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It was so good to sleep in our own bed last night. The hotel room was either freezing or sweltering. No matter what we did to the thermostat we never did get a comfy temperature out of it. So our own bed with our own comfy temp was very nice indeed.
The Romantic Times Convention was like no other convention I’ve ever been to. I guess the closest analogy might be Dragon Con but with more writer’s workshops and male cover models lounging about everywhere. And not nearly as many cool hallway costumes. But the near frantic, and sometimes claustrophobic atmosphere of events, media, and just constant demands on the senses was similar. It was fun, it was exhausting. I was reminded again that no other group of writers self-promotes like romance writers. They are still 50 percent of the fiction buying audience, down from a high in the 70s or 80s of 80 percent. It’s still the highest buying percentage of any single area of fiction interest. Some people say the romance writers self-promote to be noticed in such a packed field. Or maybe they have such a large market share partially because of the self-promotion. I think so.
I self-promote more than any other science fiction and fantasy writer I know. Yes, I am romance as well, now, and mystery, and even political thriller, but I still began as science fiction, fantasy, and horror. So, I promote more than any other writer, that I’m aware of, in those fields. I believe strongly that some of my success, not all, but some is due to that self-promotion. I wish I could take some of the things I see at the romance cons and get some of the other genres to do them to promote their work. In a time of ever tightening belts in publishing, a little self-promotion is a good thing. I think this is especially important at the beginning of a career when your publisher doesn’t really do much to promote you as a writer.
Jon or I will write more later about some of the stuff we did at the con, but for now, I’m off, to get the kiddo on the bus.