Well, that was an experience.
I just got back from FanExpoCanada, in Toronto. It was so much more than the Festival of Fear that I wrote about in two earlier posts. There was a section for gamers, comic book lovers, manga-philes, horror fanatics, Star Wars geeks (I count myself among the last group) and collectors.
I witnessed a guy in complete stormtrooper armor playing guitar hero. I didn't see that one coming.
As usual, Medallion Press did a great job of setting up their booth and their display. They took out a full page ad on the back cover of the program touting my signing and the two other authors appearing there and gave away 1200 t-shirts with our faces on them. So there was a decent amount of buzz.
Of course, it helped that we were literally giving the books away. That guaranteed a steady flow of traffic to the booth.
"Free books, signed by the author! Free books!"
Adam and Jim and the woman in the book next to us did a fantastic job of driving traffic to the table, so I could just sit there like a prima donna and act like I was above it.
A few observations:
There were a lot more female convention-goers than I expected. Some were just as dedicated and elaborately costumed as their male counterparts. So I guess the stereotype is wrong, these things aren't necessarily dominated by guys who resemble the Simpsons comic shop owner, single dudes in their twenties and thirties who live with their parents and worship Mark Hamill or Leonard Nimoy. They were there, don't get me wrong, but the gender demographics surprised me.
The people were great. Both the people in Toronto in general, and the folks who came up to the booth. There was only one notable exception (and if the smartass who goofed on me for asking how to spell his "girlfriend's" name ever wants to try making that kind of comment to my face in any other situation, I'd be happy to introduce your face to the nearest wall).
Other than that though, everyone was extraordinarily friendly. I signed a book for the Riddler (the spirit of Frank Gorshin lives), Catwoman, a girl in a corset who tried to sell me on the advantages of wearing one, two guys named the Reaper--one in a skull mask and someone called the Cellar Rat.
I finally got to meet two other Medallion authors, Gary Frank and Joe Laudati. I had already read Joe's book "In Darkness it Dwells". I'm a longtime fan of the Lovecraft mythos, and Joe's book is very "Lovecraftian". Our signing times didn't allow us to chat as much as I would have liked, but I got him to sign a copy for me, which was cool.
I had been following Gary's career since before "Forever" came out but I hadn't read the book yet. He also autographed one for me, and I'm reading it now. What I can say so far is this: the Jersey boy's got balls. I'm only a few chapters in, but it looks like he's written an entire book in the first person, present tense. And I thought I was unconventional. The guy earned my complete respect for even trying that.
All in all it was a great experience. I want to thank everyone who came up to the booth, and if any of you are reading this, feel free to drop me a line some time.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Friday, August 3, 2007
Reviews Part II
Okay, I'll admit it. I check up on how the book is doing on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com at least once a day. I've been told not to do that, that the rankings they post aren't a good indicator of the book's actual sales.
I do it anyway. Plus, as I put in an earlier post, both of those sites post reader reviews, which are not really "reviews" in the traditional sense. But they are (occasionally) fun to read. For the most part, they're just little blurbs by people who read the book and want to say what they thought. Sometimes good, sometimes really bad and sometimes in between.
So here's the funny part. About three weeks ago I got the absolute worst review of my nascent publishing career. Someone on B&N.com savaged the book. They were so brutal in fact, that some of my frustration contributed to the writing of the previous post.
Now, as luck would have it, I check B&N today (with the intention of re-reading the awful review for the two-hundreth time in three weeks) and what do I find? An even newer review, this time by somebody who did like the book (and who actually seems to have "gotten it").
I guess this is how it happens sometimes. No one reviews the damn thing for almost a year, and then I get two in as many months. At least people are still reading it.
I do it anyway. Plus, as I put in an earlier post, both of those sites post reader reviews, which are not really "reviews" in the traditional sense. But they are (occasionally) fun to read. For the most part, they're just little blurbs by people who read the book and want to say what they thought. Sometimes good, sometimes really bad and sometimes in between.
So here's the funny part. About three weeks ago I got the absolute worst review of my nascent publishing career. Someone on B&N.com savaged the book. They were so brutal in fact, that some of my frustration contributed to the writing of the previous post.
Now, as luck would have it, I check B&N today (with the intention of re-reading the awful review for the two-hundreth time in three weeks) and what do I find? An even newer review, this time by somebody who did like the book (and who actually seems to have "gotten it").
I guess this is how it happens sometimes. No one reviews the damn thing for almost a year, and then I get two in as many months. At least people are still reading it.
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