Are conventions worth it?

Having returned last month from the RT Book Lovers convention in New Orleans, and finished entering my costs for the convention into my expense tracking software, I’m evaluating if and how much the convention has affected my sales.

The answer isn’t heartening.

I love conventions, particularly RT Book Lovers which is so much fun. I got to wear costumes, interact with readers, bond with my fellow authors, and in general have a great time. When you consider that I even missed one day of the convention due to illness (I picked up a nasty bug and ended up in bed all day Friday, only returning to the convention the next day for the book signing) and still consider the time I spent there a success in many ways.

But the cold hard facts are that going to a convention does not automatically result in the sale of additional books, at least not of books that have been released for some time.

I have a diagram here that demonstrates this:

This is hard data, the sales graph off of Kindle Digital Publishing for one of the titles that I promoted the most at the convention. About a third of the items I gave out had a business card of this book, and it's cover was the poster I used for my bin on promo lane which I suspect most of the attendees of the convention passed by at one time or another. So if any book should show a rise in sales due to exposure at the convention, it should be this one.

The convention period is shown as a rectangle placed over the graph. If conventioneers were so entranced by my cover or promotional material to buy the book you would expect to see a rise of sales during the convention or at least in the two to three weeks following... and it is true that Saturday was a pretty good day. But overall number of sales before and after the convention for that one title remains fairly flat. If my giveaways were generating additional sales, you would expect to see some change and there is none. The rest of my titles show the same thing... exposure at the convention shows no effect on sales.

Which is why I don’t look to this kind of convention to sell existing books. I might possibly do better by putting the money into Facebook ads where the immediacy of sales is possible. Viewer sees title, cover, and blurb that interest them... they click a button and the book downloads onto their phone. 

That’s the real way books sell these days.

So I don't really go to RT Book Lovers to sell books. I go because I have fun and if I didn’t when would I have a chance to wear a halo? And at these conventions I get a chance to interact with fellow authors in ways I rarely can online. People will tell you to your face things they won't say in an email and a lot of what I've learned has done me well later on.

As for sales? I do what I feel comfortable doing for give-aways and hope for the best. For those who went to the convention, did you see any rise in sales as a result? If so, what did you do at the convention that I didn't?

Cheers,

Janet

A MAGICAL BOOK SIGNING by Rolynn Anderson

My first book signing in a Petersburg, AK, bookstore was a smashing success!  Not only did I sell every LIE CATCHERS book I brought along (43) but I sold ten of my other three books!  53 is the final number of books sold! 

The day was magic.  KPLZ radio blasted my interview all day long and the weekly newspaper came out on Thursday morning with my picture and an interview in it.  Posters announcing the event were tacked on bulletin boards all over town for weeks, too.  And it was a sunny, no-wind day in beautiful Petersburg, Alaska.  Buyers were lined up to buy my book by 1:00 and I had a steady stream of people show up in the next two hours.  Enough people in town had read LIE CATCHERS and passed the word around it was a fun read, but many came to talk to me about the way I’d handled the 1932 cold case murder of Sing Lee.  People in Petersburg love their town and its rich history.  Earl added LIE CATCHERS to his library of 600 books on Alaska.  Nina, the town’s only Rhodes scholar, is a mystery buff, excited to read one rich with her city’s history.  Brenda, the owner of a local gift shop, came because she is a Tlingwegian (offspring of a Tlingit native and a Norwegian), the heritage of my heroine in LIE CATCHERS.  

We cruised away from this lovely town, warmed by memories of a dream book signing.  Petersburg has made me feel like an authentic author, giving me the impetus to write my next book!

If I don’t comment on this blog right away, it means I can’t get to an Internet during my time on the boat.  I’ll get back to you as soon as I reach civilization.  Happy Summer!  Rolynn

Conference season begins!

I'm prepping for Rom Con in Denver, one of my favorite conferences. It's a favorite for 3 reasons: it's very well run for such a new conference, it's in Denver (so I can visit family), and it's the right size: small enough to touch base with readers, big enough to get lost in the crowd if you want.

When I first started in the publishing business 7 years ago (yikes. So long!), I went to the RWA conference. I went to 3 or 4 of those, and decided it wasn't for me. It's great to touch base with friends, but it's so pricy and crowded. I may go to the one in Denver in a few years (to see family again), but it's not on my calendar yet. A lot can happen between now and then.

I've been to a couple of RT conventions, the ones that were convenient for me to attend (i.e., near me so I could drive). That's chaos, with so much going on it's hard to keep track of things. It's a bit too much for me, so I doubt RT will be on my calendar in the future.

I've gone to smaller conferences (Love is Murder, Malice Domestic) and those are good, but LIM is tough to get to (Chicago in the winter?) and Malice is a bit of a trek (the D.C. area).

I think I'm getting burned out on conferences, so I may take next year off. It's tough to squeeze them in since I work full-time and have limited vacation hours, hours which I'd like to spend with my family. Of course, I think I say that every year, and every year I'm off to a conference.

So we'll see what happens -- I'm happy be at Rom Con this year to talk about my latest book, one of the most challenging ones I've written out of the 27 books so far. It should be a very good time!

Cover Reveal: Just Wait For Me by Dawn Marie Hamilton

**Estimated Release - Late Fall 2014**

Just Wait For Me

A Highland Gardens Novel - Book #3

In the chaotic aftermath of the battle of Flodden, an injured Highland warrior makes a bargain with a twenty-first century lass cast back in time by a meddling, matchmaking faerie. Stephen MacEwen promises that if the lass will help him get home, he'll find a way to send her forward to her own time. But is that a promise he'll want to keep after finding love in Jillian O'Donnell's arms? And after saving Stephen's life, will Jillian want to go?

Visit Dawn Marie Hamilton Writes for more information about the Highland Gardens novels.

~Dawn Marie

Another summer, another summer book!

Yep, finally. My summer book is here and what perfect timing--a summer book for a vacation weekend.

I wrote this book for my sister, who (like me and my other sister) worked during the summer at an out-of-state resort. Our parents encouraged this when we were in college as a way for us to earn money and get some good life experience. The heroine in the book is a combination of me and my sister from that summer long ago. And the hero, Nate, well he's every girl's hero, I think. A combination of shy and bold, sweet and sexy. What's not to love?

So head over to my web site and check out the buying links for this book -- all kinds of ways to buy it, and all kinds of reasons to love it -- Emily and Nate have a story to tell, and I enjoyed telling it.

J L

Falling in love again

Two weeks ago, I obtained a new used copy of a most-favorite book I loaned out many years ago. Naturally, I started reading it right away, eager to revisit the characters I remembered so fondly.

The book is Darkmage, written in 1986 by Barbara Hambly, a prolific science fiction / fantasy writer. I was struck by the complexity of her sentence structure--something I did not notice back in the early 1990's. Something that 21st century texting and sound bites have chased out of town.

When I got to page 169, I found the passage where the heroine, a nerdy computer programmer realizes she is in love with the wizard hero. I wish I could write like this:

       For a long time their eyes held.

       She thought, with a curious sense of shock that was not a complete surprise, I expected it to be different than this. For a time it seemed to her that neither of them breathed--that it was impossible that the only point of contact between their two bodies was where her petticoats brushed against his booted ankle in a froth of voile. Part of her mind  was saying in its usual cool and practical tones, This is ridiculous. I don't do things like this-while another part said, I want him. 

     For a time the sooty-gray shadows of the empty drawing room were like completely still water, fathoms deep and silent but for the distant chatter of birds outside. The smell of the woods, of grass damp from last night's rain and of the far-off acrid smoke of the burning kilns, came to her through the open windows, mixed with the faint scent of soap from bis flesh and hair. he stood so still that one facet of the crystal earring her wore held a gleam of the last light from outside like a tiny mirror, steely and unmoving in the deepening gloom; the only thing that stirred was the white rim of light on the ruffles of his shirt with the rise and fall of his chest. 

      Everything seemed incredibly clear to her, but without pattern. It had nothing in common with her encounters with Gary and her nervous weighing and reweighing of pro and con. She only knew that she wanted him and knew, looking up into the wide, black pupils of his eyes, that he wanted her.

      He turned abruptly, almost angrily, away and walked from the windows into the twilight cavern if the room. "I will not do this," he said softly. She could hear the faint tremor of his deep  voice. "You are dependent on me and under my protection in this world. I won't take advantage of that."

      His back was to her, the diffuse whiteness of the fading day putting a sheen like pewter on the velvet of his shoulders. She knew well enough that he was conscious of her eyes upon his back. She was aware of her own feelings less clearly, shocked and appalled, not by them, but by their strength. Nothing she had ever experienced with Gary, not even sex, came anywhere near this need--not to have, but to give.

      After a moment he turned and walked silently from the room. 

Update from the RT Book Lover's Convention

Hi all,

Hello from New Orleans, where it is a surprisingly temperate 73 degrees and very windy. In fact I might as well be in San Francisco, but I can walk along Canal Street to the Mississippi and watch very large boats float on a river instead of a bay. And there is the nice wrought iron work on the balconies of the buildings in the area.

I'm writing this post Thursday afternoon so it can be posted for Friday morning but will try and update later with more information.

On Wednesday night we went to Mardi Gras World for an event where I threw beads at a parade of conventioneers from in front of a float. Here is a picture of me dressed as a serving wench and loaded with beads. It was great fun. Just a few hours before I'd been dressed for the Intergalactic Bar and Grille, wearing slacks and a t-shirt with a cover on it. That's the thing about RT... you wear a lot of costumes.

Thursday night we did a pub crawl and then I ended up sitting at a table at the Saints and Sinners party Samhain sponsored. This time I wore a halo... slightly bent but then so am I on occasion, particularly after a pub crawl.


In last month's post I talked about my give-aways. I've almost run through all of the 400 finger lasers and 288 costume kits and am now rationing them to people I meet at the various parties and seminars.

I'm having a great time at the convention. I'll update on Saturday with more on the rest of the week.

Cheers,
Janet

APOLOGIES by Rolynn Anderson

It happens to all of us.  I wrote the blog entry...I tried to upload it...I failed.  I'm on a boat, you see, and it turns out that all the systems that seemed to work last year up in B.C. don't work this year.  I apologize to all of you for missing my blog time on Voices.  Next month, I'll cruising in Alaska and hope to catch you all up on my latest adventures.  Bear with me...summer is always an adventure for us on INTREPID!

I'm excited to tell you that I'll do a LIE CATCHERS book signing in Petersburg, Alaska on June 5th from 1:00-3:00 p.m. Location:  Sing Lee Alley Bookstore.  FYI, in LIE CATCHERS one of the cold case murders I solve is the murder of an actual citizen of Petersburg (in 1932), named Sing Lee.  Ahhh, the mystery!  Check it out on http://amzn.com/B00HJDS1LG

Oh rapturous time!

It's green outside.

To those of you in warmer climates, this might not be a Big Deal.

To those of us in the Midwest, we are giddy with joy. Buds are popping on the trees, flowers are blooming, and all the nasty flaws of winter are being covered by a beautiful carpet of green.

I know. In a few weeks I'll probably be complaining about how hot it is and how buggy it is and how humid it it. Feel free to remind me.

For now ... just bask in the Happy.

J L
(30 books and counting)

Inching into spring

I am FINALLY seeing some green in the landscape around me. I'm in the Midwest and winter has been a long time going and spring is a long time coming. We're in that odd in-between place, the Ugly Time.

The fun thing is that I finished a manuscript and got a great idea for a new one, so I'm already starting it. I'm hoping to spend spring on that book, then in summer I have other books to work on. Plans, plans, plans. I don't have a lot of garden plans this year, but that always changes the first time I walk through a landscape nursery and see all the flowers.

It's nice to look ahead finally. Spring was so far off just a month ago, but now -- it's here! Get out there and enjoy it!

J L
(30 books and counting)