OOC: Arisia

[sythyry]

OOC: For chaotic reasons, I'm going to go to Arisia this year. As a vacation. Alone. Not even running games, for once.

So ... Help!

[Poll #895646]

Comments

[striderhlc.livejournal.com]

I've never been to Arisia, despite apparently living right in the area. Just out of curiosity, any chance you'll be making it to Genericon this year?

- HC

[read-alicia.livejournal.com]

From my experience at Arisia (programming and speaking at panels), it is more of a visual media convention than a book convention. If you manage to track down any publishers there, great, but I would try to schedule your meetings with them beforehand.
The best place I've found to network with writers and publishers is actually the panelists' lounge, which you generally can't get in without a panelist's badge (but you can if someone escorts you, I'm sure - not me this year though, although I may be able to get a list of panelists). Writers and their ilk, being a shy sort, tend to hide in there with the free food at various periods during the day.
I've always heard that Boskone is a better con for literary types, and I'm planning to go there this year in lieu of Arisia.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I don't want to do networking. I'm trying to decide if it'd be insane not to do it.

[read-alicia.livejournal.com]

Here's the dilemma... oh Gods yes, networking is everything in publishing. However, as an individual of finite energy and low charisma, I find myself twitching on the floor at the thought of it. I have a better idea of how it works in the indie-queer publishing circuit than the sci-fi circuit, but here are a few suggestions.
If the written word serves you better than the spoken word, use it. Submit your novel (or sections of it) to contests and get all the nominations you can. Ask anyone you know, or your friends know, who have been published to submit quotes about your novel, and put together a sales package to hand out or mail to publishers/agents. Pimp World Tree - sales figures (no matter what they are), awards, quotes, etc. - and also sythyry.
Basically, get out the word about you, and/or develop a press kit - then start bugging publishers, agents and such.

As far as networking goes, the people I know who can claim networking as a major source of their success (Tristan Taormino, Charlie Anders, Patrick Califia, Michelle Tea, etc.) all weren't just writing novels. They had columns, magazines, worked on outreach programs, and so forth. They stayed busy in order to keep visible.

sythyry is a similar institution. You are a figure of renown, even if minor. If you're going to Arisia, I am thinking that pimping out sythyry ("and by the way, I have a new book too!") via business cards would be a great idea. Go to the dealer's room (and hall upstairs) and pass out cards - see if you can leave any out. Sometimes they'll let you. Just don't focus on publishers at Arisia specifically - pimp your work in general and if you happen to run across any publishers on the way, just give them a card and let it be.

By the way, I volunteer to help provide quotes if you need any. I'm up for a James Tiptree Jr. award, so I can be one bullet on your page of quotes, if necessary.

[read-alicia.livejournal.com]

Also, I recommend you contact Dave Kaplowitz (Percy) for questions about networking in the speculative fiction market at Arisia. beetiger definitely knows him. He runs a number of writer's mailing lists which should be exactly the place to ask these sorts of questions.

FYI - congratulations on finding a publisher. I didn't know - who is the lucky publisher?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice.

Padwolf Press, the ones who published World Tree.

[striderhlc.livejournal.com]

Haha... You know, I was just going to ask if that's where the name came from.

- HC

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Don't do it, why ruin your vacation?

OTOH, if you get the chance to just hang out with editors, that would be OK. PNH once said that he hates it when strangers come up to him and say "I've written this book" but when he meets new people and they're cool he wants to hope they've written a book.

If I were you I'd go to the con and have a good time

[allessindra.livejournal.com]

a) If you want to talk to publishers, go to Boskone. If you want to do ANYTHING ELSE AT ALL -- like, oh, have fun? LIke talk to other people to? Like have anything else to do but network wtih publishers? Don't go to Boskone. I can give you the dirty gossip behind it if you want.

b) I know DKap also, but I don't know if he'll be at Arisia. There are issues. I can email him if you'd like (I should do that anyway).

c) being prepared to network if an opportunity leaps up and bites you would be a good plan. Taking a *vacation* and *planning* to do *negatively stressful* things during that vacation sounds like it won't be a *vacation*.

We won't have room in our room for sharing, alas, but we'll be happy to hang out at any excuse! It's a new hotel, so I can't give you any clues about it or its environs. I did see, on the website, that they'll be runnign shuttle busses between the hotels, so it might not be awful to be in the overflow hotel.

oNw?

[(Anonymous)]

Three?
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