9 tips for a more fulfilling con experience

            Photo above, Roe with Kenny Seay of the Uptown Band. You’ll get to know Kenny better soon as he’ll be answering some questions in my Meet the Creative                  series – hopefully in my next blog post.

Last weekend marked my one-year anniversary of going to events like comic-cons and selling my books. I’ve learned quite a bit in that year, and I’ve got quite a bit to learn still, but there is one thing that was evident from the very first time I set up a booth – there are things you can do to make your time at the con better and more worthwhile.

The pitch. Selling your book is a lot like an infomercial – but without the Australian accent (unless, of course, you’re Australian). The elevator pitch is key and you can tell if it’s working pretty easily by searching the eyes and the motions of your customers. If they’re picking up the book and reading the back while you’re talking, that’s not too bad, but not as good as if they’re engaged with what you’re saying and nodding and agreeing with you. “Yeah, I thought so too” and “that sounds great,” and “I’ve always thought that.” The alternative is they’ll glance at your book, say no thanks and move on. When that happens you need to adjust your pitch. And be prepared to say it over and over and over and over. Hopefully, even more. If you have to say it a hundred times it only means that a hundred people have heard from you first-hand. Learn to love your voice.
The display. I was fortunate during my first con to meet someone who had literally written a book on setting up for cons. It was an instructive read and he was an instructive guy. The table has changed a little over the course of a year, but it’s gotten a little better each time. A little more height, better placement of books and newsletter sign ups. It’s a living entity and it should change if for no other reason than to keep you looking at it and wondering how to tweak the edges. Have multiple levels to help guide a customer’s eyes around your product; have something behind you so they don’t get distracted by the table behind you; give them something to look at or read so if there is a customer ahead of them, they won’t wander off.
Pricing. I have to admit it’s really easy to undersell yourself and your product. A long time ago a friend and I sold comic books and we figured we were doing a service by selling a $45 (guide price) comic for 15 bucks. The problem was no one was interested. “There must be something wrong with it” is the natural reaction to a good deal. Never mind we paid 45 cents for it as part of an enormous lot of comics. What we both learned from that experience is that there is a delicate dance you have to play with price. Too much and you’re just being silly. Too little and you’re telling people you don’t think much of your product, or that they shouldn’t expect much from your product. I have always charged less at shows than the price people can buy online and I have always charged people less if they are willing to buy the whole string in a series. It’s not worth losing a customer for a buck or two and if you can bring them on board with your first book, you stand a good chance of keeping them around for the rest.
Small talk. Every event I’ve been to, regardless of how many people are there or how much I sell or don’t sell, there are people who come up to the table and profess that they are either writing a book, or want to write a book. I think that’s great. What I don’t think they’ve hit upon yet is that it’s work. Being able to write a coherent sentence and writing a book are the equivalent of being able to take a walk and running a marathon. One is easy enough, the other is work. BUT – if you’re willing to do the work, you can do either. I’ve had adults and pre-teens make these claims to me, and I try to tell them all the same thing – just do it. Go write your book. The best advice I’ve ever seen is this – write to fill the sandbox. Edit to build the castle. First-time writers just need to fill the box with sand – those are your distance days if I can belabor the running analogy.
Too much small talk. Every event I’ve been to, regardless of how many people are there or how much…blah blah blah … there are people who want to stand in front of the table and just talk about how much they want to write and how great their story is or how lame the last (insert your own genre) move was… That’s fine. I get it. I want you to write your book. I want you to have a table next to mine at the next show. But there’s a limit.
Max out that limit and let people talk until they’re done. At one show a young man talked to me so long I considered charging him a sitting fee. He wasn’t buying a book, that much was obvious. At the end of the show, his parents bought the books for him. You never know, so don’t be rude. Ever.
Listen to what they’re telling you.  About a dozen people this last weekend asked if my books were on Audible or a similar service. They are not. They probably need to be because this is a question I get asked a lot! It tells me the market for stories is there – the market for portable stories that people can listen to in their cars or on their headphones is there too. I’m thankful I have an English wife because no one wants to listen to me read for five hours. Ten hours of con time is like the world’s best survey – listen to what the buyers are saying, and what the non-buyers are saying.
Meet your neighbors. Cons are great places to meet people. Other writers, artists, folks who know when the next cons are or who can give you some good intel on particular events. Be a good neighbor and if they have to use the facilities, watch their tables for them and explain to people who stop by or who are looking at their space that the artist will be right back.
Have fun. We live in a time where the barriers to publication are almost non-existent outside of any limitations we put on ourselves. Have fun with it. Go to the shows, engage with your audience (and you will have an audience) and just soak up the atmosphere. Thousands of people are being a little uninhibited and playful – we probably need more of that.

If you’re going to be in the Washington D.C. area May 1-3, I’ll be at Awesome Con. Stop by and say Hello.

You can find more from the author at: www.patreon.com/rosaire

You can find all books in the 30 Stones Saga on Amazon, or under the ‘shop’ tab on this page.

If you’ve got a question or comment for me, leave a comment on this blog. Thanks for hanging out.

R