In the Midst of a Convention Run, Author's Fair This Saturday!

The convention season is underway, amid a veritable maelstrom of activity on the press side at Seventh Star Press.  We've got a slew of new releases and a big ongoing promotion campaign that entails ads with such notable publications like Locus Magazine and Fangoria. (not to mention our presence on sites like Book Chick City, Bitten by Books, and Night Owl Reviews).

All of that has certainly kept things very busy, not to mention the preparations you have to do for conventions, with stocking things for a vendor booth, etc.

John Hartness, me, Bobby Nash, Jim Butcher, Cherie Priest,
David Coe, & Anthony Taylor at ConNooga 2014

Time always moves so quick during one of these months.  ConNooga 2014 was a definite winner.  Robby Hilliard succeeded again with his Writers Track, as it was the best one yet.  I had some personal highlights in that I got to be panels with Jim Butcher and Cherie Priest, two of the best in the speculative fiction world.

Of course, these kinds of weekends move so fast, between running the booth and everything else involved in a convention weekend.  The surroundings are always full of eye-catching moments, and you never know who will stroll by the booth in costume.  But as an author guest, you really have to be "on" the entire time, and those who know what I mean will also understand what I mean when I say that can take a lot out of you over the course of a weekend.

A Mandalorian at our booth
at ConNooga 2014

This weekend I will be heading to Author's Fair in Madison, Indiana, which is held in front of That Book Place, the store run by Frank and Kim Hall, two of the nicest individuals in the indie book world.  They definitely take care of authors, and there will be a very nice group assembling for the event.  You should check out the full list of attendees.  This is the fourth year that Frank has held the event, and it is really a great environment for readers and authors to connect and visit together. If you are within and hour or two, it is most certainly worth the drive.

Coming up right after that is MidSouthCon in Memphis, TN, and EvilleCon, in Evansville Indiana, two pretty large events back to back.  So I'm definitely going to have to make sure I'm stocked up on Monster Energy! Looking forward to seeing readers and my friends in the author/publishing world.  Doing my best to take another step each day, as hard as it can be.

But I'll leave things today with a great photo of D.A. Adams, my fellow SSP author and good friend, as we managed to find some Dwarves from The Hobbit running around ConNooga.  Considering D.A.'s series is The Brotherhood of Dwarves, this is a perfect fit!

Author's Fair and MidSouth Con Looms!

Last weekend's Author's Fair in Madison, Indiana was wonderful, and the week has sped by as I prepare for MidSouthCon in Memphis this weekend.

First of all, I want to salute Frank and Kim Hall, and their wonderful group of volunteers, for a great experience at the 2nd Annual Author's Fair. Frank, as readers of my blog know, is the owner of That Book Place and is also the proprietor of Hydra Publications, a rising small press publisher that has seen some wonderful success this year. Frank also blogs for the Seventh Star Press blog site. (Yes, that is a rare photo of Frank that I took at the Author's Fair! LOL)

He is one of the best people I've encountered in the book business, and the Author's Fair reflects what Frank is all about. It was well-run, a sense of hospitality was everywhere, and it brought together a group of very wonderful people from all around the region. The tone was set right from the beginning when Kim Hall came to my table space with a nice cold Monster Energy, a perfect way to start the day!






Fortunately, we had some great weather for the outdoor event. I was at a two-table space with Michael West and RJ Sullivan. We were joined by Rodney Carlstrom, one of the Seventh Star Saints, a blog reviewer, and writer from Indiana, who brought along John F. Allen, another writer, who was subsequently absorbed into our wacky world! LOL

Madison is a smaller town, and the public turnout was modest, but the people that came definitely came to talk to authors and buy books. Michael had a book launch party for Poseidon's Children, which came complete with his sons in fish garb as well as a pair of themed cakes (Photo shown also features the great authors Gary Braunbeck and Lucy Snyder, who stopped by for a visit at Mike's launch). Michael usually goes all out for these kinds of events, an the Author's Fair was no exception. Michael has been awesome to work with since he came aboard Seventh Star Press, and it is really enjoyable for me to be at an event that he is attending as well.

RJ Sullivan was making his first appearance as an SSP author. His first novel with SSP won't be out until August, but he sold copies of his book Haunting Blue and gave out a new bookmark featuring one of his iconic characters. I can already tell that RJ will be great to work with at events

Rodney, John, and I had a blast talking books and other topics throughout the day, during which time we were often joined by our neighbor on the other side, Ren Garcia, a great author and friend from Ohio. We even had a guest star visit by another Seventh Star Saint, Nikki Howard, who unknowingly came dressed as one of RJ Sullivan's characters in her blue wig! (Nikki shown here with Rodney Carlstrom)

It was simply a very enjoyable experience, and I can't wait to go back to the third Author's Fair in 2013!


MidSouthCon in Memphis is one of my favorite conventions, and I am looking forward to returning and seeing a lot of great folks again. I will have a booth in the dealer's room, where author Georgia Jones will be hanging out with her new book Legends of Darkness. I will be participating in a launch party for Jackie Gamber's Sela, Book 2 of the Leland Dragon Series.

My schedule throughout the MidSouthCon weekend, panel-wise, is as follows:

Friday, 3/23 6:00 PM Con Etiquette How to interact with editors, publishers and writers in a professional manner, and still have fun.

Friday, 3/23 7:00 PM Author Co-ops What is an author co-op and how can
you use it to promote yourself and your work?

Saturday, 3/24 3:00 PM Marketing for Authors How to get your name out
there and get people reading your work.

Sunday, 3/25 11:00 AM Faith in Speculative Fiction How do faith and
religion fit into science fiction and fantasy and where can readers go
to find good stories with faith-based themes?

Should be a fun weekend during which I will get to visit with a lot of reader-friends, authors, publishers, and editors I know. I'll be sure to grab some nice pics to share when I get back!