Minicon Report - Day One

From facebook:

The first day of Minicon went well. I had two panels. One had a ridiculous topic, the physics of fairy tales, but went pretty well once Jane Yolen got talking about fairy and folk tales, since this is a topic she knows really, really well.

The other panel was on self-promotion for authors. It was me -- the old, tired, war-weary, cynical pro -- and four writers who were starting careers, either with small presses and through self-publishing. The two young women on the panel believed totally in social media, especially twitter. The young man on the panel believed in selling his book face to face. He had managed to sell 1,200-1,500 copies in the course of a year, which impresses me. Adam Stemple and Michael Merriam were in the audience and added their comments. A good, energetic discussion with hand waving and shouting.

I felt afterward, talking to Russell Letson, that the advice I was given decades ago on self-promotion was pretty good. Go to cons and meet people. This may not give you a huge career, but it can help in little ways. You will, at least, meet authors and editors and learn about their experiences. When I'm in a mood to be social, I like cons. I have certainly met a lot of interesting people over the years.

But I continue to think that most efforts at self-promotion don't work.