ConNooga Convention Recap

Even though the temperatures were a bit on the chilly side (high of mid-forties), we all still managed to have a great weekend. This convention was at a venue with buildings scattered throughout the hotel property – so lots of walking, in heels, carrying books etc. Yup, I got my workout this weekend, and didn’t even have to use the treadmill!

We’d left early on Friday in order to hopefully miss traffic. Thankfully it was smooth sailing up to Tennessee. Once we made it to the hotel around 1 PM, we had to wait until 3 to check in (the room wasn’t ready). No sweat. I had to get to the dealer room anyway and get my table set up. Luckily I had my trusty assistant and official photographer (aka my daughter) to help. I left the table in her capable hands and did a quick sweep of the other vendors. Friday in the dealer room was slow, but I also needed to be at a 5 PM panel, so that did limit my time there.

My 5 PM panel was on ‘Guidelines to Getting Published’ and though we were in the main building, it was sparsely attended (both by panelists and audience). Guess it was too early for most folks. Once finished there, I scooted to dinner with the family at the Station House Restaurant. We had a nice time eating and watching the singing wait staff. Hubby and I both felt that while the food was okay, I could have done a much better job. Another minor complaint were the unending rounds of ‘and we have another birthday celebration here tonight’, followed by the Happy Birthday song. All in all it was a nice dinner. After dinner my usual entourage joined us for a few drinks and social time.

Saturday – Saturday was chocked full of panels and whatever spare time I had was spent in the dealer room.

At 9 AM we had a ‘Meet and Greet’ in the dealer room. The Army sponsored the convention, so they had a presentation and served coffee and some pastries. During this little party, the ‘Coffee Nazi’ reprimanded Joe and me when we picked the wrong cups for our coffee. That’s what I get for trying to not be wasteful.

After the Meet and Greet, I had an hour at my table before I had to race off the 11 AM panel ‘Authors Roundtable Q & A’ where I was the moderator.

We had such a large and diverse group of authors for the Q&A, though some made me cringe when they made their introductions. For example, I knew darn well there were a few from vanity presses who claimed they were ‘traditionally’ published. Pft!

A few of my panel mates noticed my expression when they misrepresented themselves. I did wish to go down that road, but felt it wasn’t professional, nor what the audience came to hear and see (though I know of a few on the panel and audience who wished I did take these folks to task).

From there, I grabbed a quick bite and dropped a sandwich off to my husband who was amidst a Munchkin Tournament. I was then whisked off to the dealer room for another mini-round. I sold a few books, talked with many people and had such a good time, I nearly forgot about the panel at 4 PM.

And my hubby won the Munchkin tourney, and called to say, “Bring a bag, I need help!” At first I thought he was joking, but soon realized he wasn’t.

In all the confusion, I raced from the dealer room to the 4 PM panel, ‘Writing Short Stories.’ There we talked about short vs. long fiction and some methods we use, as well as discussing the difficulties. I enjoyed talking with everyone, though there were more panelists then audience members, but we got to have a cozy one-on-one chat with them.

Then I had a 5 PM panel about ‘Agents.’ This time only one attendee came to hear the discussion. Unfortunately I was on the panel with a vanity press. And I knew it too. Though the website does NOT state they charge fees, the prospective author will soon find this misleading fact out. While I gave my two cents about what agents are for, and who needs an agent, I also threw in the fact that no matter who you send a manuscript to – agent, publishing house – you ALWAYS check them out first. And I also added that an author should never pay a publishing house a dime. Of course that didn’t sit too well with the vanity publisher! She mentioned that she charges fees. I inquired as to what those fees were for. She explained the fees were for editing, cover art and her time. Then she proceeded to go into the whole marketing thing.

I really did want ask why on earth anyone would pay a publisher fees, then pay them a portion of their sales – when they’d be better off going with a small press or heck, even self-publishing (at least then they get to keep the money they actually make!) But alas, again I didn’t feel it would be professional or right of me to do, especially when we had only one person who came to hear the panel on agents to begin with.

I excused myself early – I was cold and tired of song and dance routine by the vanity publisher.

I had to grab a quick bite, so we went for my favorite food in the world, pizza and beer. I choked down dinner, then ran off to my 7:30 panel on ‘Promotion for Creators.’ There a great group of people – mostly authors, but a movie director and artist, also joined in the fun.

In this panel the one point I made was that even though we’re all struggling to gain fans, make book sales, we network and work together to make some of this happen. With that said. . .

So, while I made some new friends, I also had the chance to visit with others whom I’d met at other conventions:

Shane Moore, Cheryel Hutton, David Boop, Sean Taylor, Bobby Nash,

Rob Freese, Billy Tackett, And of course, my artist – Mark Helwig, And my publisher for Seely’s Pond, H-D Image.

Sunday, got off with a slow, tired start, then time in the dealer room. We packed the car and headed out just shy of 1 PM.

Another convention down . . . and only, what, another 7 to go?