This past weekend, I got to attend the ICT Comic Con and Science Fiction Expo in Wichita! I had a lot of fun and learned a ton from vending at my first comic con.

First off, it was in some ways just like going to a local farmer’s market, and yet in other ways very different. The majority of people who walked by weren’t readers or weren’t fantasy fans (same), but the fantasy fans made a beeline to me (a nice surprise). There were some people who listened to my pitch and then walked away, while others, their faces lit up the more I talked. That was pretty cool. I hope for those who bought my book, that it fulfills their expectations! I’d hate for them to be disappointed…

Anyways, there were busy times and lulls, but I was sufficiently entertained by the cosplayers walking around and trying to identify their characters. I also met a couple of fantastic authors who gave me a tsunami of information on how to be an author at conventions.

If you are a fan of horror, William Schlichter has got some gnarly zombie, vampire, and serial killer books that sound pretty cool. He also attends a lot of small and mid-sized cons, and runs one in Garden City, KS, and teaches creative writing.

I sold some books, not a mountain, but enough to pay for the weekend, but William’s advice was the real gem I got out of this weekend. He reminded me that giving potential readers a good experience with you is worth far more than a single sale, and to be patient because this is a marathon, not a sprint.

That just reaffirmed what I talked about in my last blog post, that I want to move away from trying to push my books through social media and focus more on in person events. Today, I’ve been thinking about that even more, and I realized that not only did I actually sell books at ICT and NOT through anything I’ve done on social media this past month, but it also made me happier. I was doing stuff and talking to real people and enjoying a weekend with fellow nerds in an environment where it was ok to geek out and run up to someone to take a picture of their awesome cosplay. And when I came home, I could set aside the marketing/selling stuff and now I actually want to write again. I lost that this past month and a half as I forced all of my creative energy into reels and posts instead of writing.

This way of selling my books probably is not going to make me rich, and I may only ever break even (or not even that), but I think there’s definitely something to be said for better mental health and being happy to create again.

Side note: have you ever tried nachos made with regular potato chips and brisket? Oh my gosh, people. I’m in love! lol

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