Comic-Con: A Panel Success

So last night I made it out into the world - I was on a very enthusiastic panel at Comic-Con. The topic: "Once Upon a Time", Disney's premier grab bag of "how many Disney characters can we toss in and twist for fun" show.

I mean seriously, how many times can you block Mulan from having a happy ending? Give the woman a break already!

Anyways, here is the crowd we had, 20 minutes before we were scheduled to begin.

If you see yourself, feel free to tag the picture. Those people up front were even posing. (And I see you turning away Deadpool/ ChimiChanga shirt guy).

Why am I posting this? Because it was great to be among fellow geeks and nerds discussing something we were passionate about. It was a great opportunity to hear the thoughts of others and discuss something that politically related.
While I enjoy politics, sometimes it is nice to step back and work on another passion, that for the culture and impressive hold that geek culture is now having in our society.

I was very impressed with the turnout. The picture doesn't do justice to the nearly filled room that we had for our discussion. People left, and others came to take their places. People even left then came back - I say because the other panelists were that awesome. I think I was decent.

Over the next couple months I am going to try to get back in the habit of working on this blog, and get my writing back on track. I am preparing a second edition of my first book, and will hopefully get my second book, Currents of Fate ready for printing. Maybe even lucky enough to make it in time for Christmas! Who knows!?

I am going to post this and send it to the wonderful ladies I participated with on this panel. They all deserve kudos for the idea and the great time that was had by all. My hat's off to you all. 

Updates for the Month

My apologies for the lack of updates in the past few weeks. I have been trying to make progress on a few different fronts when it comes to the world of Theron - so I apologize but do not excuse my absence. That being said....

I am trying to make more happen with the books. My last post focused on Merchandising and how others have been successful with it. Some people that is all they had to do because their work stood on its own. I am in a bit of a catch-22 scenario for myself when it comes to this sort of thing. I want to make things happen that would be cool and help make the world my book takes place in more exciting - but I lack the funds to do it. I want the books to support this creativity habit of mine and at this early stage it's going to be hard. This is the struggle for all new artists - at first you are jut trying to get any notice and then have your habit support itself.

Will I get there? Sure - after a time. I am sure I will get somewhere with things. Following are a few of my goals for this year with my books.

Goal #1:
Finish the second book. Its getting closer - and I am very nearly at the tipping point so this is totally possible. However it will just be the first draft and will need to be edited and read through by Beta readers. Beta readers I still do not have a list of. (Applications please?) Editing will need to be completed by an editor.

Goal #2:
Line up a publisher. This will help with both distribution (getting in front of readers) and helping with the editing and drafting process. This will also help grease the gears to get the third book started and get the Zombie book written.

Goal #3:
Art Tablet. I want a tablet designed for graphic art work. Something I can electronically paint/sketch with to get some new products to go with the book. This will allow posters, t-shirts, pins, book marks and other fun stuff to get made.

Goal #4:
Do a convention out of state. Hell, just get to a few local conventions that are not scheduled on important family dates would be great. It would be awesome and terribly exciting to travel across state lines to bring the book to the masses.

Goal #5:
Finish composing my song. I have had this thing in my head for years, and it is about time I get it out of my skull and into some other heads.

I think all of these goals could be possible, and I will look into ways of making these more financially viable in the coming weeks. I will be recording videos for a Patreon campaign later this week and will launch it to get a little bit of additional fun stuff going. I will keep everyone posted and send out a link once everything is ready to go. 

Something New for Authors: Merchandizing

In the past I have written about how amazing the internet now is for the creative class. I have followed many different individuals over the last decade and a half on the internet, and some have risen to insane levels of stardom. And they all started with a small following to some videos posted online. My personal favorites are Lindsey Stirling, Scott Kurtz, and Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins.

That is not a ranking in any sort of way of how I feel about them. My love of each comes from a different part of the creative persona that is me. As hilarious as it sounds - I possibly found all of them within mere minutes of each other. I can't confirm that but I came across them all during a distinct period of my college life.

I had purchased the MMO Heroes Online - and inside was a comic that Scott Kurtz had done. I enjoyed it more than game and began following him online. Shortly after I probably came across Penny-Arcade - the creative child of Jerry and Mike. I tend to binge-read a new comic that I find so chances are I stayed up all night reading both online comics.

Lindsey I found perusing the precursor of YouTube. It was a video of her dancing about playing a song of her own on an electric violin. It was love at first site. Stringed instruments are my favorite type of instrument to be played as their sound is, well, exquisite to my ears. If your song has them in it I am already a fan. Lindsey is a talented woman and I am very glad to see she has gone from that living room and moved on to things like, I don't know, National Television appearances and World Tours. Both pretty epic. I would settle for just one, but both? Goddamn!

What does this have to do with authors? Well it matters because there are a lot more ways for artists to get themselves in front of audiences. That is competition. These artists are all creating more than just a single item for visual consumption, they are branding themselves and getting other ways of engaging audiences. This means that if writers are going to maintain the same involvement they are going to have to adapt and do the same thing.

Authors need to find ways of getting in front of more than just an audience of individuals who read books. They need to find ways of getting people to come back again and again when they show up at conventions. This means that instead of just writing a story - we have to create other items to go with our world.

I am already preparing to do this myself. Once I get a bit more money in - I will be ordering the first in a series of collectors pins that compliment my book series. I am toying with the idea of creating my own audio book so that I can offer my story in another format. Eventually I will digitally paint a full world map for my book - I already did so on paper with colored pencils to great success. Hell - I am even planning on ideas for t-shirts and small posters for my fans to purchase. I will hopefully help use this as a way to re-engage my readers between books, and help draw people in to the books as the audience builds.

I am not a marketing genius - if I was I would have been on The Colbert Show before it ended. What I do know is that the creative class includes Authors - and if we don't keep up with those who are doing more and more to engage the audience we all vie for, we will be left behind. Get out there, make some doodles for symbols or images from your stories. Create a map of your fantasy world. Your future success may just depend on it. 

Jumping off into the Holidays

Halloween has passed us by and we are now quickly marching onward into November. I am a huge fan of the Christmas – mostly because of the lights. I am already planning my outside light display (soon lights… soon….) which will hopefully not blind my neighbors.

I had an interesting October that included a real vacation, recovery from having my wisdom teeth removed, and going to a convention and conducting panels. Hell – I even recorded them (insert links) so you can all view them at your leisure. I felt incredibly proud of my panel on sexual assault and consent issues. It is something I am personally attached to given the past I have lived through. If I could make a living just helping work to prevent women and children from being mistreated and abused I would probably do it. Though the work is hard and very "sticky" for me mentally. I would need a hell of a vacation policy to recover pretty regularly.

In book news, I am a little stuck in a very important chapter for the second book. It is a chapter involving Cael's father so I am taking careful pains to create the exact scene I want to help explain more of Cael's backstory and why he could be, well, annoying at times. I think there is a little piece of my mind in each of my characters – so I do get attached to them and their stories.

If you take the time to watch the author's panels, you will find that writers can even surprise themselves while they create these stories for your consumption. I create ahead of writing and while on the fly. Sometimes as I type the words into the word processor something comes to mind that just needs to be said/described/experienced and I put it down on the page. Just as a point of how important those little pieces are to me as a writer – Mesieve was created on the fly. There was no pre-thought into him; his story just happened. He has become a central character that I never knew I was going to have.

I also had some amazing networking opportunities at the convention I attended. The Comic and Media Expo was in Mesa, Arizona, and had a nice list of skilled artists and content creators for attendees viewing and purchasing pleasure. I am sure everyone wanted more people to attend, but that is the fate of every artist trying to make a living (or a hobby) out of hawking their wares. I did however get a chance to meet some awesome people, and make connections for content and ideas that I never thought of. A few people stand out and I would like to cover all of them in due time – however a couple major ones stand out I want to talk about today.

The first – Tavis Maiden. I started following his work when I saw him on Strip Search. He had his booth set up and was incredibly friendly to chat with. Since there were not too many people present I talked to him for the two days I attended around my panel times. I also gave him an ebook copy of my book since I got to read a lot of his stuff online for free as well. It's only fair. Don't know what he will do with it but I hope he reads and enjoys it.

The second person was Jessica Feinburg, who was selling many of her dragon themed art items. I can't really do her work justice by describing it, so please just go to her Facebook page and store and check it all out. I traded a book for a dragon play/place mat that I already put to use rolling the dice in my Pathfinder campaign. She tolerated my presence and gave me a lot of product ideas that I am trying to find a way to make possible.

Lastly, I want to thank those who attended the panels I was hosting. The convention was nice enough to give me time to fill – and I actually did which surprised even me. All of these videos are available on my YouTube channel linked off of my Facebook pages. If you get time, check them out. I will have a book signing in December so keep posted on the next time I am out in public selling/signing books for all of you.