It is rare that an author writes a book and it becomes an immediate success. After spending countless hours writing, editing, and pushing to get a book published, we still have to market our books with the hopes of driving sales. Authors do this by encouraging readers to write reviews, entering award competitions, trying to get interviewed, and more. In simple terms, authors put themselves out there, exposing their vulnerabilities to what hopefully is a large reader audience.
There is one more, very important thing we do as authors: attend author events. During these events, we set up tables where we sit, and if all goes well, we get to meet readers with like interests and engage in some of the most incredible conversations, and may even sell a book.
This year, we have already participated in three author events: FenCon, Half Price Books Flagship’s author event, and Patchouli Joe’s Indie Author event.
FenCon premiered our new book, Kantara: The Captain, book two of the Kantara Scrolls series. Stephen had fun playing around in the Battlestar Galactica Viper mockup. I got to meet up with another author with similar interest, Patrick Seaman, the author of Accipiter War. He writes a book series with his son. We had the pleasure of meeting Ronald the Bald, a photographer, and Hagrid TX, a cosplayer of the beloved Hagrid from Harry Potter. FenCon gave us the opportunity to connect with other authors to include our other husband / wife writing duo, J.L. Yarrow, authors of Future’s Dark Past. Coincidentally, we both also attended Patchouli’s Joe’s author event two weeks later.
At the Half Price Books Author Event, Stephen teamed up with the lovely Tank Gunner, an author in his mid-80’s who has brought to us the fictional town of Palomino, exploring the changes of small town live in the mid-twentieth century.
Patchouli Joe’s in Denton, TX, brought readers and authors together outdoors where we enjoyed the warm sun, talking all things books. Of particular interest was the phenomenal author of The Chaos Spiral, Adam “Doc” Brackin.
With the release of Kantara: The Captain, we found a renewed interest in its predecessor, Kantara: The Traveler. To our delight, readers are fascinated, not only with the storyline, but also, with one of the main characters, Enkidu, a dragon. Something about dragons sparks an interest in many of us, and connects us in a way that only a magical creature can.
Come see us next weekend at AllCon!
That’s awesome! FenCon looks like it was a great experience