All The Best Freaks Are Here - or What I learned in Atlanta
Wow, where to start… here’s the thing, I just had my first ‘true’ convention experience down in Hotlanta… Compared to our lovely smooth (if rather staid) British Fantasy Conventions Dragon*con was something of a monstrosity… a lovely one for sure but a great big fat beast of a convention just the same. Gone are the days of the sad little annoracks chit-chatting about all things Dr Who. Here we’ve got gloriously costumed Cyphus Cain’s and Blood Marines, beareded Princess Leia’s (there goes one childhood fantasy never to return) predators hanging out supping cocktails, blue fairies, goths galore and erm me, in a rugby shirt and jeans representing the Brits…
I’ve talked to a few guys about the panels - and we have different experiences. Mind you, few of them got stabbed by a co-panelist mid discussion. The general feeling among writers seems to be ‘buy my book’ and I can’t help feel that these guys have missed a vital point - up there on the panels talking to 200 people pressed into a poorly ventilated room a constant barrage of ‘buy my books’ are just uncouth. I enjoy doing panels - it does help that I have a dirty mind and in the States can get away with murder because everyone is just listening to the accent not the actual words (point in case describing 5 guys fighting desperately for their lives in some pseudo fantasy storming of a castle only to have a co-panelist turn around and go: ‘That’s just so sexy…’ and obviously mean the accent, not the whole fighting for your life thing… when I’m up there I don’t do the sell - or rather I do, but I do it subtly. I sell my name, which is my brand, not an individual book. If a handful of people write down my name in their notepads I know I’ve done my job. I try to achieve this by a. answering their questions, not going off on some rant about how much I know about a given subject and what obscure tidbit of information I can tantalise with and b. getting them to laugh more than once - and I mean really laugh, from the belly down to the boots.
British conventions are different. We’re low key. We sup tea and pontificate. You Americans have got it sorted. It’s about having fun. Buy my book isn’t about having fun - it’s a shill.
Don’t be a shill.
Be memorable.
Steven Savile
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Thanks for sharing that.