Welcome back for most of you. If we met last weekend, you’ll remember this…
I Got Conned
I was conned once before this, but this was my first time participating in the con. Of course when I say con I mean Comic-Con. Okay, I see how that title could possibly be misleading. But yeah, I meant that I went to the Capital City Comic Con in Lansing, Michigan. It was my first time selling at a comic con.
How It Went Down
My friend, and fellow author, Jody J Sperling invited me. He’s been doing cons for a minute and telling me I should as well. But when he book a con in my birthplace, he asked if I wanted to share his booth. Which I did. (See below.)
I Learned a LOT!
As I said, this was my first comic con as a seller. I was a little nervous. But having a buddy with you helps. Jody has a solid book pitch. I do, too, but mine is really short:
“Teens in 1996 get pulled into a time travel war against their adult selves, who time travel by switching bodies with their younger selves.”
If the person shows interest, I then say:
“The adults are time traveling to get away from a future where war and a parasitic fungus are killing everyone. They find a way to go back to 1996, but in doing so, they must sacrifice the younger versions of themselves. Both sides are trying to get back to 1996 before the window for time travel closes.”
But Jody has a great pitch that is almost theatrical and it ends with him handing the person a book. So I learned a lot about pitching.
I also started saying, “You need a book?” to people that looked at the books. That tends to make people to make a decision: Yes, I’m ready for one, or, No, I’m not. Saves time over pitching to the I-guess-I’ll-take-a-look-before-I-say-no crowd. Jody enjoyed that one and we both took turns saying it to people as they walked by. By the third day we were a pretty well-tuned sales team.
More than Just Books And Money
I sold more books at this event than any other event I’ve previously attended. And that’s just with one book to sell. (I’ll have another one next time. More on that in the next newsletter.) But even more than the making sales and getting readers, I met a lot of cool people. Some bought books, some just had a pleasant conversation. Some of the people who joined the newsletter at the con bought books. Some didn’t. I’m grateful for the people who did, but I had a great time talking to several people who never even hinted that they were going to buy a book.
Lansing put on a really good show. It wasn’t the biggest, but the people (sellers and attendees) were fantastic.
You Need A Book?
If you haven’t already got a copy of my book Switchers, you can get a paperback or ebook on my website. (Or Amazon.)
But it would be awesome if you checked out Jody’s books. He has a 9-book mystery series that he’s about halfway through, as well as a thriller, a book of non-fiction, and more. Please, I beg of you, look the books over. I enjoyed the first book in his series and am about to start book 2 (technically book 8 (it starts at 9 and goes backwards)). Jody has paperbacks, audiobooks, and ebooks on his website www.jodyjsperling.com.
Thanks for your support, continued and new. (Special hello to the new folks who I met last weekend!)
-CT
Christopher Tallon is the author of the dark, adventurous, time-travel novel Switchers.