Clare C. Marshall's Blog, page 12

Return to Keycon: Things I Learned

It’s time again for my con wrap-up posts! This is my second time at Keycon in Winnipeg. For those unfamiliar with my previous Things I Learned posts, see my posts for Hal-Con, C4-Con, When Words Collide, and my first Keycon.

Keycon 30 vs Keycon 31

Last year’s Keycon was a big deal because it was the 30th anniversary of the con. There were about 700-800 people there, according to some of the people I talked to. This year, barely 500. The great thing about Keycon is that people there actually do buy books. I made slightly more sales at Keycon than I did at C4 Con. But I didn’t do as well at this year’s Keycon. Last year had bigger guests with wider appeal, and that coupled with a non-anniversary year probably lead to a lower attendance.

I did, however, have several people remember me–and several people asking for the Violet Fox‘s sequel, The Silver Spear–which won’t be out until next year at least (more about that in another blog post). I did have people buying Dreams In Her Head because they bought Stars In Her Eyes last year, so that was nice.

Booth Set-Up and Other Logistics

Same venue as last year and same dealer’s room. There seemed to be more dealers this year and the tables were crammed together. This was problematic because to get out from behind the table, you had to disturb other vendors and walk behind their exhibits OR crawl underneath your table. So that was a little annoying.

Sam and I shared at table. Her book, The Lake and the Library, has been nominated for an Aurora this year, very exciting!! So while she did panels I helped sell her fantastic book to the masses. In exchange, I slept on her couch. She’s a good friend and is very hospitable, and she also works in the publishing industry and does freelance like me–we have a lot in common so it’s nice to visit with her!

We were next to Scott A. Ford, graphic novelist extraordinaire! He writes, illustrates, colours, and publishes his own graphic novels. His work looked very professional, and he’s just graduated university with a graphic design degree, and already he was nominated for a Manitoba Book Award. He got a lot of interest, especially Sunday morning, and I had a really great time chatting with him about publishing and the different con experiences we’ve had. One interesting thing he said was at cons like C4, it’s hard to not get discouraged by the sea of fan art. Promoting an original work in a place where people mostly want show merchandise is challenging but he seems to be doing really well, so POWER TO HIM!!

Random pics from my table!!

It’s a Sam, with her little Sailor Moon Transformer Locket! She is secretly a Sailor Scout.

Things I Improved On From Last Year’s Keycon:

-Clear Signage! Since C4 and Hal-Con, I have a printed sign with all the prices listed on them. Big improvement on my pink cardboard!

-No one tried to steal my Lil eBooks. YAY. But I also didn’t make as many eBook sales. Last year I sold them 3 for $5, this year I did 4 for $10. Maybe it was a combination of fewer attendees and the higher price.

-Table Dressings. I have my pretty purple fabric, wooo!

-Pretty New Bookmarks. I have all the pretties. Unfortunately I’m almost out of stickers and buttons, as the girl who made them has run out.

Things I Still Need to Work On

My Sign SUCKS

I had my large 7-8ft tall pretty sign since When Words Collide last year but the stand REALLY SUCKS. I didn’t even bother taking the stand implements and just took the printed sign to hang on the wall. That lasted all of an hour before it came down–we didn’t have the correct tape. So I’m thinking I’ll just go to Staples and see if they’ll be able to attach my sign to a roll-up stand. I got my sign done at Digital Post originally but I got the cheapest option, so maybe that’s what it sucks? I just can’t get it to not fall over, and when you’re dealing with high-trafficked rooms, it’s important to have a functional sign.

Diversifying Merchandise

While I give away my stickers and buttons for free, I could certainly sell them for $1 or $2. At large cons this is especially true, where I noticed there are swarms of people who collect buttons and will spend lots of time picking out their favourites at various vendors’ tables. So I was thinking of creating 5-10 designs and printing a variety to sell. I think this will go over really well at Hal-Con because the women next to me last year had a large basket, and sold something like $2 per button, and probably made a fortunate on that alone. Scott A. Ford was doing this, and it seemed to be working well for him.

T-shirts, I’m not sure about. I’d like to have fitted t-shirts with scoop or V-necks, higher quality, maybe with some pretty sparklies? Oh god, I’ve seen t-shirts with just a person’s book cover on them, straight-up, and it does not look good. So I’d do a pretty-fied version of the Faery Ink Press logo, maybe a quote from the Violet Fox or Sparkstone series. I’d also have to figure out the logistics of printing all these shirts and in the correct sizes!

Changing the Way We Perceive Dealer Space

So I have a table, I put books and such on it, and I sit behind it…but what if I had collapsible bookshelves that I could roll into the space, ditch the table (or bring my own smaller one) and make it like a mini bookstore? And I’d like to have hard signs that could fold up, to put on top of the shelves, illustrating my various series. This doesn’t work as well in a smaller space like Keycon (unless I bought two tables worth of space) but this is something I’d like to work towards 2-3 years down the road.

Ma peeps! Aka, Making Relationships is Important

I’ve made quite a few friends in Winnipeg over the past year or two. Returning to Winnipeg for the con is super fun because I know I’ll get to hang out with them. Being surrounded by people who share similar goals or have achieved similar things as you is so refreshing and motivating. There’s no competition, no judgement, it’s just a bunch of people getting together and sharing creative experiences and ideas.

Also, this is as good a place as any to mention, Chadwick’s book, Tombstone Blues, is also up for an Aurora this year, and his first book Thunder Road won the Michael Van Rooy Award for Genre Fiction this year. So he’s KIND OF A BIG STAR NOW! In Manitoba.

Probably some of the most awesome moments happened outside of the Dealer’s Room and the con itself. A bunch of us (Samantha Beiko, Chadwick Ginther, GMB Chomichuk, Perry Grosshans, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and another guy, sorry, I can’t remember your name!) went out for Indian food, and then we went to see GODZILLA in the theatre. Super fun! See these author “rollercoaster” pics as proof of our fun.

I’ve had a few conversations with GMB Chomichuk before but we got to talking at the restaurant. He is probably the most positive, make-your-art-happen, leadership guy I’ve ever met. He was SUPER SWEET to a bunch of children who showed up for a late-night zombie panel. It was mostly just our crowd and the kids, and he drew each kid a zombie picture. Shark zombie, Picachu zombie, he made it happen!

Anyway, at the restaurant, he had an interesting idea about making an illustrated short story–limited print run (100-250 copies), sell at $25 price point at comic cons, which not only would make for a tidy profit but also would give people a taste of my work. He did this and apparently it sold really well at C4 Con, despite it being up on his website for free. I like this idea a lot. I could do a Violet Fox short story, convince my sister to illustrate, and lay it out myself (and maybe with some help from Dave!). It would be something different from what I’ve done in the past but it could be a really great way to engage more people at large cons. I’ve already got some vague ideas about a prequel story for the Violet Fox, which would show us more of the Freetors’ lives and explore the conflict between the Fighters and the Extremists.

Other notables: Sherry Peters, had a great chat with her. She’s publishing a novel near and dear to her heart–Mabel the Lovelorn Dwarf–this coming August, launching at When Words Collide, and I can’t wait to read it. We discussed the best ways to lure people into signing up to a newsletter. She’s giving away some short stories! Also chatted briefly with Rob Sawyer a few times, and he said he thought the cover for the Violet Fox was beautiful! You know, I’ve never actually heard Rob speak (in person) at conventions, I hear he’s super great, I’m always just manning my table. I should probably sneak away some time.

Would I Go Back?

I’m not returning next year because I have scheduling conflicts, but the high cost of my plane ticket makes me re-think Keycon and whether it’s financially worth it. I was close to breaking even. The flight really kills me, and I’m not eligible for travel grants because I publish my own stuff. Maybe I’ll take the bus next time…but there goes about a day each way. Although I could work on the bus. Oh well. There’s definitely a community there and I had numerous people come up to me and say that they remembered me from last year, so that was super cool, but I’ll have to decide over the next year or so whether Keycon 2016 will happen for me.

For your consideration: The 2014 Aurora Awards

It’s that time of year–time for you to cast your vote for the Aurora Awards!

For those of you who don’t know, the Aurora Awards honor the best in Canadian science fiction and fantasy literary works, artwork, and other fan activities every year. There are multiple categories available and my 2013 release, Stars In Her Eyes, is eligible for this year’s YA Novel category.

Why Should I Care?

The Aurora award highlights the best of Canadian science fiction and fantasy. It’s easy for Canadians to get lost in popular media because our culture is saturated with American culture. The Aurora award allows Canadian artists to be featured and recognized by the science fiction and fantasy community across the country!

Why Should I Vote For Your Book?

Elevator pitch: Stars In Her Eyes (Sparkstone Saga #1) is X-men with aliens set in Northern Alberta.
It features a group of friends with a variety of superpowers: invisibility, communication and manipulation of technology, mind-reading, the power to shoot fire and ice from hands, teleportation, and foreseeing the future in dreams.
Grey villains: they have hidden agendas that aren’t completely nefarious…but aren’t 100% “good” either.
Strong female characters. Ingrid Stanley, our protagonist, wears tall boots and would much rather fight aliens in space than go on a date.
Lots of action! You won’t be bored when you read this book.
Pretty cover! I guess if you don’t have time to read the book…well…at least I get points for style?

The eBook version is available on Amazon Kindle store for just 99 cents, so why not pick up a copy and judge it for yourselves before casting your vote? It’s also available at the Kobo store and other e-retailers, and from me directly.

You can also read the first three chapters for free here!

Want to read reviews? See Goodreads.

How Do I Vote?

If you are Canadian, you are eligible to vote! For instructions on how to nominate a Canadian artist, please see the Prix Aurora Awards website. It costs $10 to become a member and cast your vote.

How Can I See Who Else Is Eligible?

For a list of other eligible works, please see here!

If you don’t vote for me in the YA category, consider voting for my friend S.M. Beiko‘s book, The Lake and the Library , because it’s really good! Her prose is very beautiful. You can also vote for her and Sandra Kasturi for the Imaginarium 2013 anthology in the Best Related Work category. Also, she’s teamed up with Chadwick and they operate the Winnipeg flavour of the Chiaroscuro Reading Series together, eligible under Best Fan Organizational. She basically doesn’t sleep, I guess? She deserves all your votes.
My friend Chadwick Ginther also has a book eligible, Tombstone Blues, sequel to Thunder Road! His Norse-mythology-in-Winnipeg fantasy is pretty badass. If you are a Loki fan, then you will like his stuff. Also tattoos. So many. And talking ravens? Yes.
Randy McCharles is tireless in his commitment to promoting speculative fiction from publishers big and small! He is the chair of When Words Collide so vote him in the Best Fan Organizational category. He also has some short fiction eligible in The Puzzle Box anthology as well as a story in the Urban Green Man anthology.

…and so, so many more!

Vote! Vote! Vote! The deadline for voting is April 12, 2014. Good luck to all the authors and content creators!!!!

Go vote now!!>>

For your consideration: The 2013 Aurora Awards

It’s that time of year–time for you to cast your vote for the Aurora Awards!

For those of you who don’t know, the Aurora Awards honor the best in Canadian science fiction and fantasy literary works, artwork, and other fan activities every year. There are multiple categories available and my 2013 release, Stars In Her Eyes, is eligible for this year’s YA Novel category.

Why Should I Care?

The Aurora award highlights the best of Canadian science fiction and fantasy. It’s easy for Canadians to get lost in popular media because our culture is saturated with American culture. The Aurora award allows Canadian artists to be featured and recognized by the science fiction and fantasy community across the country!

Why Should I Vote For Your Book?

Elevator pitch: Stars In Her Eyes (Sparkstone Saga #1) is X-men with aliens set in Northern Alberta.
It features a group of friends with a variety of superpowers: invisibility, communication and manipulation of technology, mind-reading, the power to shoot fire and ice from hands, teleportation, and foreseeing the future in dreams.
Grey villains: they have hidden agendas that aren’t completely nefarious…but aren’t 100% “good” either.
Strong female characters. Ingrid Stanley, our protagonist, wears tall boots and would much rather fight aliens in space than go on a date.
Lots of action! You won’t be bored when you read this book.
Pretty cover! I guess if you don’t have time to read the book…well…at least I get points for style?

The eBook version is available on Amazon Kindle store for just 99 cents, so why not pick up a copy and judge it for yourselves before casting your vote? It’s also available at the Kobo store and other e-retailers, and from me directly.

You can also read the first three chapters for free here!

Want to read reviews? See Goodreads.

How Do I Vote?

If you are Canadian, you are eligible to vote! For instructions on how to nominate a Canadian artist, please see the Prix Aurora Awards website. It costs $10 to become a member and cast your vote.

How Can I See Who Else Is Eligible?

For a list of other eligible works, please see here!

If you don’t vote for me in the YA category, consider voting for my friend S.M. Beiko‘s book, The Lake and the Library , because it’s really good! Her prose is very beautiful. You can also vote for her and Sandra Kasturi for the Imaginarium 2013 anthology in the Best Related Work category. Also, she’s teamed up with Chadwick and they operate the Winnipeg flavour of the Chiaroscuro Reading Series together, eligible under Best Fan Organizational. She basically doesn’t sleep, I guess? She deserves all your votes.
My friend Chadwick Ginther also has a book eligible, Tombstone Blues, sequel to Thunder Road! His Norse-mythology-in-Winnipeg fantasy is pretty badass. If you are a Loki fan, then you will like his stuff. Also tattoos. So many. And talking ravens? Yes.
Randy McCharles is tireless in his commitment to promoting speculative fiction from publishers big and small! He is the chair of When Words Collide so vote him in the Best Fan Organizational category. He also has some short fiction eligible in The Puzzle Box anthology as well as a story in the Urban Green Man anthology.

…and so, so many more!

Vote! Vote! Vote! The deadline for voting is April 12, 2014, and after that the shortlist is compiled. Good luck to all the authors and content creators!!!!

Go vote now!!>>

Dreams In Her Head RELEASE!

Hurray! Today is a big day, it’s the release of my fourth book, DREAMS IN HER HEAD, the second book in the Sparkstone Saga.

Below you will find all the information you’ll need about it, including how to order your very own copy.

Title: Dreams In Her Head

Series: Book 2 of the Sparkstone Series (see here!)

Add to Goodreads: Faery Ink Press (Direct from Author-Publisher!)

Description:

Open the door.

Step quickly, step through.

Breathe in the darkness,

Until you are its master.

Ingrid Stanley is in more trouble than she knows. Ingrid’s dead friend keeps showing up in her dreams along with mysterious visions that feel all-too real. What’s worse is now the Collective knows that Ingrid is supposed to have superpowers. They’re waiting to pounce the moment Ingrid and her new superpower-wielding friends make a mistake.

When her family is threatened by Professor Jadore, Ingrid decides it’s time to take matters into her own hands. A little student protest can’t go wrong, she thinks. Not when her almost-boyfriend Ethan is fully supporting it. Not when her friends put an innocent student’s life in danger to make it successful.

Not when a powerful alien is waiting for Ingrid to inadvertently summon him into this world.

Everything’s going to be fine. Absolutely no one will get hurt this time.

…right?

Wrong, and wrong again.

Let’s Be Ambassadors

At conventions, I often hear people say that a publishing house called “Faery Ink Press” doesn’t sound like the kind of place that would publish science fiction. Granted, the name “faery” conjures up a lot of childish images, and/or sexualized images of women with wings, and nothing about aliens or space. But faery mythology spans a great range of strange and fearsome creatures (not all faeries are pretty women with wings!) and like the faery realm, space is a wondrous place.

Of course, the difference between the faery realm and space is that we have scientific proof that space exists. Still waiting on intelligent, extraterrestrial life though.

I’m a big science fiction fan. If I wasn’t a writer/general-creative-person I’d probably be an astronomer. From a young age I was always interested in the stars, and my dad introduced me to Star Trek and Star Wars before I went to elementary school. I won’t lie and say that science and math came easy for me, but I wasn’t terrible at it either. My undoing was missing one of the three days we did physics in Science 10 in high school. After that, physics was not appealing because I felt like I never caught up, and so I didn’t take it in grade eleven, thus, I felt like I couldn’t take it at a university level. And physics is kinda important in astronomy. >.<

That didn't damper my fascination with outer space, so, I'm a specfic writer instead. I went to university for journalism and I found there's a real lack of people explaining science in an interesting and understandable way to the public. And some journalists just sensationalize or don't ask enough questions when they don't understand a concept. That was my honours project, actually.

Science fiction writers are, and can be, ambassadors for science. The best science fiction has seeds of fact, and convinces the reader/viewer to suspend their sense of disbelief so that the rest of the world building can be accepted. The best science fiction makes us ask the big questions, and puts current hot or personal issues into perspective. It provides a playground to explore the what ifs.

True, not all science fiction media is perfect. For example, sound doesn’t travel in space, and yet, pew pew pew go the guns in Star Trek and Star Wars. Educational shows aren’t always 100% on the mark either. The new show Cosmos dazzled with special effects and did a great job taking concepts like the age of the universe and presenting it in a way that’s understandable, though using Bruno as an example of a martyr for science was somewhat controversial, as his heliocentric views were theological, and not scientific (translation: he correctly believed that the Earth revolved around the sun, but also proposed that the sun was just another star in the universe, and that because God is infinite, the universe he created must also be infinite). Although he challenged the status quo (which is good), he did so with no hard scientific evidence (which is not so good). Controversy and inaccuracy can get people asking questions, however, and maybe, just maybe, one of those people asking the questions might be inspired enough to venture into the sciences and figure out some answers. And isn’t that the point?

I’ve held back on writing some really nerdy space posts because I wasn’t sure if it would fit with my brand. But then I realized, it does fit my brand. Faery Ink Press is supposed to be about young women struggling with extraordinary and usually fantastical circumstances. What is more fantastical and extraordinary than the mysteries of the universe?

My science fiction books.

In the Sparkstone universe, there are a variety of aliens that make up the Collective. The Collective is a group of aliens who secretly control Sparkstone University–and are very interested in the students that go there. It’s up to Ingrid and her new friends to find out the Collective’s true agenda and protect the students. Read more about Stars In Her Eyes and the Sparkstone series.

Dreams In Her Head: Blog Tour Signup

Hi Everyone!

Time to get rolling on another blog tour.

It’s a little bit after the book release this time because I’m a little late putting this out, and I want to make sure the people who want to read the book(s) (especially those who need to read the first book) get the chance. Of course I’m open to more than just reviews during the tour–book blitz, interviews, guest posts, I’m down for all of these things!

If you haven’t seen it already, here’s the book.

DREAMS IN HER HEAD

Open the door.

Step quickly, step through.

Breathe in the darkness,

Until you are its master.

Ingrid Stanley is in more trouble than she knows. Ingrid’s dead friend keeps showing up in her dreams along with mysterious visions that feel all-too real. What’s worse is now the Collective knows that Ingrid is supposed to have superpowers. They’re waiting to pounce the moment Ingrid and her new superpower-wielding friends make a mistake.

When her family is threatened by Professor Jadore, Ingrid decides it’s time to take matters into her own hands. A little student protest can’t go wrong, she thinks. Not when her almost-boyfriend Ethan is fully supporting it. Not when her friends put an innocent student’s life in danger to make it successful.

Not when a powerful alien is waiting for Ingrid to inadvertently summon him into this world.

Everything’s going to be fine. Absolutely no one will get hurt this time.

. . . right?

Wrong, and wrong again.

***

Here’s a pretty badge for the tour!

Important Notes!

It’s your own fault if you don’t read this!

1. This is the second book in a series. The first book is available to read and review if you are a book blogger who wants to participate!

2. I only give e-copies for review. Sorry. Shipping from Canada to anywhere is extremely expensive. If you’ve read and enjoyed the book in e-form, consider purchasing the print copy for your personal collection! The back and the spine are extremely pretty.

Will I like this book?

If you enjoy:

young adult science fiction
spunky heroines who KICK BUTT!
grey-area villains (people with suspect motives, aka, doing the wrong things for the sort-of right reasons, etc)
grey-area heroes/heroines
budding romances (romance that progresses with the series)
books set in Canada! (a fictional town in Northern Alberta)

…then you’ll probably enjoy the Sparkstone Saga. There are some funny parts, some sad parts, but all-in-all, it’s a big adventure set in a university for super-smart young people…and some of those people happen to have superpowers. GASP!

Sign-Up Form!

Please comment, email clare (at) faeryinkpress (dot) com, or use the handy sign-up form below if you’re interested in participating, and I’ll get back to you with whatever things you need to get rolling on the tour. Please indicate a preferred day. I don’t mind having more than one blog on the same day!

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Participating Bloggers:

March 17:

March 18:

March 19:

March 20:

March 21:

March 22:

March 23:

March 24:

March 25:

March 26:

March 27:

March 28:

March 29:

March 30:

March 31:

Giveaway?

There will be no giveaway for this tour. Usually I do one, but not this time. Call it an experiment! Support a small press and buy a copy of one of my books.

Thank you for your consideration, and happy reading!

Dreams In Her Head: Cover Reveal!

It’s finally here…the cover, that is! The second book in the Sparkstone Saga, Dreams In Her Head…

Book Description

Open the door.

Step quickly, step through.

Breathe in the darkness,

Until you are its master.

Ingrid Stanley is in more trouble than she knows. Ingrid’s dead friend keeps showing up in her dreams along with mysterious visions that feel all-too real. What’s worse is now the Collective knows that Ingrid is supposed to have superpowers. They’re waiting to pounce the moment Ingrid and her new superpower-wielding friends make a mistake.

When her family is threatened by Professor Jadore, Ingrid decides it’s time to take matters into her own hands. A little student protest can’t go wrong, she thinks. Not when her almost-boyfriend Ethan is fully supporting it. Not when her friends put an innocent student’s life in danger to make it successful.

Not when a powerful alien is waiting for Ingrid to inadvertently summon him into this world.

Everything’s going to be fine. Absolutely no one will get hurt this time.

…right?

Wrong, and wrong again.

***

Side-by-side comparison of both books…

Giveaway!

There will be two lucky winners, and they’ll win an e-copy of Stars In Her Eyes AND Dreams In Her Head!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dreams In Her Head Cover Reveal Sign Up

Book #2: Dreams In Her Head

Open the door.

Step quickly, step through.

Breathe in the darkness,

Until you are its master.

Ingrid Stanley is in more trouble than she knows. Ingrid’s dead friend keeps showing up in her dreams along with mysterious visions that feel all-too real. What’s worse is now the Collective knows that Ingrid is supposed to have superpowers. They’re waiting to pounce the moment Ingrid and her new superpower-wielding friends make a mistake.

When her family is threatened by Professor Jadore, Ingrid decides it’s time to take matters into her own hands. A little student protest can’t go wrong, she thinks. Not when her almost-boyfriend Ethan is fully supporting it. Not when her friends put an innocent student’s life in danger to make it successful.

Not when a powerful alien is waiting for Ingrid to inadvertently summon him into this world.

Everything’s going to be fine. Absolutely no one will get hurt this time.

…right?

Wrong, and wrong again.

***

Add Dreams In Her Head, the upcoming young adult science fiction sequel to Stars In Her Eyes, to your Goodreads shelf! If you haven’t read Stars In Her Eyes yet, get your copy for a great price.

You can also PRE-ORDER Dreams In Her Head here!

***

Calling all book bloggers and book enthusiasts!! It’s almost that time of year once again, where we celebrate another great cover from Faery Ink Press. Just like Stars In Her Eyes, this cover will be illustrated. Hurray!

If you’ve never participated in a cover reveal before, here’s how it works: before the day, I will send all participating bloggers the cover of the book via email. On the appointed day (and not before, no one likes spoilers!) everyone will post the cover on their blogs, along with social media links and buy links for the book. You’re also free to write your opinion of the cover–it’s your blog, you can do what you’d like!

There will be a giveaway! TWO lucky winners will receive not just an e-copy of DREAMS IN HER HEAD, but also STARS IN HER EYES as well!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The day of the cover reveal will be February 13, 2014. This date is EXACTLY one month before the book is released.

All blogs big and small are welcome to participate!! It would be great if we had at least 50 bloggers participating in the reveal, the more the merrier! To sign up, either fill out the Google form below, or leave a comment, or contact me through the contact form.

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Thanks so much everyone, I hope you enjoy the reveal!

Participating Bloggers:

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7.

8.

9.

10.

Reflections: Two Years Of Publishing

On November 13, 2013, I reflected on two years of publishing. It took me this long to put up because there is really a lot to reflect on, which is why this post is so long!

I’ve been in the publishing business longer than two years. Really I’ve been preparing for a lot of my adult life to publish my own books. After completing my journalism undergraduate, I went to Toronto to complete a publishing programme. There I made lots of friends and connections, worked for some publishers, and started freelancing. Eventually freelancing became more full time, and I moved to Calgary to be with Dave. And in 2011, I decided that the time had come to publish my own books, and make Faery Ink Press more than just a dream.

Stuff I’ve Done In the Past Two Years

1. Published 3 Books.

It’s kind of hard to believe that I’ve published three books in two years. How did I do that?

Well, my first book, Within, I’d written a draft the year prior in the 3 Day Novel Contest. When I actually came out and decided in like April 2011 that I wanted, for sure, to publish my own books, I looked at the manuscripts I had available, and chose this to be my first published book. I had others that would’ve been more suitable, and perhaps would’ve made me a stronger debut, but there’s something about the Within story that is quite subtle and I thought that people might appreciate. Plus, it’s set in Halifax, a place I know well, and many have since told me how exciting it is to see places named–Spring Garden Road, the Commons–that are familiar to them, and how terrifying I made them.

Fun fact: the editor I hired for Within was Helen Marshall, (no relation) who was working with me at ChiZine Publications at the time. She’s now award-winning author. One of her books, Hair Side, Flesh Side, I actually worked on, and it was nominated for an Aurora award and was shortlisted for a British Fantasy award. So that’s pretty cool! Yay Helen!

After Within, I decided the next book I wanted to publish was something a little closer to what I actually really enjoy reading: YA fantasy. So I pulled The Violet Fox from the memory vault, and wrote that. I had bits and pieces written already, but it took me about nine or ten months to get all done. Then rewrites, edits, this time by Calgary editor Rachel Small, and released that. I say that so blase but I guess that’s how it is: it’s a process. The Violet Fox, everyone seemed to love. And continues to love. It definitely has more appeal than Within, which is more mature.

Once The Violet Fox was out, I realized, oh no, what do I publish next? I knew that I wanted something smaller–The Violet Fox was a huge project, and I didn’t know if I could do up a sequel within a year. So once again I searched my vault of novella ideas, and brought out a few ideas…and then stumbled upon the Sparkstone series. I had the prologue written for that months ago because I intended to publish it as a serial, but realized it would make a good next project. So in maybe 6-7 months I put that together, and Stars In Her Eyes was put out into the world May 2013.

With those three books, I could really justify calling myself a science fiction, fantasy, and horror publisher. Not just author. Publisher. Not only do I create the stories and spin the words to make them accessible, but I also do my best to bring them out into the world. Because being a publisher, it’s like being a mother. Once you give birth, you have to take care of your offspring, or they’ll die. It’s very easy for books to die, to fade into obscurity, like a painful never-ending starvation.

Okay. That’s the sentimentalist in me speaking. As a businesswoman, my books are products that need to be sold so I can make my money back. So you can see, I walk a fine line being both the author and the publisher of my works.

2. I’ve Attended Four Conventions as Faery Ink Press

This I did all this year in 2013. You can read about my experiences here, here, here, and here. Overall, this really increased my influence and I gained a lot of social media attention, especially because of C4Con (despite its shortcomings). It’s also helped me to establish myself as a “real” publisher and has showed people that I’m serious about participating in the publishing community on a professional level.

It’s also at these cons that I got Richard Hatch’s (Battlestar Galactica fame) and Walter Koeing’s (Chekov from Original Star Trek) attention as well.

Next year I’ll be for sure attending KeyCon (Winnipeg) and When Words Collide (Calgary) again, and I’d love to go back to Hal-Con if I can get space. I think it’s important to do an American con as well–it would be awesome to do Emerald City OR World Fantasy. World Fantasy is probably more likely, although that’s more of a publishing networking con than an actual go-and-sell-things con.

3. I’ve managed to build a small living from freelancing

Faery Ink Press is not what pays the bills around here. I actually earn my living from my freelancing business. In the past two years I have built a list of recurring clients that keep me busy. I’m pretty proud of that. Considering that I don’t receive any sort of financial assistance–business grants, personal, or otherwise…and I have student loans…yeah. I live rent-free, that’s pretty much how I was/am able to run my businesses. That will probably change next year as my partner and I are seeking to buy property.

It’s not easy relying on fluctuating income. There have been times where I’ve worried about my choices, but overall–this is what I want to do. Thinking about getting a “real” job and commuting and carrying out other people’s goals–it just creates this uncomfortable friction within me. Why would I do that when I have so many goals, so many desires of my own? Why would I go into a field that I hate to waste away my years? Time is the most important commodity we have. It cannot be re-earned.

So I have no regrets in that department.

4. I’ve Built a Modest Social Media Following

I literally started from nothing. No one knew who I was. Now I have more than 750 likes on Facebook and more than 1200 followers on Twitter. Maybe not as much as some of my other author friends, but then again, I’m not just an author, I’m branding myself as a publisher. So I’m pretty pleased with that. It’s only going to go up.

What I Didn’t Expect

Distribution Problems. I’ve written about this a couple of times before, but being in Canada is a downside when you use CreateSpace as your printer, which I do for Within and Stars In Her Eyes. I order them at wholesale and sell them through my website, and also at conventions. So while this saves me on having a million bajillion boxes of inventory, it also means it’s more expensive per unit to purchase–and let’s not even talk about the cost of shipping from United States to Canada.

I always knew that it would be difficult to get into bookstores as an independent author/publisher, but I realized that that’s not even the most difficult part. When I approach bookstores and show them my stuff, they’re generally very impressed. My books are professional looking. Getting in is easy. It’s all the logistics surrounding distribution that can be complicated, which leads me to…

Shipping Is The Worst. The publisher is responsible for the shipping. Pretty much always. Gotta ship the books to the store, gotta pay to get them shipped back. Same if I were to ship them to a distributor’s warehouse. Shipping is VERY expensive in Canada. It’s not too bad to ship single copies of Within or Stars In Her Eyes because they fit through the letter slot. But The Violet Fox? Forget about shipping that for less than $10. Yes, you read that right. Shipping The Violet Fox–especially across the country–can cost me $15. That’s like…almost 75% of the retail price. That’s because it doesn’t fit through the letter slot and I have to mail it as a parcel.

Anyway, that’s one of my main frustrations with publishing. It really just gets to a point where you have to ask yourself–is this economically feasible? And that’s where I’m stuck right now, and it makes it hard for me to move forward in the distribution side of things.

I’ve thought of really amping up my direct sales–but that’s a project in itself. People want to go to bookstores and buy my books. How many times have I been asked, can I get this in Chapters? Seriously, more people want to go to a bookstore and buy my things than go to Amazon/online. Or buy them from me, in person–this is the case with a lot of family members/friends.

I could really rant about this all day, and it is very frustrating for me, but I think in the end I just have to make a decision. I know that I can end my own stagnation.

The Acceptance. I always prepare for a fight. Sometimes I will spend hours thinking of situations where people confront me with my choices. “Oh you’re self-published? That’s awful!” “What’s the matter, a ‘real’ publisher wouldn’t accept you?” “Your books aren’t real.” The last one especially.

But I never, ever have to get defensive. My books speak for themselves. And when people ask me at cons, “Oh, are you self-published?” I reply, “I am the author and the publisher, yes.” (Personally, I believe the term self-published is redundant. But that’s a post in itself). And then they’ll say, “Wow!” or “Cool!” Other times people just don’t realize or care that I am Faery Ink Press, which is okay too. It’s just such a relief that there’s been so many people accepting of my books. And liking them. And reading them. That’s probably worth more than any money you could put in my hand.

Moving Forward

Publishing more books

Now that I’m on my way to establishing Faery Ink Press as a brand, and established a publishing schedule, I’m going to spend the next year or so building up my catalogue. I’m going to publish three books. Every time I say that out loud, or write it down, a little part of me cringes. That’s a lot of work. I don’t really want to think about how much work that’s going to be. I’m just going to do it, because momentum is key.

Crowdfunding

The other exciting thing I’m doing next year is a crowdfunding campaign for the sequel to The Violet Fox, called The Silver Spear. It will be in June 2014, with the intention of releasing it in September 2014. That is going to be so much work as well. I think I’m more nervous about that than I am about publishing my books. Publishing is something I know. Promoting a crowdfunding campaign, actually raising money–that’s more unfamiliar territory. I may do some preliminary fundraising, to ease the burden. We’ll see

Making Decisions

Another more general goal is increasing my distribution. Moving forward, for my offset printed books (ie, The Violet Fox series), it’s best if I have a distributor so they can theoretically get into as many hands as possible. I have had some independent bookstores approach me and express interest in my books, and I don’t mind distributing myself if I have to on a small scale, but it’s just one more hat, and I don’t really want to wear the distribution hat if I can help it. Like I said above, I think I just need to make a decision and jump into it because the only thing stopping me from moving forward is me.

~**~

And really, that’s what you should take away from this post. That there were a lot of points in this two years that I could’ve said, no, I don’t want to do this, I shouldn’t do this–and stopped. Because a lot of things can and do go wrong in publishing, but ultimately my biggest obstacle is myself and my own fears.

So here’s to another two more years of publishing! Hope to see you around. Thanks for following my journey.

Things I Learned: Hal-Con

Just finished a fun but exhausting weekend at Hal-Con in Halifax. Here’s the low-down.

I’ve done four cons in 2013. See my debrief/review/things I learned on KeyCon in Winnipeg, When Words Collide in Calgary, and C4 Con, also in Winnipeg.

Being Open to the Public = A GREAT Thing For Vendors

On Friday and Saturday, the con opened the first floor (the vendor floor) to the public. That meant that people could go check out the vendors for free. Interesting move on Hal-Con’s part–that means they saw no money from these “casual” con-goers who just wanted to take a look around.

But I can tell you one thing for sure. Because of this, every vendor made maybe twice as much as they would’ve normally on Friday and Saturday. I made more on Saturday than I did at a whole weekend at C4-Con. The guy to my left was a Magic: The Gathering buyer and seller and he said he made $1500 on Friday, when normally he would’ve made $700. I know, crazy.

All of this happy money making came to a grinding halt when the fire marshal showed up and realized that the building was over capacity, and almost shut the con down. Suddenly people who were leaving for lunch weren’t allowed back in–I even heard some vendors weren’t allowed back in. A lot of people became angry, especially the people who had weekend passes, who had paid lots of money to be there. There were TONS of lineups to go anywhere. One line up just to get to the second floor went right through the vendors’ room and past my table all the way to the back of the con.

Although sales weren’t great during this time, I did manage to make some sales I might not have because of the line. People were moving at a snail’s pace past my table and I had a group of people who asked me to tell them all about my books while they were waiting. Ended up selling them copies. Happened a couple of other times, too, while the line was slow-moving.

Because of Hal-Con’s growth, and for the good of the vendors, I like the idea of opening that area of the con up to the public. I think maybe if they would’ve had a cheap price just to get into the vendors’–like $5-$10–maybe that would help? Then if they wanted to purchase access to the rest of the con, they could pay the rest of what it would cost for a day pass.

Remember What I Said Before About Location?

I was right in the thick of the vendor’s room. Definitely had one of the best locations, because I got on booking a spot early in the year. But I didn’t just have a table, I had a booth space. I realized this late in the game, before Hal-Con. The space did benefit me since I got a ton of sales, and it was handy having the extra room especially when it got crowded.

And because I got a bunch of sales…

SOLD OUT!!

Yeah! I actually sold out of Stars In Her Eyes! I’ve never sold out of anything before, and usually I’m pretty generous with my estimations of how I’ll sell. I brought the least amount of copies of this book, and by Sunday morning they were all gone. Next year, I’ll have to bring even more!

It’s also difficult to know which book is going to out-perform. The Violet Fox always does well, no matter what, but I will never sell out of that soon because I have boxes of copies left. As for Within, that book is set in Halifax. I brought 16 copies and left with 3, and if the vendor’s room would’ve been open to the public on Sunday, I would’ve sold out of that one too.

Ebooks Didn’t Sell Great Here

My lil eBooks were a hit at KeyCon, but performed mediocre to poor at my other three cons. At Hal-Con they accounted for less than 10% of my sales. What I did sell I sold mostly on the last day. With the eBooks I also stopped talking them up because I had the majority of people tell me that they were more interested in the physical books, and most people who bought the eBooks were interested in my stories, but they didn’t have the money to buy a print book.

I think it’s worth mentioning that out of the four cons, I was only asked by one or two people if I had audiobooks, which I don’t.

Tipping the Artist & Charging What You’re Worth

The guy next to me at C4-Con had a “tip the artist” basket. He was a photographer selling his cool prints, and I did notice a couple of people tossing him coins, but he was also fairly personable and chatted up everyone. I thought it a little strange. Who would want to tip us? We sit at these tables for hours without end and hope we make enough to cover our expenses and increase our exposure! We offer no service–we are there to sell product.

But at both C4-Con and Hal-Con, I had people overpay–deliberately–for eBooks and print books. It happened twice, once at each con. In both instances, they gave me an extra loonie or toonie. They wanted to support my work. They wanted to pay it forward. “I know how it is for writers,” said one woman at the con.

It was very surprising and humbling. On one hand, they are “tipping” for a job well done. On the other, they are valuing my product for more than the price tag I’ve put on it. They are attaching their own value to something I have created–and there is something a little magical about that.

Seeing Old Faces

It’s very strange to return to the province I grew up in and the city I spent four years living in and having people you know come up to you and compliment you on your work, and have the whole “look how far you’ve come!” conversation. In two days I’ll celebrate two years of publishing books under Faery Ink Press, and within those two years, I haven’t had a lot of time to look back and really appreciate the hard work I’ve done. It’s always been, “Keep going forward, keep going, you’ll make it soon.” Friends and people I haven’t seen in a while, in different locations and conversations, say things along the lines of “Oh you’re so popular now!” and I’m like… “Really?” I’m not sure about that one–after all, when it comes down to it, I’m just a girl in a basement typing away at her computer, trying to pay off her student loan with her creative/business endeavors. I guess publishing three books in two years is kind of a big deal. I just get desensitized to it after a while. Publishing is not a mystical thing that just “happens”, it’s a lot of blood and sweat and tears. So it’s nice to hear that people are noticing my hard work, I suppose

I was very grateful and happy to see my old friend Peter Chiykowski of Rock, Paper, Cynic fame. He talked me up all weekend! Aww. He does super cool things that everyone should know about, but here’s the basic rundown: he’s an artist/writer who has his own webcomic, Rock, Paper, Cynic. He works for ChiZine Publications (same publisher I used to work for), writes for Free the Children, and has recently just successfully helped kickstart Half-Cat: A Partial History. And I’m excited to get the opportunity to collaborate with him on future projects!

In Conclusion

I’ll definitely be attending Hal-Con next year. My costs for this con were among the highest for this year, but I can minimize them by getting a table and not a booth. I’d like to be on some panels next year. I was hesitant to do panels at this con because it was exhausting running around at KeyCon and When Words Collide, trying to do it all, but with Hal-Con I had my sister and Dave (yay thanks guys!

Overall I came out of the con very exhausted but feeling like I’d achieved something, felt like a lot of people went away happy with my books. I even had one lady read one of my books overnight, and her husband and her friend came back saying how much this lady enjoyed it! So that was nice to hear

Now, all I have to do is keep a vigilant eye on vendor notices, so I can pounce on a good table for next year!