More Excitement, More Books
I’m still working on getting into a rhythm with this blog thing. I can go for a couple weeks and then I fall off. I think it’s the lack of engagement with it. When I post to social media or make videos or whatever else, there are likes, there are comments, there’s immediate feedback. The blog sometimes feels like screaming into the void, and it’s easy to feel like no one actually reads this thing. Well this weekend I learned that people do actually read this thing, and that’s got me a bit more motivated to get back into it. So what did I do this weekend?
I had a table at the Baltimore Book Festival! I was out there on the streets of Baltimore for almost 18 hours this weekend and it was intense! The other events I’ve done have only been for a few hours and separated by months, so to be out there almost 10 hours one day and 8 the next was a lot.
Worth it though! As exhausted as I am, I had a ton of fun. I had a friend sitting with me the first day and my brother the second, but while the company was much appreciated, there wasn’t a ton of downtime to chat. Both days had a steady stream of people coming by drawn in by my colorful display (or possibly my colorful personality).
Or the candy. Halloween is approaching and I wasn’t above a little bribery to draw people closer so I could tell them about Mattson. And tell them I did. I talked this book to death, but after a few tries I settled on a pitch that felt pretty good and seemed to generate a fair bit of interest.
In addition to immediate sales, I also gave out plenty of cards and bookmarks that will hopefully result in later sales as well, but more than that, I also got to meet other authors and forge relationships with new bookstores. Also eat good food. There were food trucks and other stands all over the place and I took full advantage. All in all, it was a completely worthwhile event and one I’ll be looking to repeat in the future.
If you look close at the table picture above, you can see cards with the cover of Mattson Academy: Mind over Magi. While it was supposed to come out on the 24th, there have been some technical issues causing slight delays, but I promise it’ll be out soon, and I made sure to let everyone know that if they liked the first one, they won’t be waiting long for the second, and that definitely seemed to get people even more excited.
Not only that, the third book is written! It still needs some love and polish, but the hardest part, getting the initial words out, is complete. That means that as soon as book 2 is out I’ll be able to knuckle down and work to hopefully have book 3 out by this time next year.
That just leaves book 4 to go, and then the Mattson sage is complete.
