There will almost certainly be a blog post that comes out of this one, and it is highly likely that it will be called “Drinking Jolly Ranchers with Space Jesus.” My weekend started off with getting to my room too late at night on Day 1 of the con to pick up my badge, noticing that the door to the room across from mine was open, and realizing that meant I was NOT getting to sleep early. That’s something to understand about cons – if a door’s just standing open to a room, it means there’s a party going on in there. And that means it’s pretty fair game to just wander in. Especially if your room is directly across the hall. So that’s just what I did – I wandered in and found myself in Davey Beauchamp’s whirlwind of fun and Jolly Rancher-infused vodka for the next three hours. I love con folk.
Bet you never thought you’d read that here, did you?
Full disclosure – I’m not terribly religious. I believe in stuff, but I’m as organized in my religion as I am in everything else in my life, which is to say not much at all. So I don’t love Tim Tebow because he’s the second, third or fourth coming of anything.
I like him because he’s a winner. He’s a quarterback who wants to win. This scene from The Replacements shows what a winner is – he’s the guy who wants the ball when it’s all on the line.
Tebow wants the ball. He’s a winner. He’s not afraid to put the entire team on his back and carry them across the goal line. He did it at Florida, and I remember watching him in a press conference where he was so fired up about losing a game that he basically promised not to do it again. And he didn’t. On his way to a record-setting college season and another national championship, he put the Gators on his back and carried them to the title.
I don’t think he’ll do that in Denver this year. I don’t know if he’ll ever win a Super Bowl. Dan Marino didn’t, and is still considered one of the best of all time. And I don’t think Tebow is a Dan Marino, a perfect passer and field general with a Hall of Fame career. But I think he’s a winner.
And I think he’s a nice guy. Everything I’ve seen about him says that he’s a genuinely nice, respectful human being. And he’s pretty unlikely to commit a felony, unlike certain other starting quarterbacks I could name in the league. My point is not that Tebow is a better person than Mike Vick, I don’t know either of them. My point is not that Tebow is a perfect quarterback, because he certainly isn’t.
But if I couldn’t have Cam Newton and had to take a QB that entered the league in the past two years, I’d take Tebow over any other rookie or sophomore QB. I’m certainly not going to trade Newton for Tebow, because I think Newton is amazing now and will be an elite QB in the next few years.
But Tebow is one of my favorite quarterbacks in the league right now. Because he wants to win. He knows how to win. And he gives a lot back to the community. He’s a sports star that kids can look up to, and I really hope that it stays sincere and he doesn’t get caught up in the cult of personality that we can create. Because it’s awfully fun to watch a nice guy win now and then.
Tim Tebow is the kind of guy I can root for. As long as he’s not playing against the Panthers. 🙂
I’ve got a lot of plans for 2012 – quit my day job, survive the end of the world, lose weight, write half a million words…the usual. But one thing I’m definitely doing is traveling a bunch (and while on the subject of traveling, leveling and other words that end in “el,” when did we stop spelling those words with two “l”s? I’m pretty sure it was travelling and levelling when I was younger, but the great god spellcheck says NAY). I’m currently booked for a bunch of different cons this year, and talking with the rest of the Musketeers this weekend (I got dubbed D’Artagnan, BTW) we sorta solidified our DragonCon plans. So in case you’re going to be anywhere in the SouthEastern US this year, or Vegas, or just anywhere that I’m going to be, here’s how track me down.
January 13-15 – Illogicon, Raleigh, NC. – This is the smallest show that I’m actually paying to go to. It’s a new con in the state, and it’s cheap, so I’m going to go hang out and see what it’s all about. Plus I like to drink and there’s a bar in the hotel!
January 20-22 – Chattacon, Chattanooga, TN – The first of my guest appearances for the year. I haven’t done this show before, but there will be a bunch of people that I met at Fandom Fest last year attending, so I can hang with them. Allan Gilbreath from Kerlak will be there, along with the fabulously entertaining Lee Martindale and a host of other folks. I don’t know what to expect from this show, but it has a decent reputation.
February 10,11,17,18,24,25 – Almost, Maine – Ballantyne Community Theatre – My first acting gig of the year. I’ll be performing in a small scene as part of a larger show for the first show by a new theatre group. The folks running it are some of my best friends, so it should be fun. Especially as they try to work around my crazy-ass schedule.
March 2-4 – StellarCon, High Point, NC – Patrick Rothfuss is the guest of honor, and it’s a small con, so the chances of me being able to buy a beer for one of my favorite writers is pretty high. Seriously, I’m not starstruck much anymore, but Rothfuss is a Big F’n Deal. His Kingkiller Chronicles books are some of the most amazing high fantasy I’ve ever read, and I’m tempted to buy hardbacks just to get an autograph. Plus our Aramis will be there as well, the lovely and talented Misty Massey!
March 7-11 – Southeastern Theatre Conference, Chattanooga – Back to Chattanooga for the last lighting convention as a full-time employee. SETC is a conference I’ve attended since 1993, so I’ll almost certainly make it a point to get there next year for my twentieth convention. I’ve made a ton of friends over the years there, and a ton of business contacts. There will be a few drinks consumed.
March 23-25 – MidSouthCon – Memphis, TN – Apparently this is quite the sizable con, so I’m looking forward to this one. A bunch of folks will be there, and Michael Stackpole is the Guest of Honor. I read his blog, and I enjoy his perspective on the current state of the publishing world. A bunch of folks I met at Fandom Fest will be there as well, so it’ll be good to see them again.
April 13-18 – NAB – Las Vegas, NV – The National Association of Broadcasters trade show will be more about marketing work than writing work, but since I plan to start a small business doing marketing work for entertainment lighting industry firms, this would be a place where I could grab them all at one time and pitch them. Unsure if I’m actually attending this show or not, it depends on the cash.
April 26-29 – Merlefest – North Wilkesboro, NC – If you need me the last weekend of April, I’ll be in the mountains. Either come with me to listen to amazing music, or lie down til the feeling passes. This is the 25th anniversary of Merlefest, and I ain’t missing this chance to recharge, reconnect with friends and get my karma bubble right for anything! You should come, it’s great fun.
June is ridiculous, just wanted to get that out of the way early.
First off we have ConCarolinas – June 1-3 – Charlotte, NC – I was accepted as a guest last year but couldn’t attend because it conflicted with Heroes Con, but the shows are not on top of each other this year, so I’ll be there. So will all my Carolinas writing pals – Misty, Kalayna, Faith, Stuart and tons more. This is a really writer- and fan-friendly mid-sized con right here in Charlotte, so it’s very much worth attending for any aspiring writers.
Then we have HeroesCon – June 22-24 – Charlotte, NC – the largest comic show in the Southeast, and a great way for a fantasy/horror writer to hit their target audience. I’m currently splitting a table with one or two other folks, and if we get one more, I think we might have to upgrade to a real booth. I’m not on any panels at this one, just hawking books for three days. And buying comics. God, the comics!
Finally, I’m going back to Fandom Fest/Fright Night Film Fest – June 29-July 1 – Louisville, KY – This is a con that has a sweet spot in my heart, because it’s where I first connected with BellBridge Books, my publisher. There were a TON of small press publishers there last year, making it the best opportunity I saw for writers to connect with the people who actually put their words in print. Stephen Zimmer does an awesome job putting the literary track together, and I made so many connections at that show it was ridiculous. Plus my wife grew up in Kentucky, so she’s excited about seeing old friends.
August 3-5 is RoundCon – Columbia, SC – I haven’t been officially invited yet, and I probably won’t head up the lit track this time, but if I’m asked I’ll happily attend. It’s a small con, but it is growing.
August 30-September 3 is the big one. Dragon Con – Atlanta, GA – This is by far the biggest con I’m doing, and I’m not even a guest! There will be about 45,000 attendees, and I’m working to get a part of a spot on the show floor with a bunch of other people. If that works out, I’ll go in with a few other folks and we’re working on a program ad to drive traffic to our booth, and I’ll likely end up on a few panels just because there are always opportunities to crash :).
This doesn’t include the dates for the Charlotte ComiCon, which I will always do as long as Dave and Rick have room for me. It also doesn’t include the NC Writer’s Network Fall Conference, which I’ll likely attend again now that Red Dirt Review is up and running. One show I did last year that I’m unsure about for this year is the SC Book festival. I lost a few hundred bucks at that show last year, so I don’t think I’m going to attend at this point, but if something changes I’ll let you know. I don’t have any plans to buy a booth, because that was crazy expensive last year, and the crowd wasn’t really much for genre fiction.
I think that’s a good little year’s worth of cons, don’t you?
I write to music. It’s almost to where I can’t write unless there’s music. So I can wear out a Pandora channel pretty quickly. I’m going to try to post videos from bands you might be less familiar with, or just stuff that I enjoy and like writing to. The first group this week is one I’ve really been wearing out lately – The Civil Wars. They have a serious Swell Season feel to them (the guy and girl from Once if you didn’t know) and I think they’re brilliant songwriters.
You only know what i want I you to
I know everything you don’t want me to
your mouth is poison your mouth is wine
you think your dreams are the same as mine
And of course, in looking this up on YouTube I went down the rabbit hole for a little while. So here’s some other stuff I kinda love.
I’m a big Adele fan, I just think she’s got a breathtaking voice. And Darius Rucker used to play Winthrop when I was in school there in another life for both of us. So to have the two of them doing one of my favorite (if terribly overplayed) songs from the past few years was kinda awesome.
Roger Creager is a big favorite, and I loved his concert at the Evening Muse last month. A tiny little room with a lot of boogie crammed inside. Roger’s got a new album coming out this month, check it out. Creager makes me think of my buddy The Fat Guy.
And the Avetts have been working on new stuff, so hopefully there’s a new album coming soon.
So 2011 was my first year really working at the self-publishing thing. And it was a big year for a lot of people in my situation. Here are some overall numbers that might be of interest to folks starting out on their publishing journey. Feel free to take them wildly out of context to prove whatever point you’d like to prove.
$40,000 – roughly what I made last year as a writer. That’s a pretty good nut, considering things didn’t take off for me until April. It’s not quite enough to support me and Suzy, but when you consider that this year I’m staying in the day job for the first quarter of the year, I think we’ll muddle through.
25,000+ – The number of books I sold or gave away last year. My numbers aren’t perfect, but they’re pretty close, and I think I broke through the 25K number sometime in December. That would be a decent print run for one traditionally published genre fiction novel by an unknown author. I sold that many, but that’s across a dozen or so titles. Still, I’m pretty happy with those numbers, because it certainly proves that more people are buying my books than just friends and family. I’m a helluva guy, but I don’t have that many friends.
10,000+ – Number of copies Hard Day’s Knight sold last year. By far my biggest seller, with the sequels holding the #2 and #3 spots, in order of release. All in all, the Black Knight series accounts for over 17,000 of my books sold.
45 – Number of books I sold in January. I had two books out at that point, Hard Day’s Knight and The Chosen. Things really didn’t take off for me until I released Back in Black, underscoring the importance of continuity for continued sales.
4300 – Number of books I sold in August, the release month for Knight Moves. I had eight books out at that point, some of then only selling a handful per month. This further underscores the concept that a series sells itself. It doesn’t, but it sure is easier to get people to take a look when you’re selling a handful of titles instead of just one.
4 – books in the deal I signed with BellBridge books. They bought the omnibus edition to The Black Knight Chronicles, along with books 4-6. We haven’t really gotten cooking on things yet, but I think it’s going to be a good fit. They’ve got a lot of good plans for making my titles discoverable, and a good track record, so I’m excited.
1 – Book deal I signed in 2011. It may be the only deal I sign for a while, but I plan to keep my options open. I think BellBridge can do some good things for me, and I think I can make us both some money. If another company comes along with a deal that makes sense, I’ll talk to them, but I’m not out looking.
These numbers aren’t meant as a (total) brag post. There are a bunch of self-published authors out there doing as well as or better than me. It’s more to let you know that the midlist does still exist, and there are new voices on it, and you can be one too. Because gods know, if I’ve managed to find some level of success in this wild world of publishing, it’s proof that the sun really does shine on every dog’s ass at some point.
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