Heir of Scars News and Blog

"I was absolutely captivated . . . I am a traditional archer, bow hunter, and an avid naturalist. I found it very difficult to put this book down and stayed up way too late several nights. I finished the book exactly one week after starting it and was left wanting more. I spent the majority of my days thinking about Adria and imagining life among the Aesidhe. Not once did my enthusiasm drop, even the least, through the entire book from the very first word to the last."

- Amazon Reviewer

The Complete Edition of Heir of Scars I is now available in Paperback and Kindle Editions, expanded and with cool extras.

We were a little tired by then, but people were engaged in new ways, and we seemed to sell a wider variety of things. Artwork that had gone unnoticed was noticed. A mother and daughter played tic-tac-toe with our gray and white wolves. Vanessa's bronze necklaces attracted attention.

We went around to other booths more, met other artists and authors and vendors. Joseph Bellofatto, in three minutes at his excellent booth, told me about a dozen other possible conventions to attend in a year's time. I should have recorded him.

By the time the evening air raid sirens went off, which oddly represented nothing more than the burger vendor closing its gate and not a flight to the bomb shelters, we were saturated, and left standing with only one lonely and slightly marred copy of the Heir of Scars paperback.

My original idea for this was to keep track of the positive things we learned selling at the convention, so I think I'll close with that.

What we learned:

• Stand up, smile, and greet people, but...
• Work while you're behind the booth. Especially artists... it reminds people they're looking at something made by you, not by a stranger somewhere.
• Ask questions. There's no point in just selling people something. Engage them in it by seeing how it might relate to them, and...
• Be honest. We tried to steer some away from the book and to the art if they seemed a little young or to have a varying interest. You can figure this out pretty quickly utilizing the step just above.
• Direct peoples' attention. We had a lot of art, but the core of it was the books... which people didn't always see at first. They had to be guided since they didn't know the name and nature of the brand already. Besides... there are sights and sounds all around, and it's difficult to focus and absorb.
• Think vertical. Our banner was gorgeous, but on the floor. many others built up higher over the table, or had taller standing banners. Next time...
• Sign your work for buyers; I feel silly forgetting on day one.
• Take pictures of cosplayers; it's fun, but also engages them, and draws attention to your booth. Ask first!
• Yeah, lower expectations; we went in with the idea that we were just advertising, getting the Heir of Scars name (and ours) out there for people.
• Get the book (or whatever) in people's hands; there's nothing like tangibility, and the people who might want a 600 page book will want to feel it in their hands.
• Get emails.
• Give freebies. Flyers and business cards for starters, but in our example bookmarks and smaller prints with (or without) purchases.
• Have cash. You'll have to make change, right? We almost forgot.
• Have fun. That's really the biggest thing, I think. Everyone's there to have fun, and if it feels like work for you, it will seem like you're working to everyone else.

Okay... that doesn't capture the full experience of our first con, but it was a lot for us to absorb, and we're anxious to try again soon. Know a good convention in your area for a fantasy author and artist team? Let us know...

-Jacob and Vanessa

Day Two: Learning Hyperbola

Saturday was the day in very many ways. It was longer by hours, but went so much faster. There were periods where no one stopped to look at anything on our table, but then suddenly we would have several turning back to point at one of Vanessa's wolf prints, which then gave us the opportunity to talk about the book.

We learned quickly what worked and what didn't, and got the rhythm down between us.

"It's an epic fantasy with a strong female lead... take a look at the back and see what you think..."

That was the best lead in. Simple, and it hit the two biggest factors that people will like (or not) in the novels. Cause... they could feel how heavy it was when they picked it up.

"Yeah, it's 600 pages," and we'd point to the flyer. "I started publishing it as individual ebook novellas, then put them all together into a single paperback. I didn't know how big it would actually be until I opened the box. Waaaay heavier than the Kindle versions."

(And later I'd find out how much it would cost me to ship a single copy!)

Vanessa turned out to be a great salesperson. When the art drew them in, she'd explain the legend of the White Wolf Woman from the novel, and how it inspired the paintings for some of the covers and other attached artwork.

The art often drew them in first, and then I'd explain, "Vanessa made such a great cover. I just did the 600 pages of filler in the middle to give her some room on the book spine."

Lots of obstacles on Saturday. The WiFi connection was terrible, so we had to take cash for nearly every transaction, though Jackson in the next booth was cool enough to let us use his once or twice.

Sometimes the crowds were thick enough that people passing couldn't even see our displays, so Vanessa started taking a LOT more pictures of the cosplayers, which were, well, probably half the people passing by. I'll put a couple of pictures here, but Vanessa made a great video compilation of them I'll put in Part 3.

(Yes, the one on the right could pretty much pass for Adria. --->)

We really had an amazing time, and everyone we interacted with was very positive in every way.

We sold books. Lots more books. Lowered expectations on day one gradually rose as the stack lowered.

"Can you sign it?"

"Um... sure." Crap, I thought. We forgot to sign them yesterday.

I made a little saying for the readers, and... Vanessa drew cartoons of them on the title page. She wins again.

I developed an app specifically for the event, but it didn't quite work out. You can see it above, just under my goatee.

The idea is that on the first page you can pick an Aesidhe name (that's the culture that Adria joins in the novels), a tribe, and a spirit animal. In the second page, it builds a little character sheet for you, and if you enter your email address, I'll send a little story with that character as the basis.

But... the first person who tried it didn't really get what was going on, and the buttons were a bit too small. I'll revise it for later shows and put it on the site once it's ready. So... close, but not quite enough.

<--And OMG Carrie Fisher stopped by!

Well.

Actually, this guy was obviously about the coolest dad in the world, and we really enjoyed speaking with him and his daughter(s).

There were so many good conversations, and I wish we had names and pictured for them all. If you were at our booth and feel inclined, please let us know and we'll connect...

By the end of Saturday, the books were gone, and a fair number of prints and bookmarks. We would have only seven copies left of our (lowered expectations) initial order for Sunday...

...continuing...

Day One: What was the Plan?

Keep expectations low. That was the plan. Measured. Cautiously optimistic at best. Just a couple of boxes of the new Heir of Scars I paperback as centerpiece, flyers and business cards, plus maybe a couple of things that Vanessa decided to make, like a tic-tac-toe game of white and grey wolves.

And a few bronze necklaces with spirit animal pictures.

Oh, plus a few dozen art prints of cover art, and forty-one different styles of bookmarks with novel quotations on the back.

Okay, Vanessa kind of went all out. I'm probably forgetting something.

A 2x4 banner.

Anyway, we took an Uber in since we had too much to carry on the Metro without dramatically increasing the risk of getting caught by the doors. Our Grateful Dead-head driver was less excited by the convention than by the fact that I am a writer and Vanessa is Portuguese, and he spent quite some time trying to remember the name of the movie where the writer falls in love with his Portuguese housekeeper and....... finally he realized it was a sub-plot from Love, Actually, and for the next two minutes showed us an extended preview on his phone.

BTW, he's absolutely moving to Canada if Trump wins.

A brisk and heavily encumbered walk and we make it to the entrance, then are led to walk back along the same path we just took, only just inside the building instead of along the sidewalk, arriving at almost the exact point of dis-Uberment.

The floor of the Con was just like the parents' basement of our geekhood dreams, only several blocks long and several storied high. Even only halfway mantled (dis-dismantled?), it was already impressive. Most of the larger exhibitors had set up on the prior day, leaving Artist Alley the primary barren wasteland we'd soon call home.

Booth N12 was, of course, 3/4 of the way back across the hall, making me very glad I packed a replacement shirt and deodorant.

Vanessa and I went to work quickly, and we took much of the hour to set up our 8x2 table (sorry Vanessa, that's feet not meters). I was very glad Vanessa had designed a layout and that we practiced setup beforehand. I'd have probably spent two of the three days just trying out permutations.

We ended up with great booth neighbors. Chris Allen (ArtofCristos) on our left had some pretty stellar prints of his interpretations of Black Panther, Kylo Ren, TMNT...

On our right Jackson (@arkrevner) had a very nice mix of anime inspired and vibrant original pieces.

It was good our expectations were not stratospheric on Friday. Our goal was not so much to sell at the con, but to get our names and the series out there. We sold a couple of copies on Friday with freebie bookmarks and felt pretty good. It was very cool just to make some connections, chat with people, and maybe the best little surprise was someone asking Vanessa to draw a wolf for her in a sketchbook she was taking around to different artists to make a collection.

"How much do I ask?" Vanessa wondered.

"I have no idea..." I not-too-helpfully answered. 

She undercharged in the end, but considering how fast V can sketch, it was a very respectable hourly wage, and the woman was very pleased with original wolf that will remain the very first page of her collection.

Okay, it wasn't much compared to many of the vendors and exhibitors, but we were pretty excited as we wandered back home again, and very much hopeful that Saturday would have a lot more action.

...continuing...

Author Jacob Falling and Artist Vanessa Bettencourt will be celebrating the paperback release of Heir of Scars I at AwesomeCon in Washington DC on June 3-5, 2016.

Come find us in the Artist Alley in booth N12. We would love to see you there!

http://www.awesome-con.com/