Trolls, Tips and Tactics

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As I've been reporting, I haven't gone to that many conventions or conferences, other than NASA-related and they don't have trolls (as far as my experience can attest!). In my two romance writer-related experiences so far, I haven't encountered any trolls either but having read many pieces of advice online and in my fellow Whores' posts, I feel prepared. I think that's half the battle, perhaps, realizing right away that someone is infringing on your space or your rights and being ready to respond immediately. I can't tell you how many times I've come up with the right zinger about four hours too late to zap someone who offended or upset me.

Moving along to Tips (I love a framework!) - Based on my own experiences, I REALLY need to stay in the same hotel as the conference if at all possible. It's so wonderful to go upstairs to your own room if you get tired, need to drop off swag or books or stuff, change for an evening event...the first RWA I attended was in Anaheim so I thought, no big deal, I'll drive back and forth and save on the cost of a hotel. I've been living in California since 1972, what part of sigalerts and traffic jams on the freeways did I not understand??? Each day I arrived at the conference already frazzled. I wasn't able to participate in any breakfasts, I was so tired and had the long drive ahead, I left the conference early each day, thus missing more fun in the evenings...just no. Don't do that!

Next tip - tweet! I love twitter and so I made sure to have tweetbot on my iPhone for RT2014 so I could tweet fun stuff as it happened, meet up with people more easily, keep up with the cool things other authors were sharing.

Costumes ARE ok. Not everyone will be in costume (can only speak to romance writer conferences, maybe someday I'll get to a different kind of con where it's all cosplay all the time) but if you enjoy dressing up, go for it. I'm busy looking for the pieces for a killer steampunk outfit for the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter's "Gathering" at the upcoming RWA conference. (Have I mentioned that I love to shop?)

You will miss your cats. :-( Ok, I missed my older daughter and my grandson too (younger daughter and fellow author was with me at RT). Hmmm, does that make me sound like too much of a cat lady???

There will be lines, you won't be able to do everything you wanted and inevitably you'll miss meeting someone you hoped to meet but it will be FUN.

Tactics: I have one that worked so well for me I'm going to repeat it at RWA next month. My personal statement thing is long, blingy earrings. I'm renowned for them at the day job and everywhere else. I've posted about my earring collections various times. I wore a pair of big bold vintage, Lunch at the Ritz New Orleans-themed earrings, which were the best conversation starters ever in the elevator and waiting on lines. Wait until you see the ones I've got for Texas!

Conventions: Tips, Trolls, & Tactics

#ProTip: Find a way to photobomb every shot with your name and book cover.

Snort. The lovely and delightful Historical Romance author Grace Callaway posted this photo to Facebook. I joined her, Miranda Neville, Maya Rodale, Sara Ramsey, Megan Mulry, Jennifer Lohmann, and Anne Calhoun for tea at the Napoleon House after the Ginormous Book Signing at the RT Booklovers Convention. Which is why I was carrying my big book cover poster around. Imagine my reaction when I saw Grace had tagged me on Facebook with this delightful photo - and there's my cover and name, practically front and center. 

I can't believe she didn't crop out the damn thing. I'm torn between chagrin and delight.

Don't try this at home, people.

Trolls: Don't feed them. 

Okay, we know this, right? Yes, they're out there and they're hungry. The only reason people behave badly is because they crave that attention. Usually they live under bridges, bothering nobody, but conventions bring them out of hiding and they go foraging. Don't give them anything to eat. That means if they're insulting, don't act offended. If they're mean, don't give them your pain. If they argue, agree and walk away. If they demand something, walk away. 

Don't feed the trolls.

Tactics: Jeffe's Top 3

1 - Go to conventions you think you'll enjoy. If you're not having fun, none of the rest of it is worth it.

2 - The main reason to go to conventions is to talk to people. The only thing I plan ahead any more is social engagements. Every opportunity to spend time talking to people takes priority over the rest.

3 - Forget about Return on Investment (ROI). The greatest returns of going to conventions have no dollar value and cannot be calculated on a material scale. Quit that.

Swag Newbie Experiments at RT

RT2014 Book signing

The recent RT Booklovers Con in New Orleans was only my second attempt at doing swag. I was such a newbie at my first book signing several years ago that fellow Word Whore Jeffe had to kindly alert me to the fact I probably needed some and by then it was too late to get anything too spiffy. I had a generic business card decorated with a peacock feather print, generic (but cute) King Tut pins and some stickers to which I managed to add the title of my book. Oh, and Hershey's kisses, which I put into a vaguely Egyptianish bowl.

That signing went well and people actually did like the King Tut buttons but of course there was nothing about the pin to remind them of my name or my books.

For RT, I procrastinated. I  think I was feeling overwhelmed by all the chances to do promo and ads and not knowing what to try, never having been to RT before. I already talked about how I decided to just let RT flow over me this time and see whether I wanted to go again (Oh YESSSSS) and if so, what promo would be effective. All well and good but if I was planning to be at the book signing, then I needed some things. Even I knew this by now!

I'm so grateful to Kim Killion at Hot Damn Designs, who I'm pretty sure was astounded that I waited til literally the last moment before asking her if she could make me business cards and bookmarks. But she took the challenge on (bless her and her team) and the items arrived just before I had to leave for RT and were gorgeous.

I spent one day cruising eBay and Oriental Trading Company and a few party supply sites online, looking for other potential swag. I love to shop by the way. I had to rein myself in that RT probably wasn't going to allow me to go for the 8' Temple Arch or even the 6' Column, much less the folding 4' Sphinx, all of which I found in prom decorations. I also found a lot of potential mummy swag that was scary and/or ugly. I only wanted good associations with my ancient Egypt books, not "Frankenstein Meets The Mummy" type stuff.

I decided to get about 30 of each item, figuring I'd see what Readers liked, and then go in that direction for my next major swag event. I went ahead and used more of the King Tut buttons I'd already bought in 2012 (not going to tell you how many of those I had ordered. Suffice it to say you'll see them from me for decades to come LOL.) Same for the pretty stickers, but at least I attached my spiffy new business card to the back.

My Mummy suckers from Oriental Trading were a hit - cute, tasty, different from Hershey's kisses. The miniature papyrus bookmarks (see below) were also very popular. My only problem with them was that in each package of ten, there were two that misspelled the name of the Egyptian god, so I had to give those to Goodwill. So I ended up with 24 for the price of 30. Sigh. The heiroglyphic pencils weren't a hit.

I might do pens next time, as everyone says they're popular. I did actually order ten pens as a test case. Yeah, they arrived from Egypt a week after I got back from RT.

Realizing I was concentrating on my Egyptian paranormal series and ignoring my science fiction romance, I

ordered magnets of the two book covers. Um, ok note to self, please check SIZE when ordering. They were HUGE. I put them on my refrigerator and my daughter took one but I didn't bother carrying them to RT. OMG. I definitely plan to do magnets of the book covers again but not ones that take up a huge chunk of real estate.

So, all in all, I felt good about my experiment and I have a better idea what I'll do for the next RT book signing I attend.