put on at the beginning of this session if I’m especially worked up over the project. “But let’s evaluate. Do we really need A in this project?”

Hmm, you’re right! I feel much better if we remove A completely.

Tip #2: Evaluate all aspects of the unfinished project. If it can function without this piece of the project, remove it, or insert it in a later incarnation.

“That part is gone. Wow, I feel so much better. We just have one part left.”

This is a critical juncture. It’s very easy at this moment for me to leave the project and not return to it until I absolutely have to. After all, I’ve accomplished TWO things–that deserves a reward! Sometimes I give in and reward myself with a little break, or I work on another project.

Tip #3: Almost Doesn’t Count. Reward the 100% – not the 99.9%.

To do this, I take a hard look at the remaining work. How long do I think this is going to take me? Knowing how many woman-hours are left quantifies the project, which makes everything seem more achievable. If I know I have half an hour left, then that means it’s T-30 minutes until a reward. Which makes me work harder.

I also break down the tasks remaining. Does this last leg of the journey require me to do some research? Sign up for a service? Go back to a previous draft and cross-reference a world-building fact? You’d be surprised how small tasks can seem daunting after hours spent on one project. That’s why I need to break it down into steps and quantify the time I need to spend to get it done to move forward.

“I just need to do this one little thing that will take me two minutes, and then I can fill in this blank, then we’re done!”

Oh, really? Is that it? Are you sure? My brain panics at the last moment.

“Really sure. Look, I’ve gone and done it. We’re totally done.”

Cue a huge wave of relief. Silly brain, getting all worked up!

Allowing projects to grow out of proportion is a danger when you’re juggling a lot of different things. By tackling almost-finished projects and re-evaluating the remaining work, you will eliminate unneeded burdens and be able to focus on the things that are actually important on your list.

Christmas Trivia with the Marshalls

The following is a huge blast from the past. I posted this on an old blog of mine, and the text document I copied this from is dated December 16, 2007 — eight years ago! I’ve edited it slightly and posted it here because I think it’s hilarious, and in the spirit of the season. Questions and their answers have been bolded so you can play along too. Enjoy!

While the four of us were sitting around watching the horrible claymation version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Mom said suddenly, “Do you want to play trivia?”

“Um…how?” I asked.

She explained that she had went to a conference for work recently and one of her coworkers had brought in a page of Christmas Trivia questions. So we agreed, and got some pens and paper. Mom also promised prizes for the person who got the most right. There were 23 questions in all; when Mom had went through them all, we compared answers.

1. What is the common theme of 6 of the first 7 gifts in the 12 days of Christmas?

“They’re all chickens,” Dad answered.

“No, they’re all birds,” Jessie and I answered.

2. The editorial “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” was first published in what New York City Newspaper?

“The New York Times,” Dad and I said. Jessie had no guess.

“No,” Mom said. “It was the New York Sun.”

“Do we get points if we guessed New York?” Dad asked.

“No,” Mom replied.

“Well I’m marking it correct anyways,” Dad said, and ticked a check mark on his paper.

3. Complete this line from the editorial: “Alas, how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no ___________”

A: Virginias

4. In what country did the Christmas tree tradition originate?

“Germany,” I answered.

“Austria,” Dad said.

“No, it’s Germany,” Mom said.

“I don’t think so,” Dad protested. “I think you’ll have to check your sources on that.”

“No, it’s Germany,” Mom argued.

Dad shook his head. “I’m marking it right anyway.”

5. To which capital city does the city of Oslo give a Christmas Tree every year? Hint: Oslo is in Norway.

“Paris?” I guessed.

“Washington,” Jessie said.

“No, it’s London,” Mom corrected.

“London? How are we supposed to know that?” Dad complained. “This is too American. I’m marking mine right.”

Mom laughed.

6. Viscum album is the Latin name for what Christmas item?

“Mistletoe?” I guessed.

“Yep,” Mom said.

“I said manger chocolate biscuits,” Dad said.

7. What was the name of Clement Moore’s 1822 poem later renamed “Twas the Night before Christmas?”

“Breast of the New Fallen Snow,” Dad guessed. “It was too controversial so the printer wouldn’t print it.”

Mom laughed. “No, it’s A Visit from St. Nicholas.”

8. How many ghosts visit Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol?

A: Four: Marley, and the three ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

9. In which Middle Eastern city would you find Manger Square?

A: Bethlehem. Dad actually got that one right.

10. In the meadow we can build a snowman, then pretend he is Parson Brown. Who else do they pretend he is in Winter Wonderland?

A: A Circus clown

11. This ranks as the third largest occasion behind Christmas and Thanksgiving for Americans to consume food.

“Fourth of July?” I guessed.

“Halloween,” Dad said. (I laughed, but now I see the logic in that-lots of candy).

“Easter,” Jessie said.

“Nope, this one is really American,” Mom said. “It’s Super Bowl Sunday.”

12. The first charity Christmas card was produced by who in 1949?

A: UNICEF

13. The name of the horse in the timeless holiday song “Jingle Bells” is…?

“Bob-tail,” I answered.

“Yep,” Mom said.

“See, that’s not a name,” Dad said. “Bobbing the tail is scronging it up so that poop and snow don’t get into it. I think some of these should be fact checked…I’m marking mine right anyway.”

14. In the 1966 “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” TV special, what biological shortcoming made the Grinch so mean?

“Heart was two sizes too small,” I answered.

“Head screwed on too tight,” Jessie added.

“Having your head screwed on too tight isn’t a biological shortcoming, it’s a biological impossibility,” Dad commented. “So that’s wrong.”

After an argument, Mom said no, that the Grinch’s head was indeed screwed on to tight as indicated by the show, so Jessie gained a point.

15. If you received all the gifts in the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, you’d have how many gifts?

A: 364 (On the first day you’d get 1, second day you’d get 3, third day 6, etc.)

16. The string on this children’s food boxes were designed so the boxes could be hung on Christmas trees.

“Crackerjacks,” Dad said.

“Popcorn string?” I guessed. “I don’t know, that’s confusing.”

“No, it’s Animal Crackers,” Mom replied.

“Animal Crackers? Crackerjacks are more American than Animal Crackers. I’m marking mine right.”

17. The biggest selling Christmas single of all time is…?

A: White Christmas, by Bing Crosby. (Duh!)

18. Before he picked this name for this character in “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens also considered using Little Larry, Puny Pete and Small Sam.

“Tiny Tim,” I said. “That one’s easy.”

Dad didn’t say anything.

“What did you put?” Mom asked him.

“Well I thought we had to choose between those names, so I said Puny Pete,” Dad said.

The three of us burst out laughing.

19. What two children’s TV characters take their names from the cop and the taxi driver in the holiday classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”?

A: Bert and Ernie. (That’s one of my favourite movies)

20. After hearing a clatter, “I” ran to the window. What did I do?

“Threw open the shutters and drew up the sash,” Mom said, after none of us could get it word-for-word.

“Now how would he do that?” Dad said. “The shutters are outside the window. Let me get this straight. He smashed the window glass to get to the shutters, and then opened the sash, which was on the inside? I don’t think he’d be seeing anything at that point, except maybe a hospital.”

21. Did St. Nick smoke in Twas a Night before Christmas?

A: He smoked a pipe and the smoke circled his head like a wreath.

“Santa won’t be smoking in his sleigh anymore with the new laws,” Dad muttered.

“Only if he’s going to the valley,” Jessie added.***

22. Frosty the snowman’s first words when he comes to life are…?

“Catch me if you can,” Dad said.

“No, it’s Happy Birthday,” Mom corrected.

“What?” the three of us questioned.

“It’s from this show that used to come on,” Mom explained. “He’d say it at the beginning of the show. It’s not from the song.”

“I’m marking mine right,” Dad said.

23. What is the name of the Christmas Carol that begins, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…”?

A: The Christmas Song

We counted up our scores. Dad got 14 out of 23, I got 9 and Jessie got 8. Mom disappeared upstairs for the prize and we waited.

“I won,” Dad said.

“Clarence didn’t get any!” Mom yelled from upstairs.

She came back down with mint chocolate and a bag of chocolate covered cranberries. She gave Jessie and I each two mint chocolates: they’re her favourite type of chocolate.

“Do I get mint chocolate too?” Dad asked.

“You didn’t win,” Mom said defiantly.

She offered the bag of chocolate covered cranberries and Dad held out his hand. “Oh, I get these…they look like bunny poop. See if you would’ve asked me what bunny poop was, I would’ve said cruddle, and that would’ve been right.”

“Yes, but that’s not Christmas.”

“Well, Easter then. I’ll make my own trivia, and it will be Canadian.”

So I guess the plan is to make up new questions for Christmas Day, when the family is over.** Canadian trivia, and not silly American trivia. Maybe then, Dad will win.

**This did not end up happening, but he is right, he probably would have won.

***In December 2007, Nova Scotia became the first province in Canada to ban smoking in cars when driving with children, though I’m not sure what it has to do with the valley. Thoughts?

The Design Evolution of Faery Ink Press

Creating a new website for FaeryInkPress.com has been on my to-do list for a while. Almost as long as creating a new website for my freelancing website.

Truth is I was never 100% satisfied with Faery Ink Press’s look. It can take a while to put your finger on what works and what doesn’t in site design and function, though it had become clear to me in the recent months that the site design just wasn’t professional enough, wasn’t clear enough for the market.

It didn’t truly represent the feel and look I was trying to convey.

It’s okay, though. With each incarnation, I improve. Faery Ink Press has had several looks over the years…

I think this is the only screenshot I have of the very first incarnation of Faery Ink Press. Back then, it was my personal blog, where I posted stories. Though it’s dated 2008, it looked like that ever since at least 2004 with few changes. Roomies was my ongoing silly story about four Sims living in a house together as part of a reality show where THE PRODUCER (caps deliberate) would talk to them and “make” them do things FOR THE SAKE OF RATINGS. And by “make” I don’t mean in a sexual way–despite the description. The characters were fully aware that they were Sims (at least some of them were). I still have a few episodes somewhere, alas, the rest is lost.

I started blogging in earnest in 2006 or so, when I entered university, when blogging was gaining in popularity, and definitely highlights that I thought people cared about what little old me had to say.

I’m not sure if this one ever actually made it to the site, but I remember working on it back in 2009/10 before I graduated King’s. I was sure then that I would go into publishing–that I would publish myself, and grow Faery Ink Press into something meaningful. Darkest Fae is still something I’m working on (and hope to release as a serial). Two-Spirit I actually have about 50,000 words of online, and started to rewrite into novella-sized bites on my own. Don’t know if I’ll ever release it officially–I guess we’ll have to see!

But it’s here where you can see the beginnings of what I hoped to create. An “actual” publishing entity, and not just silly blog posts and stories by a young teenager.

For a while, I used blog.faeryinkpress.com as my personal blog, hosted on Blogger. This is the first step I took to differentiating Faery Ink Press and Clare C. Marshall. I did this for a while, but stopped when I decided to implement WordPress and blend everything in a more professional way.

This was when I started using WordPress, in 2010. I was (and still am) attracted to the magazine style template. It was the direction I wanted to head in, though I just couldn’t shake that purple. Ohh and that Bleeding Cowboy font!! No, no, never again. That word cloud you see in the slider, though, is for what would eventually become Within.

And of course, the latest design before the current. I absolutely hated the front page, even when I put up the theme. I liked everything else, and did a lot of heavy modding to the blog and archive pages to make them look agreeable, but that front page is just hideous. The sidebars didn’t really add much and everything was small and a bit all over the place.

That header with the newsletter sign up was a recent addition to the site that I liked a lot. Unfortunately having it in the current design made everything a bit clunky.

I think with this current design I shed a lot of the distractions from the younger me and narrowed in on what Faery Ink Press is: a publishing entity that publishes and sells books for young adults. Website design is a constantly evolving thing, though, just like publishing. I doubt this will be the last look Faery Ink Press ever has.