Those of you who know Ross will be unsurprised to learn that he is uncomfortable pimping his own writing. I, on the other hand, am a bit of a hype machine. Honestly, I will yack endlessly about my favorite things – Key West, David Bowie, The Big Lebowski, our local food co-op, Black Husky Brewing, the Milwaukee airport – I freely let my freak flag fly about all my obsessions. But out-and-out selling? Something about watching people looking slightly dead-eyed as they wander by, only to see them light up and make a beeline to the seller next to you, feels like an endless series of rejections. Swipe left, swipe left, again and again.
It was different at our Book Launch event at the Black Husky – we enjoyed a packed room of ringers, folks who were there specifically to hear a reading from Spirit Sight, including my best friend Annette, who flew in to be there for us. We had a ton of support from the Black Husky staff, who brewed a beer for the event (Alll’oss ale, brewed by Sam) plus Scardina Specialties provided wonderful food. Having a booth at the Awkward Nerd Bookfair was, indeed, a bit awkward, but we were surrounded by fellow nerdy types at an event created with our audience in mind.
Comic Con, on the other hand, was not designed to attract the epic door-stop fantasy fan. I damn near had a heart attack just handing out the promotional bookmarks for Spirit Sight. I mean pit-stained sweaty. It was excruciating. After ten minutes of forcing eye contact and shoving little pieces of paper at the masses of consumers in various levels of cosplay attire, I escaped to wander the rows of vendors.
I watched in fascination at the purveyors of all manner of pop culture sci-fi and fantasy, including some booksellers, confidently hawking their wares. It seemed as if everyone except us had their stuff together. All power to those who are comfortable with direct selling, but to be honest, I’m not sure we have the time, energy or temperament to figure out how to get better at it.
So we have a new plan – we won’t sell at all. We will still go to some events, but we will bring a laptop and work on one of the books. We plan to have a big bright sign that says “Writers at work – feel free to strike up a conversation! If you want to talk with us, we want to talk with you.” So if you see us at one of these events, feel free to chat us up. Or not. We’ll be fine either way.
