Comic Con and Other Adventures
I've been home almost a month, recovering from the trip and planning my next big thing, but I wanted to share with you some of the experiences I had on my first mini tour.
I say "mini" because the trip basically consisted of a 2 day drive out to Salt Lake City, spending 3 days in my publisher's booth at Comic Con, doing a signing event at the Sugarhouse Barnes & Noble, and then driving up to Idaho on the last day to do one last B&N signing in Idaho Falls. In total, it was only a handful of events, but it was also my first time traveling as an author, so gosh darn it, I'm calling it a tour.
My road crew consisted of a driver, book hauler, security guard, marketer, and comic relief, all of which were my brave husband. I contemplated going on the trip alone, but being 7 months pregnant, I needed a little help. Besides, with the kid staying with her grandparents, this kind of counted as a mini-vacation as well.
The booth consisted of nine authors from Cedar Fort, Inc. though, we took shifts so there were only 3 or 4 authors in the booth at a time. I was super nervous because not only had I never met anyone from my publisher, but I'd never met any of the other authors face to face either. That soon passed as we got to know each other and spent the next three long days together. I'm so grateful I had this opportunity because most of them were more experienced than me and I got to learn a lot by talking to them and watching them interact with their fans.
Pictured from left to right: Nancy Lorenz, Melanie Bateman, Alicia Buck, Cindy C. Bennet, Yours Truly, and Kaki Olsen.
One of my favorite things about attending con was watching all the impressive cosplayers. I got to "meet" some of my favorite characters, including Yuna from Final Fantasy X!
Tina and Louise from "Bob's Burgers".
Adventurers from my home realm of Skyrim.
Some epic Star Wars costumes.
Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of her name, The Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons!
Penny, Amy, and Bernadette from "The Big Bang Theory".
Couldn't tell exactly who she was at first, but when I figured it out I was impressed. Here's a hint: each bullet on her belt is named after a dwarf.
While I was at the booth peddling my books, my "marketer" was mingling and handing out Sigil in Shadow bookmarks. On the second day, which was the longest, he took a break and got me a cake batter ice cream.
I was shocked when "The Quest" star Bonnie came by our booth. She is exactly like she is on the show, (which is great since it was a reality show) super dorky, and super sweet. Check out her D20 dress! She and her friend are a part of a band now called The Library Bards where they do nerdy parody songs.
Friday night I did a signing at the Barnes & Noble in Sugarhouse. I had a few friends in the area show up so I got to see some familiar faces which were long overdue. And I sold a lot more books than I thought I would.
The next morning was my last shift at Comic Con and it flew by. The second I was done at my booth we had to pack up the car and head to Idaho Falls, ID where I had another signing that night at Barnes and Noble. So many old friends came out to support me (including one of my old gymnastics students) and I made lots of new friends too.
All of the staff were very helpful and friendly and I was really sad to go. I SO wish I could have stayed in Idaho longer but I had to get back to my baby girl and I couldn't keep my husband from his job any longer. We had an amazing time on our little tour and hope to come back soon. Hopefully I'll have another book or two out then. ;)
