Let the Countdown Begin

Story time!

Not very long ago, I received a Facebook message from a former missionary who served in our area when we lived in California. Great guy - most missionaries are - and I love that I can still see a lot of them via Facebook.
Now this particular missionary got himself the coolest of geeky jobs, and his message included a link to a Google Form so I could sign myself up as a vendor for Dragonsteel Nexus.

Now, I did make it into Brandon Sanderson’s 15-person writing group class last year (that was an experience I’ll have to tell you about some other time), but I’ve never been to Dragonsteel and especially NOT as a vendor. I thought about it for three whole seconds - just long enough to remind myself that yes, I wrote books, but they aren’t fantasy books so the Nexus people probably aren’t the right audience for me to be hawking to. A quick, “thanks so much for thinking of me” and I was on to the next thing.

But then, this sweet, persistent man - he FOLLOWED UP. Ninety minutes before the application deadline, he reached out to me again. Basically saying he hadn’t seen my application yet and guess what, today is the last day, better get on that.

I gave him my excuse - yeah, not fantasy - probably not the right market.

He shot me down on that - informing me that they have an indie row for independently published authors and they needed All Genres represented. And also, haven’t I already learned lessons before about not assuming I know what my target audience looks like? I know I intended the books to be for young women, but my actual readers range anywhere from the twenty-something girl I intended to men in their fifties. I do not get to assume I know who my readers are.

I had 90 minutes to get over myself and get the application in. So I did - knowing that even though my missionary was on my side about getting a booth in that arena, he wasn’t the only or final say on whether I would be approved. And there are probably thousands of vendors vying for space in the Salt Palace this December. People with more titles than I have. People with better logos who have their vendor acts together - people who know how to MARKET. I figured I’d be lost in that crowd and I could say, “welp, I tried” later on when I let my friend know that I wasn’t selected.

Well … guess what. Didn’t happen. I guess they really do need all the genres, and I am apparently going to have an 8-foot table somewhere in all the crazy that will be Dragonsteel Nexus 2025. I paid my entry fee. I’m going.

NOW WHAT!?

I have three titles to my name, one trilogy, and they are still very much NOT fantasy. I figured my table would look pretty sad with just the three books sitting on it. But that’s ok because, remember, I can Knit and Crochet, and I’ve been selling those kinds of things for a lot longer than I’ve been selling books. There’s no way I can publish another book before December, but I can make a ton of Emotional Support Chickens, you get me?

I’m only slightly panicked about all this. I’m invested now and would really like to not lose more funding because of these books. Which means, I need a plan. I need artwork and swag, stickers, pens, chapstick(?) - I don’t know what I need. Probably a new logo and some more business cards. Some QR codes. I need books - how many books should I order? I’m told that 8000 people come to this thing every day, plus another 350 staff. That’s a lot of people. Not all of them are going to buy a book, but I don’t want to sell out the first day either.

There are twenty-four weeks to work with. As I reach out to people who can make art and banners, business cards and stickers, I’ll be crocheting dragons. I’ll need to sell about 225 of them to break even on the booth rent.

I’m not saying Don’t Panic - I’m just saying, Not Yet.
If you’re coming to Dragonsteel Nexus, please make sure to come see me. You’ll want to make sure you get yourself a crocheted dragon or an Emotional Support Chicken before they all sell out.

I want everyone carrying the dragons on their shoulders so people can be like, “Excuse me? Where did you get that?”