Last weekend I went to Pensacon, in Pensacola, Florida. This was exciting for me, because it was my first outing as a Wordfire Press author, with the WFP team and at the WFP table.
The team was Kevin J. Anderson, Peter J. Wacks, Alexi Vandenburg, Jody Lynn Nye, Dan Wells, Quincy J. Allen, Josh Vogt, Raphyel N. Jordan, David Boop, and Scott Eder. And me. You’ll notice that’s a lot of Js.
Some of us are published at other presses exclusively, some at WFP exclusively, and some at a combination. The Wordfire model is interesting and exciting, but I’m not really going to get much into it here. Suffice it to say we had a collective of authors, spinning off individuals and teams to present on panels, deal with media, and engage in street team operations, leaving all the while a core of friendly selling authors at the booth.
Here’s a great video shared by Josh on his website, by the way. In it, Peter, Quincy, Josh, David and I discuss Wordfire and writing. Well worth the half hour, if you’re interesting in the business and the vocation.
Pensacola was really enthusiastic about the convention. The airport had a variety of signs welcoming attendees from the moment of their arrival.
(And since I was getting off the same plane as Nichelle Nichols, I felt pretty jazzed to be there.)
Leonard Nimoy passed during the con. I don’t have anything to say about that that hasn’t already been said, except that he was my favorite. We ate dinner as a team at an Irish / Country restaurant called Beef O’ Brady’s Friday night, and the first thing we all did was raise a glass to Mr. Nimoy. Live Long, and Prosper.
Here’s a glimpse
of what the table looks like from the authors’ side. Spare copies, signing pens, hand disinfectant, Advil.
So it was a weekend of selling. And listening to the other authors to learn their pitches, to better sell their books. Here are my three favorite pitches from the weekend, learned or invented.
“Hellhole is Napoleon in space. The leader of a failed rebellion is exiled to a planet where is supposed to die. Instead he thrives, gathers malcontents around him, and launches the revolution again.”
“Mythology 101 is about a young man who goes to college and spearheads the campaign to demolish the old, antiquated library. After his campaign is successful, he discovers elves living in the library basement.”
“Rock Band Fights Evil is the Chronicles of Narnia, if the Pevensey children were a bunch of foul-mouthed, gun-toting, damned rock and rollers.”
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