Not dead

[valarltd]

I'm not dead yet.
I'm just not terribly interesting right now as I make a final push into finishing Privateer Plundered for Ellora's Cave. Sex scenes take a lot out of me these days and I've written 8 in the last week.

Writinjg, watching movies,, keeping warm and driving safely are my life right now. I rescheduled my gynecologist appt today because the roads were bad. work and running and writing are pretty much it.

My brain is taken up with my con schedule and my inventory. Naturally i need about $200 worth of new stock and can only afford $120. Still debating the New Orleans/Akron/St. Louis/Dragon*Con debacle.
I lay out the pros and cons and have no clearer picture.
One more time under the cut


New Orleans:
pros:
riders/room sharers
can promote all my books

Cons:
no programming
could be a money pit
People I would prefer to avoid

Akron:
pros:
sounds fun
programming
roommate already on board

cons:
Expensive
far away
Naomi won't go
Not sure I want to meet my editors
Can only promote EC books

Dragon
Pros:
fun
riders/roommates
panels where I can get my name, face & cover out
Literary Underworld

Cons:
expensive, since not guesting
far
no dealer table (as of yet)

Archon:
Pros:
Mom
The Literary Underworld
Might manage guest status this year

Cons
moderately far.
Didn't sell well there last year


I have no idea how to do that calculus.

I do know I have an Adlai/Nathaniel/Ismail Dey threesome to finish, then an Adlai/Nathaniel to write, cheddar/bacon/onion and apple/oatmeal/raisin muffins to bake.

Comments

[reannon.livejournal.com]

I don't know what's in New Orleans, so I can't help you there. I can say that if you want to sell more EC books, make Akron a priority. The most important thing about an expens-a-con is the backroom deal, and if you go meet and greet the EC folks, it puts your name with your work and I think you'll get better treatment from them, maybe more contracts. Whatever my issues with them might be, for smut and ebooks they make people a LOT of money, and it could be key for you. That's one for the career, not the sales at the show.

As to the others, I think our chances of scoring a Dragoncon dealer's table are about 10 percent. I'm honestly not sure I even want to try. I don't have the money yet and even when I do, they're already to the waiting list - that's earlier than ever. Panels are good, but if you have to choose between Dragoncon and Archon, I'd suggest the latter.

I know you didn't do well at Archon last year - not sure why - but overall it is one of our biggest shows. Without checking the spreadsheet, I'd say we sold more at Archon than any other show last year. If you can get on some panels, it'll help a lot with your sales.

Just my impressions, take them as you will. I know well the con calculus - I'm doing it myself, and having to make some tough choices. :(

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

New Orleans is the Gay romance Lit Retreat. It's a Reader Appreciation Weekend, aka, come party on the author&publishers' dime.

I have no idea how to network or do the backroom deal. My social skills don't get much past the good intro and the sales pitch. And while EC doesn't take everything I send, it's because I have a tendency to skimp on the romance in favor of adventure. To get more contracts, i have to write more stuff.

Archon, I sold 4 books. I have sold more than that to the gas station clerk on my daily run. OTOH, mom. On the third hand, it conflicts with Akron.

I did some obligation calculus on DuckCon. *sigh* That's Litha. Our coven is going camping. This reverend mother gig ain't all it's cracked up to be.

[bittermint.livejournal.com]

If I'm going to make the effort to travel to a convention, it had damn well better be one that will advance my career. I'm going to RT to pitch to Samhain and Carina. I'm going to Romanticon to get some face time with TPTB at EC and also to get a first-hand look at EC's readership.

I did consider going to NOLA too. But that would make three business trips this year, and I can't justify it financially. Meeting a couple hundred readers, versus making important business contacts that will help grow my career? Sorry, but Romanticon's got it all over NOLA. I just wish they were having Romanticon someplace other than freakin' Ohio, but I'm not going to sight-see.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I did my Samhain pitch, and submitted per the instructions of Christy Brashir herself. Still got rejected, even after a rewrite adding about 10K words. I have a sneaking suspicion they don't take Ellora's Cave authors.

I am not sure I want face time. I have made rather a pain of myself to TPTB. A minor one, true, but still a bit of pain.

My career will only grow as fast as I can write. My social skills are fine as far as introduction, handshake and sales pitch, but I have no idea where to go from there.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

New Orleans: Sounds perfect. I'd say do it. Especially on the publishers' dime.

Backroom deals: I know it doesn't come naturally to you, but I swear, this is what you need to do. You handled Dragoncon fine; you can handle the ladies of EC. I found a big difference in the way they dealt with me after we survived Dragoncon 2004 together, and while I didn't pursue my smut much further, I know if I had, being face-to-face with them made me different than the other 389402 authors who are just names on a page. So go, talk to them like you do the rest of us, and then write more stuff. :)

Ouch that it conflicts with Archon. But honestly? I'd say go to Romanticon and send your non-EC books with us to Archon. We'll sell them for you and you can concentrate on building your relationship with EC. We'll take care of you. :)

Re: Duckon - no worries. We'll be there with the whole LitUnd setup, you'll be represented. After all, what is LitUnd good for if not to make your books available even when you're not?

[bittermint.livejournal.com]

I have a sneaking suspicion they don't take Ellora's Cave authors.

Really? Lissa Matthews publishes with EC and Samhain. I don't think blanket statements like that are very useful. Maybe they just didn't care for the ms. you submitted.

I'm not a social butterfly either, but the fact remains that I got published with EC because I went to RT last year. Like it or not, the social aspects of our business are important. If I have to drag my butt to a convention, you bet your life I'm gonna end up with at least one invitation to submit from a targeted publisher. Otherwise it's not worth my time.

[(Anonymous)]

It's not a blanket statement, just a hunch. Or maybe it's me. They haven't liked anything I've sent, and it's all been snapped up elsewhere.

RT falls under "I don't give my money to people who hate me." There has been a lot of crap from RT over the years with m/m authors. They still won't review our work, but at least they have quit destroying our displays.

I can't write fast enough to keep up with the three major publishers I do write for. Adding another is not on my plate.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Stupid laptop logs me out every time...
Sorry, I'm the Anony Mouse

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Publisher and author, that means my dime. I'm paying for a riverboat signing, $25, and taking a group out for breakfast at Cafe du Mond. I couldn't manage an $80 cemetery or vampire tour. I don't write vamps anyway.

So put on my big girl panties, get my dentures and read The Art of The Deal and some more Og Mandino?

BTW, I'm looking at about 4 new print books this year. The Underworld only needs to carry 3: Zombiality, Glad Hands and Heart of a Forest. Four-Play, being 4 kinky contemporaries, doesn't fit the group.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Heh. I never read Art of the Deal. I suggest not thinking about talking to them for a deal or making a good impression or anything like that. I'd say talk to them like you talk to any of us, about the work. The oldest advice is, "Be yourself." If you're going to be rejected, be rejected for what you really are, not what you tried to be.