Author Con 2023

I’m just back from my first Author Convention, the Texas Author Con in Richardson Texas.

It was an interesting experience; I got to meet a fan in person, which was a first for me and a major thrill, as well as being highly informative.

The Con was in a very nice hotel. Organization was a little ad-hoc; the room wasn’t quite large enough, and the noise level was intense. I met a lot of authors, and everyone was incredibly friendly.

There was a big push to ‘network’, which I did not really understand, as technically a lot of us are in competition with each other, and the majority of those authors attending are still trying to get a foot in the door, exposure-wise.

Foot traffic was low; I had to really hustle to make contact, and there was a lot of time spent sitting around looking at the authors across the aisle. Still, by shameless plugging, I was able to sell most of the books I had brought (Grog and Benson literally flew off the table; the others required work) and I gave the remaining few away. I sold the books at cost, figuring exposure was more important than trying to cover my expenses (good thing, too, because there simply wasn’t enough foot traffic).

I’m not sure I’ll bother going to another con, but I did enjoy this one.

Anyway, I’m home and getting back to work on Grog V.