Ottawa Comic Con and undead pasta
I promise this title will make sense. Eventually. Kinda.
Being an author often feels like throwing wet noodles at the wall and seeing which ones will stick, and then having to find the energy to prepare and boil more story-pasta while standing beside the cemetery of non-stuck pasta.
It’s not just story-pasta, too. It’s marketing-pasta. Event-pasta. Opportunities-pasta. …I’ve worked this metaphor to death, and I’m getting hungry. I’ll stop, now. (Spoiler: I won’t actually stop.)
Whether you’ve been in this biz for a long or short time, you probably get what I mean. Everything pulls your attention into a gazillion different directions, with rare signs that things are working. That they’re worth the effort.
Earlier this year, I made the decision to focus those efforts, because I am but one person and wish to enjoy quiet moments. I whittled things down to what I enjoyed doing (blogging, newsletters, writing!), and what was easy/fun on some level (social media, in-person events, ads).
I whittled that little pasta pile down even more: I blog only on my site or on sites I know to be well curated (goodbye, ineffective blog tours). My newsletter is every 3-4 weeks, and I don’t overcomplicate content (I love overcomplicating so much, but it takes more time). My social media presence is almost exclusively just Facebook and Instagram, because I can pre-set stuff in the Meta Business Suite without having to fuss. In-person events are mostly local, and not that many. Ads are focused on Facebook right now, where I’m getting way more ROI, and I feel like I have an idea of what I’m doing (for now).
See? Focus.
BUT, regardless, that little cemetery of pasta-attempts kept growing, and I wondered if all of these efforts were fruitful. I do monthly reporting to figure out what’s working and what’s not (in an attempt to stay focused), and those pasta bodies were piling up.
Here’s the thing, though, and I’m sure you’ve heard it before: It’s not about the pasta sticking to the wall right away. It’s about you accumulating enough little pasta bodies that when some start to stick, others will rise from the dead. (Okay, maybe you haven’t heard this quite like that before. Also, zombie pasta has cut off my appetite.)
At the start of the month, I was at Ottawa Comic Con, vending there for the first time. That opportunity came because I did another local event in Stittsville, where I met Joseph Carbonetto from Intenseffex. He offered half an 8-foot table for a very reasonable and fair price, and I jumped on the Comic Con train.
Then I spent months prepping (banners, bookmarks, inventory…forgot business cards, and ran out of those at Gen Con. Oops).
So a small local event had led to bigger local event.
Neat. But, while there, a bunch of dead (or not very lively) pasta started writhing to life, and suddenly my pasta cemetery was actually a science lab waiting for lightning to strike an reanimate bodies (seriously wth is going on with this metaphor?? Save me from me, please!)
These are the little pasta bodies that writhed back to life, after I’d assumed them dead or questioned their effectiveness:
Two people said they knew me from social media only. One was excited to say she was an Instagram fan and wanted a copy of Heirs of a Broken Land (so much joy). The other followed me on another author’s page and loved our antics (that author being Lydia M. Hawke, of course!)
I accidentally revealed the cover of Empire Breaker on my banner. I thought “meh, no one will notice.” On the first day, two people noticed and exclaimed joyously. Day one. I was flabbergasted that people paid attention and remembered.
A bunch of friends helped me with amazing tips and ideas over the weekend. Honestly, that’s all from events and playing on social media. There are so many more generous and good writers than shitty ones. That’s important to remember.
All my various titles made such a difference, too. Remember how writing was a focus? (It seems obvious, but also easy to forget.) I sold out of three of my series. Completely. Because I had lots of different series (with amazing covers!), people were attracted to my table by different vibes/tones.
A few people referred to stories from my newsletter and my blog. That made me happy. I always love receiving emails or comments on my stories, but it’s never, as in most things, guaranteed.
I had bookmarks, which seems silly, but I used to make bracelets for poor kids (and I’d paint their nails!) for a Christmas event, like twenty years ago. That old bling-creating-pasta rose from the bottom of my pasta cemetery, other pasta-bodies above it tumbling down the mountain.
All that to say Ottawa Comic Con was a huge success. Financially, sure, but also professionally, because it reinforced that some stuff just takes time, and you never know how you’ll reach your next reader, but consistent and continued efforts in the same spots can pay off. More than jumping around all the new shiny things (at least that’s how it’s been for me).
It felt good. It’s a rare moment in time where I remember that consistency pays off. And all the unsticking-pasta isn’t necessarly waster. It might yet rise from the dead.
Make of this what you will, and enjoy your own journey. Follow your joy, seek sustainability, electrify pasta bodies.
You’ve got this!
