Newsletter #80 — Fairs and Conferences
April 15, 2024
Newsletter #80 — Fairs and Conferences
Conferences and Fairs — In my last newsletter I shared my speculation that I wouldn't be going to any sci-fi conferences in 2024, and then reconsidered for Windycon in November. But sci-fi conferences aren't the same as book fairs or other events.
Thus far this year I've applied to sell books at the Columbus (OH) Book Festival in July. I learned too late that the deadline for giving a presentation had passed, so I applied for a literature table only. And just two weeks ago my application was approved! I'll be selling Exit Velocity as well as The F Words and many of my other titles, at the outdoor festival in Columbus, July 13 and 14, 2024. Hours are 10 am - 6 pm Saturday and 10 am - 5 pm Sunday. Attendance is free.
After that I applied to give a presentation with long-time friend and now fellow-author Nancy Rosenstock (Inside the Second Wave of Feminism: Boston Female Liberation 1968-1972 An Account by Participants) at the Chicago Printers Row Lit Fest in September. We won't hear back until early July. I did not apply for a vendor's table because it's too expensive.
And then Nancy and I applied to speak about our books and experiences at the Socialism 2024 conference in Chicago in late August, along with fellow author Helen Shiller (Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win: Five Decades of Resistance in Chicago's Uptown Community). For that event, also, we'll hear back in July.
If all of these come through I'll be speaking and selling books at two events, and just selling books at one event. And because two of the events are in Chicago, the traveling is minimal.
QR Code — In preparation for making retractable banners and tablecloth runners for the above-mentioned events, I just generated my first QR code. It will go on the banners. I tried several different QR-code sites, but they all seemed needlessly complicated, with me having to answer questions and narrow choices before I could do a single thing. I ended up using Canva, which was super-easy — and required no answers to questions.
Video — I've made my first Exit Velocity video, following the advice of BookBub, which lists twenty-five topics that readers like to see in author videos. My first is on Main Characters. I hope to make a total of eight videos by June 4, and then, after Exit Velocity is published, I might switch to a different kind of video. I have several thoughts on that, but am not ready to share them yet.
James, by Percival Everett — This is one of the best novels I've read in years. Part of the reason I love it so much is that I like Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and used to teach it when I taught college courses. James is a retelling of Huck Finn, from Jim's point of view. The plot is excellent, the characters are wonderful, and the story is powerful. Read it!
Literary Awards — It's a tedious process for an indie author to submit his/her book for literary awards. But it needs to be done.
I've won two literary awards, one for my start-to-read book Sue Likes Blue, back in the 1980s, and one for Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball, back in 1994. I'm wondering if it's possible for me to win a third.
It took me about five hours to compile a list of literary awards that Exit Velocity might be eligible for. The first thing I did was make a spreadsheet (you know how I hate spreadsheets . . . but sometimes they're the best solution to a problem) listing the award, the cost of entering, and the deadline. I ended up with 29 awards.
From there I started to cull, checking on the details of eligibility. Some didn't accept independently published books, so out they went. Some worked only through the nomination process. Maybe somebody will nominate Exit Velocity, but I have no control over that, so out they went. Some seemed interested only in what is called literary fiction, so much so that I thought popular fiction wouldn't stand a chance. And so on and so forth.
After I finished I had a list of six awards to consider. Because the spreadsheet contains the dates by which the book must be submitted, I'll be able to deal with the submissions one by one, in time to meet the deadlines. (So maybe spreadsheets are good for something after all.)
Crochet— Who would think that crochet would make an appearance (an important one) in a sci-fi/political-fiction novel such as Exit Velocity? Read about it in my April 15 blog.