Bill Bodden's Blog - Posts Tagged "promotion"
More Kudos for Haunted
Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror (in which my story "A Quiet House In The Country" appears) was mentioned in Ellen Datlow's Best Horror Of The Year volume 4.
"Haunted: Eleven Tales of Ghostly Horror edited by Monica Valentinelli (Flames Rising Press) is about ghosts and ghost hunters. The best stories are by Alana Joli Abbott and Preston B. DuBose."
Getting a shout-out like this is important and a huge boost. It means the anthology was noticed, and that while the stories may not have considered good enough to make it into BHOTY v.4, the collection was of high enough quality that Ms. Datlow took the time and space to mention it in print. Thanks Ms. Datlow!
Congratulations to Alana. Preston, and the rest of my fellow authors on a great anthology. Thanks especially to Flames Rising Press and Matt McElroy for making it happen, and in particular to editor Monica Valentinelli for the thankless job of editing the beast.
To find a copy, visit your favorite local bookstore and ask them to order it for you. If that doesn't work, you can always order a copy (either print or ebook/PDF) using this link:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/95397/H...
"Haunted: Eleven Tales of Ghostly Horror edited by Monica Valentinelli (Flames Rising Press) is about ghosts and ghost hunters. The best stories are by Alana Joli Abbott and Preston B. DuBose."
Getting a shout-out like this is important and a huge boost. It means the anthology was noticed, and that while the stories may not have considered good enough to make it into BHOTY v.4, the collection was of high enough quality that Ms. Datlow took the time and space to mention it in print. Thanks Ms. Datlow!
Congratulations to Alana. Preston, and the rest of my fellow authors on a great anthology. Thanks especially to Flames Rising Press and Matt McElroy for making it happen, and in particular to editor Monica Valentinelli for the thankless job of editing the beast.
To find a copy, visit your favorite local bookstore and ask them to order it for you. If that doesn't work, you can always order a copy (either print or ebook/PDF) using this link:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/95397/H...
My Social Media Dilemma
I was a little under the weather last week. I also had a very time-sensitive short project fall into may lap that required some immediate attention, so I was not able to post as usual. I’m back in the saddle now and ready to talk about all kinds of stuff. As soon as I get word that I can talk about this project I’ll let you in on the secret.
***
Like many of my friends and colleagues, I spend a great deal of time flipping through various social media forums. It’s an enjoyable way to pass time, is occasionally useful, and can sometimes lead to reconnecting with an old friend, or making a new one.
On the other hand, I’m noticing more and more that most of my social media interaction is literally worthless. Friends post “Which Pound Puppy Are You” type polls on Facebook, and many people jump at the bait to take these information-harvesting polls that serve some corporation somewhere, selling your data to people who want to pester you to buy things.
Twitter is not much better. While still seeming less tainted by pure greed on the part of its owners, it’s nearly impossible to have a meaningful exchange with someone in 140-character lumps.
I’ve been looking at social media a great deal lately in terms of self-promotion. As a no-name author, getting my name out there is as important as it is challenging, and with new restrictions Facebook is putting in place (and has been implementing for a couple of years now, IIRC) to limit the number of people who see my posts, it becomes less and less worthwhile from a business standpoint for me to spend much time there.
The rapidly declining utility of social media is one of the reasons I pushed to get my website up and active. That, and having Goodreads, the previous site for my blog, purchased by Amazon.com. Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla of the business world, and they’re throwing their weight around with a ruthlessness that makes me uncomfortable. While they have made few changes to Goodreads so far, it is naive to think they won’t leverage everything the site does to promote their own brand and create new revenue streams. I have no doubt I will need to rely on Amazon at some point, at least in part. For right now, I’d rather not help them drive everyone else out of business.
I heard a saying about social media that really hit home: “If you’re not paying for it, YOU are the product.” In this day and age, it’s difficult to NOT have hundreds of companies harvesting your information and preferences in an attempt to sell you stuff. I want to sell you stuff too, but I try to keep my sales pitch to a minimum. I figure the majority of people who come here to read my blog probably already know about my work, and have either already bought stuff I’ve worked on, or simply aren’t going to do so. The occasional reminder might help those who intend to pick up “my” books, but too much and I’ll turn people off. To me, driving people away is worse than having someone forget to buy a book of mine in which they were interested.
I’m not totally jumping ship from social media just yet. However, as my social media experiences become more and more frustrating, with fewer instances where I feel my time was well spent, I will gradually phase them out altogether. Before that happens, I hope you’ll bookmark this site, and maybe come back for a visit once in a while.
***
Like many of my friends and colleagues, I spend a great deal of time flipping through various social media forums. It’s an enjoyable way to pass time, is occasionally useful, and can sometimes lead to reconnecting with an old friend, or making a new one.
On the other hand, I’m noticing more and more that most of my social media interaction is literally worthless. Friends post “Which Pound Puppy Are You” type polls on Facebook, and many people jump at the bait to take these information-harvesting polls that serve some corporation somewhere, selling your data to people who want to pester you to buy things.
Twitter is not much better. While still seeming less tainted by pure greed on the part of its owners, it’s nearly impossible to have a meaningful exchange with someone in 140-character lumps.
I’ve been looking at social media a great deal lately in terms of self-promotion. As a no-name author, getting my name out there is as important as it is challenging, and with new restrictions Facebook is putting in place (and has been implementing for a couple of years now, IIRC) to limit the number of people who see my posts, it becomes less and less worthwhile from a business standpoint for me to spend much time there.
The rapidly declining utility of social media is one of the reasons I pushed to get my website up and active. That, and having Goodreads, the previous site for my blog, purchased by Amazon.com. Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla of the business world, and they’re throwing their weight around with a ruthlessness that makes me uncomfortable. While they have made few changes to Goodreads so far, it is naive to think they won’t leverage everything the site does to promote their own brand and create new revenue streams. I have no doubt I will need to rely on Amazon at some point, at least in part. For right now, I’d rather not help them drive everyone else out of business.
I heard a saying about social media that really hit home: “If you’re not paying for it, YOU are the product.” In this day and age, it’s difficult to NOT have hundreds of companies harvesting your information and preferences in an attempt to sell you stuff. I want to sell you stuff too, but I try to keep my sales pitch to a minimum. I figure the majority of people who come here to read my blog probably already know about my work, and have either already bought stuff I’ve worked on, or simply aren’t going to do so. The occasional reminder might help those who intend to pick up “my” books, but too much and I’ll turn people off. To me, driving people away is worse than having someone forget to buy a book of mine in which they were interested.
I’m not totally jumping ship from social media just yet. However, as my social media experiences become more and more frustrating, with fewer instances where I feel my time was well spent, I will gradually phase them out altogether. Before that happens, I hope you’ll bookmark this site, and maybe come back for a visit once in a while.
CONvergence bound!
In my latest blog post, I talk a bit about attending CONvergence, a sci-fi convention in Bloomington, Minnesota. I'll be on several panels, and it'll be good to get back to the Twin Cities convention scene after too many years away:
http://billbodden.com/2015/06/22/my-c...
http://billbodden.com/2015/06/22/my-c...
My Summer of Conventions
In an effort to increase my visibility (self-promotion can be a real bear), I've been hitting the convention circuit a little harder this year than in the past. For a semi-introvert like myself, this can be both a terrifying and exhilarating experience. And also tiring.
First up was Origins , back in early June. Held each year in Columbus, Ohio, Origins sometimes struggles as second fiddle to GenCon in the tabletop gaming world. Personally, I like Origins quite a bit; the venue is large enough to host world-class events like a World Science Fiction Convention (aka WorldCon) with lots of smaller meeting rooms perfect for concentrated gaming events. My traveling companion, Monica Valentinelli, was invited to be a speaker at the event; she needed a ride, so it became a more financially feasible event for me, knowing I had my room and badge covered in exchange for driving and for my presentations.
My events went well; I gave solo presentations on selling games to distributors (for manufacturers) and on freelancing in the gaming industry. Attendance wasn't spectacular -- I don't think there was ever much more than a dozen or so people in the audience -- but both events were well-received with active participation, and I had the gratifying experience of people coming up to me afterwards to thank me for my presentations.
I managed to hang out with a few friends while there; Sarah Hans , and Steve and Betty Lickman -- Steampunks of my acquaintance -- met up with me for lunch on Saturday, and the conversation was relaxed and interesting. Sarah and Steve are also writers, and Sarah edited the anthology Sidekicks! , in which both Steve and I had stories. We commiserated on trying to get stories noticed -- if not published, and had a pleasant lunch together. I also had a delightful dinner with Seth Polansky and Kelley Slagle -- among many other people -- and heard all about a film Kelley directed, which they were selling DVDs of at the show -- called "Of Dice and Men" . I watched a screening of the film that evening, and enjoyed it well enough to buy a copy from Kelley. It's also available in a Special Edition on BluRay.
July 4th weekend saw me at CONvergence, in Bloomington, Minnesota. CONvergence is a large, fan-run convention that does pretty much everything, and does it all pretty well. I was again attending with Monica V.,so I had company for the drive. Made a few plans with area friends, but mostly was expecting to see more people I knew. It's been more than 20 years since I last attended a Twin Cities convention, and many people I knew back then are no longer part of the scene. I did catch up with a few friends, first for sushi dinner on Friday, and then with a different group for a delightful Mexican-fusion brunch on Saturday.
My panels were well-attended, and this time I was not flying solo; each had at least three to four other panelists, and the level of moderation skill was generally good. I was on panels about getting into tabletop gaming, becoming a game designer, and the rise of tabletop gaming as a popular hobby, and the audience was receptive and engaged each time.
Saturday night I was feeling a bit sorry for myself; I knew far fewer people at the convention than I thought I would, and was kind of lonely. I happened upon a few people in one of the poolside cabana terraces about to start a game of Ticket To Ride -- one of my favorite boardgames -- and they asked if I'd care to join them. Going completely against type, I said yes, and spent an enjoyable hour or so gaming and chatting with four complete strangers. My thanks to Lucas, Nicole, Amy and Jeremiah for being delightful company!
Caption: Lucas, Nicole, Amy, Jeremiah, and me at CONvergence, June 6, 2015
At the end of July, I made the holy pilgrimage to GenCon in Indianapolis. It was an odd experience being there completely on my own this year. For more than a decade I was working for someone else at the con, either as an employee of ACD Distribution, or as sales manager and occasional freelance writer for Green Ronin Publishing . This time, I was there representing only myself, and while I again failed to make sufficient plans to prevent me from dining alone occasionally, I did have several good meetings about future work, a few convivial meals with others (including Lynne Hardy and her husband Richard), and had two seminars that went well. I reprised my presentation on selling games to distributors here, and found myself on a panel with several industry luminaries about how to get started as a freelancer in the gaming industry. I also finally met Eloy Lasanta, whose Third Eye Games had me as a stretch goal for the AMP: Year One RPG Kickstarter. I wrote the adventure Evolution of Apex , which has also been collected with the other AMP: Year One Adventures into an anthology titled AMP Adventures . Eloy tells me my adventure is meeting with decent acclaim from the game's fans, which does me a world of good to hear.
I managed to wangle a free badge as an "Industry Insider" which got me access to being on those two panels among other things, and it was curious to see people's surprised reactions to my "Guest of Honor" badge at the show. I've been around in the games industry for years, and while I'm nothing like a household name, I have made my share of contributions.
Caption: I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille!
I also managed to find a last-minute roommate to help cover the extravagant cost of a hotel room at the show. David Miller runs a cool gaming news site called Purple Pawn ; besides being a nice guy and a pleasant roommate, David is serious about presenting information about gaming to his readers. I highly recommend checking out Purple Pawn when you have a chance.
My last convention of the summer was Geek.Kon , where I have been one of the Local Guests of the convention for a number of years running. The Local Guest guest list is quite long, but includes Monica Valentinelli and Matt McElroy, Alex Bledsoe , Christopher Jones , Aaron Pavao , and Mark Stegbauer . There were many more guests of the convention, but I wasn't able to spend much time with them. I especially regret not meeting and chatting with Greg Weisman , but that's what next year's conventions are for.
A highlight of the show for me was breakfast on Sunday with Will Shetterly and Emma Bull . I was Emma's Guest Liaison when she was a GoH at Wiscon 14 back in 1990; I haven't seen either Emma or Will much since, so it was very pleasant to have this chance to chat and catch up. Another highlight was dinner the night before with all of Geek.Kon's GoHs at the Nile restaurant, a tradition for several years now.
Geek.Kon is rapidly becoming my favorite local convention. A top-notch staff that works hard to put on a good show, Geek.Kon is staffed mostly by a collection of youthful but competent people. The convention has been growing at a rapid rate, and I hope to see them around the scene for many years to come.
So that's been my summer so far, and it's taken a bit out of me. That's more travel and more conventions over three months than I usually do in two years! I have hopes to make it to a few conventions next year; much will depend on how organized I am, and I have hopes that I'll have more new projects to promote.
First up was Origins , back in early June. Held each year in Columbus, Ohio, Origins sometimes struggles as second fiddle to GenCon in the tabletop gaming world. Personally, I like Origins quite a bit; the venue is large enough to host world-class events like a World Science Fiction Convention (aka WorldCon) with lots of smaller meeting rooms perfect for concentrated gaming events. My traveling companion, Monica Valentinelli, was invited to be a speaker at the event; she needed a ride, so it became a more financially feasible event for me, knowing I had my room and badge covered in exchange for driving and for my presentations.
My events went well; I gave solo presentations on selling games to distributors (for manufacturers) and on freelancing in the gaming industry. Attendance wasn't spectacular -- I don't think there was ever much more than a dozen or so people in the audience -- but both events were well-received with active participation, and I had the gratifying experience of people coming up to me afterwards to thank me for my presentations.
I managed to hang out with a few friends while there; Sarah Hans , and Steve and Betty Lickman -- Steampunks of my acquaintance -- met up with me for lunch on Saturday, and the conversation was relaxed and interesting. Sarah and Steve are also writers, and Sarah edited the anthology Sidekicks! , in which both Steve and I had stories. We commiserated on trying to get stories noticed -- if not published, and had a pleasant lunch together. I also had a delightful dinner with Seth Polansky and Kelley Slagle -- among many other people -- and heard all about a film Kelley directed, which they were selling DVDs of at the show -- called "Of Dice and Men" . I watched a screening of the film that evening, and enjoyed it well enough to buy a copy from Kelley. It's also available in a Special Edition on BluRay.
July 4th weekend saw me at CONvergence, in Bloomington, Minnesota. CONvergence is a large, fan-run convention that does pretty much everything, and does it all pretty well. I was again attending with Monica V.,so I had company for the drive. Made a few plans with area friends, but mostly was expecting to see more people I knew. It's been more than 20 years since I last attended a Twin Cities convention, and many people I knew back then are no longer part of the scene. I did catch up with a few friends, first for sushi dinner on Friday, and then with a different group for a delightful Mexican-fusion brunch on Saturday.
My panels were well-attended, and this time I was not flying solo; each had at least three to four other panelists, and the level of moderation skill was generally good. I was on panels about getting into tabletop gaming, becoming a game designer, and the rise of tabletop gaming as a popular hobby, and the audience was receptive and engaged each time.
Saturday night I was feeling a bit sorry for myself; I knew far fewer people at the convention than I thought I would, and was kind of lonely. I happened upon a few people in one of the poolside cabana terraces about to start a game of Ticket To Ride -- one of my favorite boardgames -- and they asked if I'd care to join them. Going completely against type, I said yes, and spent an enjoyable hour or so gaming and chatting with four complete strangers. My thanks to Lucas, Nicole, Amy and Jeremiah for being delightful company!
Caption: Lucas, Nicole, Amy, Jeremiah, and me at CONvergence, June 6, 2015
At the end of July, I made the holy pilgrimage to GenCon in Indianapolis. It was an odd experience being there completely on my own this year. For more than a decade I was working for someone else at the con, either as an employee of ACD Distribution, or as sales manager and occasional freelance writer for Green Ronin Publishing . This time, I was there representing only myself, and while I again failed to make sufficient plans to prevent me from dining alone occasionally, I did have several good meetings about future work, a few convivial meals with others (including Lynne Hardy and her husband Richard), and had two seminars that went well. I reprised my presentation on selling games to distributors here, and found myself on a panel with several industry luminaries about how to get started as a freelancer in the gaming industry. I also finally met Eloy Lasanta, whose Third Eye Games had me as a stretch goal for the AMP: Year One RPG Kickstarter. I wrote the adventure Evolution of Apex , which has also been collected with the other AMP: Year One Adventures into an anthology titled AMP Adventures . Eloy tells me my adventure is meeting with decent acclaim from the game's fans, which does me a world of good to hear.
I managed to wangle a free badge as an "Industry Insider" which got me access to being on those two panels among other things, and it was curious to see people's surprised reactions to my "Guest of Honor" badge at the show. I've been around in the games industry for years, and while I'm nothing like a household name, I have made my share of contributions.
Caption: I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille!
I also managed to find a last-minute roommate to help cover the extravagant cost of a hotel room at the show. David Miller runs a cool gaming news site called Purple Pawn ; besides being a nice guy and a pleasant roommate, David is serious about presenting information about gaming to his readers. I highly recommend checking out Purple Pawn when you have a chance.
My last convention of the summer was Geek.Kon , where I have been one of the Local Guests of the convention for a number of years running. The Local Guest guest list is quite long, but includes Monica Valentinelli and Matt McElroy, Alex Bledsoe , Christopher Jones , Aaron Pavao , and Mark Stegbauer . There were many more guests of the convention, but I wasn't able to spend much time with them. I especially regret not meeting and chatting with Greg Weisman , but that's what next year's conventions are for.
A highlight of the show for me was breakfast on Sunday with Will Shetterly and Emma Bull . I was Emma's Guest Liaison when she was a GoH at Wiscon 14 back in 1990; I haven't seen either Emma or Will much since, so it was very pleasant to have this chance to chat and catch up. Another highlight was dinner the night before with all of Geek.Kon's GoHs at the Nile restaurant, a tradition for several years now.
Geek.Kon is rapidly becoming my favorite local convention. A top-notch staff that works hard to put on a good show, Geek.Kon is staffed mostly by a collection of youthful but competent people. The convention has been growing at a rapid rate, and I hope to see them around the scene for many years to come.
So that's been my summer so far, and it's taken a bit out of me. That's more travel and more conventions over three months than I usually do in two years! I have hopes to make it to a few conventions next year; much will depend on how organized I am, and I have hopes that I'll have more new projects to promote.
