Convention Recap: Chattacon 2024

I have returned from the wilds of Tennessee, where I was a guest at Chattacon! I had a great time, so let me break it down for you!

General Thoughts

This con was smaller than I thought. I don't know why I thought this was like a 2-3k people con, but that was not the case. I never heard an official count, but the rumor mill that is vendor chatter was that attendance was in the 400-500 range. Which I think was a good number for the space. I enjoy a good mid-sized con like this. It allows you to get to know the attendees a little better, and from a business perspective, I find that the networking is always better at smaller cons than larger, counter-intuitively. I think its because with fewer guests/vendors, we get to spend more time with each other, which naturally leads to better connections.

This was their first year with an Author Alley, so it was an experiment for them. I already knew most of the authors there, and they are all folks I really enjoy (shoutout to George Windstein, Kim Conrey, Jared Millet, Kenneth Meade, Ben Meeks, Alex Nader, the author alley dream team!). We had a good mix of genres, and the foot traffic was pretty good. I think it had the problem that all author alleys have, in that a lot of folks only put on their 'I'm going to spend money in the vendor hall/art market' and don't really shop when traveling from point A to point B. But, the cost was much lower being in Author Alley, so the trade off was very much worth it in my opinion. I hope they keep that as an option going forward.

The most exciting part of the con for me however was getting to help introduce my friend Alex Nader to selling at cons! He's another author writing fantastic southern flavored Urban Fantasy, and he hadn't done in person sales before. So I was so stoked to be able to help him get up and running and provide a couple of little tips along the way. He also got to do a couple of horror panels! His super supportive wife was there as well, and it was awesome to see them working as a team. I have a feeling I have helped unleash a monster, he's gonna be blowing us all out the water in no time. Also, it was so, so fun to be the one helping orchestrate someone's very first getting 'Dino'ed' (ifykyk). Dino the Book Santa is a saint, and we don't deserve him.

Another real highlight was seeing Ben Meeks kick serious ass this weekend. Without putting all his business out on the street, I can say that he out sold me by a lot for one thing. He also got locked in on a few really amazing opportunities for him, which makes me so happy. He's been my oldest author friend, and I can't wait to see him get all the success he very richly deserves.

Lastly, I got my contract from Falstaff Books, for where they are going to be publishing a horror novel of mine on their Dread imprint. It was too huge an event to not note, but that will be getting its own blog posts in the future, never fear.

Assorted Thoughts:

• If you are the new kid on the block author-wise, understand that telling us more established folks how to do our jobs is going to ruffle feathers.

• Ben Meeks brought this hammock for the hotel room that we shared with our buddy Kenneth Meade (three way split for the win!), that worked really nice. I may have to pick one of those up soon.

• People fuckin love possums. I love it. My stuffed Horace got pet probably two dozen times over the course of the con.

• I need to make a 'gone to a panel' sign.

• I need to make a 'start here' sign for book 1 I think (see below), and a 'where to start with Bob' video is another good idea I think (thanks Ken!)

• This con got boned by the weather. It wasn't storming/snowing during the actual con, but it was brutally cold and the storm was coming. So a good number of folks I think just stayed home (which talking with some vendors who were there last year, seems to be the case).

• Ben Meeks and I are currently locked in a heated debate as to who is the most face blind between us. I will try to remember to keep you updated on how this plays out (spoiler: it's Ben, but now that I've said something, it will be me).

Sales

This con was slightly profitable for me. My expenses were right around 400, and I had 435 dollars in sales. This included me once again selling one of my ultimate bundles (7 books/7 postcards/7 stickers for 100 bucks). This is my third con in a row that I have had these for sale, and at each one I have sold a bundle. I got the idea from Stuart Jaffe, and it's been really working out nicely so far. The bulk of my sales occurred on Sunday. I sold a little on Friday, and I sold my bundle on Saturday, but Sunday was where I made my money.

Talking with Ken back at the hotel room that night, he told me that he thought my booth layout was sometimes hard to know where to start at. And it hit me that he was spot on. So I changed things up Sunday morning (you can see it in the picture above). I got rid of my book rack completely, and tweaked things a bit. And what do you know...sales were better. It could have just been that folks had been holding off to buy on Sunday (not totally uncommon). But in thinking, I think my sales have been a little depressed since I started using that rack. They can work really great, I think of how Bobby Nash does his, but I think it's just not a good fit for me. Next event I will be leaving it at home to see I think.

Panels

I had five, and they were all a blast! Here they are:

• Video Games: Changing for the Good: Charlie Hawkins moderated this panel, where really we mostly just hung out and chatted about the state of the video game world with a fantastic attendee.

• Horror in a Modern World: Big Daddy Voodoo moderated this panel that had both me and Alex (for his first panel ever!!!). We talked monsters and villains, and I had a blast. BDV and I vibed really well on this panel, which was good, because he moderated two more of my panels haha.

• Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies...oh my!: Another Big Daddy Voodoo moderated panel, this one had me, Ben, and John G. Hartness on a panel together. One day the world will learn to not put that much beard and bullshit on a panel at the same time, but this was not that weekend. It was such a good time, and getting to panel alongside two of my absolute favs was so enjoyable.

• Wise_N_Nerdy: Where Fatherhood Meets Fandom: I lucked up into getting to join the Wise_N_Nerdy podcast for a live recording of one of their episodes! I have to say, this was probably my most fun panel of the weekend. There was a great, interactive crowd, and Charles and Joseph are consummate professionals, while being hilarious.

• Killing the Wicked Witch of the West: My last panel of the weekend, and this one was once again BDV, Hartness, and myself. This time we were talking heroes in horror/urban fantasy. And I'll be damned if I don't think it was probably my best outing of the weekend. I felt like I really had a lot to offer on this one, even though I don't write 'traditional' heroes. Also, the real treasure was getting to shit talk Tennessee Football in the state of Tennessee, with Tennessee fans in attendance. So good.