While most marketing and promotional strategies are directed online these days, fan conventions can offer self-published authors a way to meet and sell directly to potential readers and add a \u2018personal touch\u2019 to their message.<\/p>\n
Authors Marianna Shek, Marissa Price and Felix Long shared a stall at the Gold Coast Supanova Comic-Con & Gaming Expo, that ran from 27-29 April earlier this year. They spoke with Independent Publishing<\/em> about the experience.<\/p>\n Marianna Shek, author of fairytale picture book The Stolen Button<\/em>, had previously run a number of market stalls and decided to reach out to other authors interested in sharing a stall at the Supanova convention. She posted a call-out in an online Facebook group, and two other authors signed up: Marissa Price, author of Into the Abyss<\/em>, and To Conquer Heaven<\/em>\u2019s Felix Long.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Supanova convention describes itself as ‘a place where fans inspired by imaginary worlds emanating from comics, sci-fi, fantasy, anime, gaming, nostalgia and literature have been able to come together to celebrate’. But for Price, the experience of going to a convention was a new one: \u2018I had no idea what Supanova was, but I was willing to give it a go,’ she said. ‘I got my first real taste of what I was in for when we checked into our hotel and saw a group of people in costumes!\u2019<\/p>\n Shek, who has sold her titles at libraries, brick-and-mortar bookstores, markets and online, said she always thought \u2018there was marketplace potential for fantasy\/science-fiction writers at pop-culture conventions’. Her work in animation led her to realise the potential of reaching like-minded audiences at these gatherings. ‘I have a lot of friends and former students who end up working in illustration and\/or comic books. I could see they were doing extremely well at places like Supanova and Comic-Con, and I thought comics are not so different from novels. It was an easy decision to try it for myself.’<\/p>\n Price’s titles are available at several online retailers such as Fishpond, Booktopia, Amazon,\u00a0Angus and Robertson and QBD, as well as on her own imprint’s website, The Literature Factory. She said she was drawn to the idea of selling at the convention because it was a new idea she had never considered before. \u2018I wanted to have a new experience, and to try something outside of my comfort zone. I’m not a seller by nature\u2014at least not of my books and myself! It’s been my Achilles heel in self-publishing,\u2019 said Price.<\/p>\nHow it all began<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Unconventional thinking
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