Having attended AtomaCon this weekend in Charleston, I have some thoughts to share about small SFF conventions that have writer’s tracks, and why they can be a good option for authors at a lot of different places in their development.

Before I dive in, let me give the caveats. Yes, there are cons that are not expensive, but expense is relative, and I understand that they may be out of the reach of some people. Likewise, not everyone has a con near them, so travel may be prohibitive and not everyone has the same access. Health concerns or other disabilities might be an issue, and I’m not an expert on such things, so I’ll leave that discussion to those who are.

You certainly don’t have to attend cons to write SFF and be successful. As with everything, this is just one tool you can use.

On Small SFF Conventions

Size is relative, of course. Cons run anywhere from maybe 100 to 200 people attending to tens of thousands. In this case I’m going to talk about a con that’s really on the small side. Like below 3 or 400 attendees. Other size cons have other benefits, and not all cons are created equal, so YMMV. But I think I’ve got some things that are pretty universal.

1. The cost is often low. Small cons are probably not going to break the bank. This is especially true if you find one near you and you don’t have to worry about travel and lodging.
   
2. You can get some really personal attention. At a small con, a writer’s track panel, depending on the time of day, might have 15 people in the audience. It might also have 3. And for an hour, you have 4 or 5 authors up in front talking about some aspect of writing, whether it’s craft, career, promotion, working with an editor…the possible topics are endless (and you can look them up ahead of time to see if there’s anything that interests you.) The thing about being in a small audience is this: You can ask questions.
   
   I was at one panel this weekend where in the room it was me, Mary Robinette Kowal, Gail Z. Martin, and two developing writers. And the five of us just talked for an hour, sometimes on topic, sometimes off, but all about writing and the business of writing. So…basically, for those two attendees, it became a Q&A session with three successful writers. How much is that worth?
   
   Now I’m not saying you’re going to get three writers with our levels of experience every time you go to a small con. Honestly, that would be pretty rare. But you’re going to get a bunch of chances to sit at panels with writers of all kinds, with all different skill sets, and they’re going to be bouncing ideas off of each other as well as you. Authors are sitting on panels about subjects because they believe they’ve got something to share.
   
   But also, you never know what you are going to luck into. In one of our panels, Mary Robinette gave some great thoughts on structure. Think you could learn something from that? I mean…I know I did. And I was on the panel.
   
   And that’s just at the panels.
   
3. There are a bunch of bored authors sitting around all day, and a lot of them are sitting behind tables trying to sell books. One staple of most small cons is that you’re going to have a lot of small press and self-published authors there hawking their wares. One thing they all have in common — they’ve finished books. And you can walk right up and look at those books (Fair warning: The downside of this plan is you’re going to buy more books than you mean to.)
   
   But here’s the other thing. At a small con, there’s not going to be a steady flow of customers to booths. When things get slow, authors are there at their table with nothing to do. And you know what authors like to talk about? Writing. Want to know what it’s like to work with a small press? Walk up to a small press author and ask them. Ask several. And hey — if they don’t want to talk, respect them. But the kind of authors who go sell their books at small cons? They tend to like to talk to people.
   
   Yes, it’s polite to buy something if you’re going to pick someone’s brain about some aspect of writing. But you can also hang out and listen. If you’re cool about it, nobody is going to mind.
   
4. It’s a good chance to get on panels and practice. If you’re newly published — and I don’t care here if you’re with a big publisher, a small press, or self-published — small cons are often much easier to get on programming. And once you’re on panels, there’s not a ton of pressure. You can practice paneling with 11 people in the crowd so that you’re comfortable when you move up to bigger cons and are sitting in front of 111.
   
   Want to learn how to moderate? Ask to be moderator of a panel. In my experience, at most small cons the other authors are often going to jump out of the way to let you have a shot. Practice preparing yourself, and then just go for it. Even if you fall on your face, if you try and you mean well, the other authors are going to pick up any slack. Want feedback? Ask the other authors on your panel how you did afterward.
   
5. You’re going to make connections. This can take many forms, so I’m going to break it into subsections.
   
   a. You’ll make connections for other cons. You know who goes to cons? People who go to cons. Seems obvious, right? But the people at that small con? They go to other cons. This weekend, at AtomaCon, which is really small, the con-runner for Con Carolinas was there. That’s a bigger con, with 1000 to 1500 people attending and a larger pool of author guests to choose from. Do a good job at a small con, and that’s often your ticket to bigger ones.
   
   But wait, there’s more. Even if you’re not planning to be a guest at bigger cons right away, you can learn about them. And even if you’re not a guest but you plan on attending — big cons can be scary places if you don’t know anybody. Go to Dragon Con, and there’s 80,000 people wandering around and half of them are in costume. It can be overwhelming. But it’s a lot easier if you know people. For example, if you asked around AtomaCon, you’d have found probably a dozen folks who will be at Dragon Con. And they’d have told you that they’ll all be hanging out in the Westin bar at night (that’s not a huge secret. That’s the writer’s bar at DragonCon). But if you don’t know, you don’t know. For me, walking into a place with a lot of people is a lot easier if there are a few faces I recognize.
   
   b. You might make business connections. This can take a ton of different forms.
   
   Self-pub author who needs help with a cover? Look for someone with great covers and ask them who does them.
   
   Small press author with a press that’s not really living up to your expectations? Find other small press authors who look happy and ask them about their press. I can’t tell you how many small press book deals I’ve seen get their start at a con.
   
   Someone who is just starting out as a writer? Go to the writing panels and look around at who else is there. Chances are there’s someone just like you. Ask local authors about writing groups or other resources.
   
   Writers of all levels can trade contact information. You never know who is going to know something or someone you want to know one day. This can even happen at the highest levels. At our con this weekend, the guest of honor met an algae expert and was able to get answers and ideas for an upcoming book (What can I say? Sci Fi is weird like that.)
   
6. You’ll probably have fun. I’m not fond of crowds. Even when I know people, big conventions are…a lot. Small cons can be a lot less overwhelming for me, and I find that I’m more relaxed and can just have a good time.
   
   At any con, you’re going to find yourself surrounded by people with a lot of the same interests as you, and some with some other cool interests that you might want to learn about. There are usually panels on a huge range of topics. For example, maybe you don’t write military SF, but you’ve got this one battle scene in your fantasy book and you’d like it to be cooler. At my military SF panel, we talked all about how to write cool battle scenes. And you can do that for a ton of different topics. Things where maybe you wouldn’t have gone out of your way to learn, but they’re right there.
   
7. It’s probably for charity. Many (Most?) cons are non profits. There’s usually an auction to support their charity of choice (with some cons, it’s the same charity every year. With others they pick a new one each year.) Anything they make above what they need to run the con, they donate. You can usually find the charity listed on their website, so as you attend, you can support a cause.
   
8. You’re helping to grow the genre. I’ve never come close to selling enough books at a con to cover my costs. But I see it as my way of helping to grow the community that buys books from all of us. Maybe I’m just optimistic like that (cue people who know me laughing at the idea that I’m optimistic.)

So…are you sold? Ready to head out to a small local convention? Here are some do’s and don’ts type tips:

Don’t: Monopolize the conversation.

If you’re on a panel, let everyone talk. Also, recognize who the audience came to see. If you’re on a panel with the guest of honor, let them talk a little more than you do. Make your points and take your turns, but recognize why the audience is sitting there in the first place. I was once on a panel with David Weber where everyone in the audience (Literally everyone) was dressed up as one of his characters. Guess who got to do most of the talking on the panel?

If you’re in the audience and the panel is taking questions (most do), by all means, ask yours. But before you ask a second one, take stock of the situation. Maybe there are just three of you sitting there and you can ask multiple questions. But maybe other people need a turn. Be cool about it.

Do: Help the new person (You can do this even if you yourself are new.

On panels, if someone is having trouble, throw them a lifeline. Ask them a question that you know they can jump on. Help everybody get a chance to participate.

Outside of panelists, if you see someone hovering on the edge, encourage them to step in. Ask them a question. My go to question: Do you write? It’s super broad, and gives them a chance to talk about why they’re there.

Don’t: Get overly focused on the main guests. The nature of small cons is such that there are usually one or two authors–usually the guest(s) of honor–who are quite a bit more well-known than the others. Take your chances to interact with them, but also recognize that everybody wants to interact with them and they’ve only got so much time. Let others have a turn too. But that doesn’t mean you can’t join the circle and listen.

Plus it’s really obvious. If you’re only looking to interact with people who you think can help you, people notice.

Do: Learn who people are. Here’s a good tip: if you see someone that people seem to gather around and you don’t know who they are, find out. There’s a reason everybody knows them. Maybe they’re just a really cool person. Maybe they’re the con runner. There are a ton of possible reasons, but it’s worth finding out. If nothing else, they know a lot of other people and can help you meet them.

Don’t: Feel the need to drink if you don’t want to. You’re going to want to find the place where people congregate within the con venue. If the con is at a hotel and it’s after prime con hours, that’s probably the bar. You’ll meet a lot of people there, and there’s no pressure to buy books or anything else. You can just meet and talk to other authors, often in accommodating groups. But you don’t have to drink. I mean…I do, but you don’t have to. My wife hangs out in author bars and she doesn’t usually drink. Nobody is going to judge you about it, and there will be enough people who are drinking where the hotel isn’t going to make an issue of it.

Do: Be good to the con staff. They’re all volunteers. Some are doing it for the love of it. Some are maybe working a few hours to earn a free badge. None of them need your crap. If you’ve got a legitimate issue or see something bad happening, absolutely bring it to their attention. If you just want to complain? Probably don’t.

Don’t: Believe everything you hear. Not everybody you meet at a con is an expert. As with anywhere, some of those people might think that they are. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt and compare it with what you hear elsewhere. And remember that anybody who ever tells you that there’s only one best way to do something is probably wrong.

Do: Open the circle. At every con, you’ll see people hanging around on the periphery, wanting to be part of it. You’d want someone to invite you in if you were on the outside. Invite them in. Maybe that shifts you out of the center. It’s okay. Things have a way of working themselves out.

I think that’s it for now. I certainly haven’t covered everything, and there are certainly people who know more than I do. Just thought I’d share a little piece. Now I need to go write. Turns out one thing cons are bad for is word count.

Tags: SF conventions, SFF Conventions