Geek marketing - engage

Sci-fi authors absolutely must attend cons. No ifs. No buts. 

Why? Because no other venue provides such open and welcome access to our prime target audience. The potential for marketing and fan engagement is just too strong of a pull for any self-promoting author to ignore, making cons the fully armed and operational battle station to our modified light freighters. Once they lock onto us with their tractor beams, we just can’t escape.

San Diego Comic-Con, Worldcon, Dragon Con, Fedcon…they’re all on my list of must-attend conventions, as an author and as a wide-eyed fan.

In all honesty though, attending cons is one aspect of author life I’m both longing for and dreading. If you know of my loathing for crowds, you get the dreading part. 

But if you know of my equally powerful love of losing myself in shared fandom, you know why the longing part will no end up winning the day.

I’m holding off on official con appearances until I have more books to promote, and more current readers to meet, but that doesn't mean I’m avoiding cons entirely. A slow build-up to anything is difficult for me. I tend to jump in all the way when I find a new obsession. But my con career is getting the slow clap treatment. I’ll be attending conventions incognito for the time being. Scouting. Slowly spreading the word. Meeting readers on the DL.

First stop, Oz Comic-Con in Sydney. I’ll be there this Saturday, so if you’re a fan of Children of Genesis, find me if you can. I won’t have a booth (this is a low-key appearance, after all). I’ll be wandering the con, attending panels and making a general fan nuisance of myself. If you can find me, and if you have a QR code scanner app handy, you’ll score a top secret con bonus.

For those going on the hunt, here’s a hint:

You know what the Star Trek reboot movies really need? A Trill officer or two.