OverWatch Corral at the Ancient City Con

Benjamin Strait, as the character McRee from the video game Overwatch, is watching over ,y portion of our vendor's table at Ancient City Con in Jacksonville.

It's High Noon!  Well, according to Benjamin's character.

We introduced History of the Trap at a convention, a first for me.  Sharing a table with Michael and April Lee, who had their own great books, it was also the first event for us as Swamp's Edge Publishing.

Saturday was a good day.  Everyone sold some books.  Even I sold two, which may not sound like much, but was actually more than I anticipated.  The goal was to get out there with my book and my business card, and start having a presence, maybe make some contacts.

Most people were fairly positive.  Those that engaged with us were pleased to see so much local writing, and in addition to those who bought, there were those that took our business cards and said they would check us out on Kindle. So far, that hasn't resulted in any Kindle sales, but I have high hopes.

I am still trying to perfect my pitch for the book.  If I say that they are students who are trapped at a high school for ten years, I get squeals of  "Now that's a NIGHTMARE!"  Sigh.  I'm still working on it.  I do strongly believe that it is a very good book, and that it's closed set premise, although a little extreme, is not that unfamiliar in literature.  I'll keep trying to articulate it better.

There was an author's panel discussion, and April and I were invited to go.  We weren't sure whether we were supposed to go up front on the dais or not.  That question became academic when all the seats were filled, and there was no room for us.  We sat in the front row.  I was poised to raise my hand and tell them they had two more authors in the room.

I squandered my opportunity to talk, as the dominant shy gene took over.  My worst problem with shyness is initiating conversation.  I have be to be explicitly invited.  I'm like a vampire who has to be invited in to your house to enter.  I came close when an author friend, Winfield Strock, took the time to invite April to talk about her recent experiences in publishing.  April did a great job, and I thought I would be invited next, but it didn't happen, and I wasn't aggressive enough to insert myself.  A great opportunity blown.

The most exciting opportunity I found out about was the world of audio books.  It appears to be easier to make audio versions of your books than I thought.  Not only that, but that it may be easier than I thought to get hired to record OTHER people's books.  This may be another way I can make money post-accounting retirement (or cutting back hours, or whatever it is I can eventually work out).  After all, some have said I'm a lot better speaker/actor/read-alouder than I am a writer.  So there you go.

Benjamin had a great time.  He made a number of friends and contacts, meeting others dressed from Over Watch, and playing in a tournament of his favorite video game, super Smash Brothers.  He didn't make it far, but he had a great sense of humor, and was funny and appealing.

We'll definitely have to do it again, and maybe at some point we can clear enough to cover our table costs, and if we get really well known, enough to cover our gas, food and money we spend buying other people's stuff.

Ten years, you say????  Boy, that's a NIGHTMARE!!!

Sigh.  

I'll keep working on that pitch!