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Cut (v):\u00a0make (a movie) into a coherent whole by removing parts or placing them in a different order.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThis is a tough convention,\u201d he says, eyeing our books, picking one up and testing the spine like he\u2019s squeezing an avocado, going to make a little word guac. \u201cIt\u2019s especially tough for books. Nobody here reads.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know this guy.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t even know him in the sense that I know what it is he does. He could be an indie film actor, a fellow writer, a grey-market DVD vendor. He could be anything that would allow him to be in Worcester, Massachusetts\u2019s DCU Center a half hour before this year\u2019s Rock and Shock convention opens.<\/p>\n Looking back on this interaction now, it\u2019s hard to tell if he was trying to psych us out or if he actually believed that no one who attended the convention read books.<\/p>\n He leaves before I can ask him what it is he does.<\/p>\n Over the weekend of October 16-18 (last weekend, as I\u2019m writing this), author Matt Serafini<\/a> and I shared a vendors table at the con.<\/p>\n Despite that mystery guy trying to throw off our game before the doors opened, Matt and I sold a lot of books.<\/p>\n We sold so many books that the only time I was unhappy with our ability to sell books was when there were too many people in front of our table to be able to talk with them one-on-one.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll get to the specifics of how we sold those books in a second. But for right now know that I\u2019m not just bragging for the sake of bragging.<\/p>\n In the days leading up to the convention I was worried that we weren\u2019t going to sell anything. And that worry probably has many different root causes: maybe it was self-confidence issues, doubts about my own work. Or maybe the worry was more external than that. Maybe I had let myself doubt the horror community, maybe I\u2019d started thinking like that dude who\u2019d told us that \u201cnobody here reads.\u201d<\/p>\n Rock and Shock is part traditional horror convention and part music festival. Which means that I think the implication of that guy saying \u201cnobody here reads\u201d was supposed to be that these people are movie and music fans, not readers.<\/p>\n The attendees are coming to the con to rub shoulders with George Romero, Adam Green, and get one of those funny Sleepaway Camp<\/em> freeze-frame pics with Felissa Rose. And, yes, I\u2019ll admit those experiences are people\u2019s primary motive for attending the show. But that doesn\u2019t mean that these same folks won\u2019t also be browsing the dealers room and open to buying some books.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve got to point out that this is the fifth installment of Paper Cuts and up until this entry I haven\u2019t been using the column as a platform to discuss my fiction. I haven\u2019t mentioned that I have books out at all, really, beyond my bio at the bottom of each post. And I\u2019m not planning on using the column to pimp myself now, but because this is a convention wrap-up and I spent this entire convention trying to rope in passersby and tell them about my books, the topic is going to have to be touched on.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been attending Rock and Shock, off and on (missed a few since moving to Philly), since 2006. It\u2019s a great convention. Far enough away from Boston that it felt like a proper trip while I was living there. Even if not every band who plays the concert series is my tempo, the music element of the show gives R&S a different flavor from shows like Chiller Theatre and Monster Mania.<\/p>\n That first show was my first time seeing Jeffery Combs and\u2014even more telling, because in my late teens I was a horror movie and fiction fan\u2014it was the first time I got a book signed by Jack Ketchum (the hardback edition of Cover<\/em>).<\/p>\n Ketchum has attended nearly every year since, and I assume that he does good business. He\u2019s Jack goddamn Ketchum, fer cryin\u2019 out loud. But he\u2019s also had a bunch of his books adapted into films, so it would be entirely possible for the \u201cnobody reads\u201d dude to point to that as a contributing factor to his success.<\/p>\n And yes, I realize that this is becoming a straw-man argument, but the mystery guy\u2019s not the only person I\u2019ve heard voice this \u201cno one reads\u201d sentiment, or a variation of it. I even used to feel a similar way, myself. I used to write essays about the \u201cgreat divide\u201d in horror fandom<\/a>, and while I still think I make valid points in that writing, my views on the subject have evolved.<\/p>\n And they underwent that evolution during this weekend: this was my first time in a decade of con attendance that I was coming to Rock and Shock as a vendor instead of purely a fan.<\/p>\n This new perspective made me realize that the problem isn\u2019t with film fans who don\u2019t like to read.<\/p>\n The problem is with horror readers and writers thinking that their literacy puts them in some kind of special club. And it\u2019s that self-separation, that othering, that makes it hard for vendors to sell books at predominantly movie-centric conventions.<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing inherently superior about someone who reads books. In much the same way that watching a lot of movies doesn\u2019t make you a cineaste.<\/p>\n I met tons of film fans at this show. Let\u2019s face it: everyone walking through those doors was a film fan. And I\u2019m not going to lie and say that there were no instances where I ran into non-readers. There were a few folks honest enough to say simply \u201cI\u2019m not a big reader\u201d (or the stronger variation: \u201cI don\u2019t read\u201d), and wave off my sales pitch. But those were the vast minority of people who came within swinging distance of our table.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t to say that experiences like Scares That Care\u2014a convention where many of the attendees are there specifically to meet their favorite authors\u2014aren\u2019t awesome. I did Scares That Care in June and plan on doing it next year (in fact, they had a table set up directly across from Matt and I, raising money for a good cause). It\u2019s great to have conventioneers coming in the door specifically looking for their next read.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s something special about selling books at a con that\u2019s 90% catered to movie and TV memorabilia.<\/p>\n Even if folks didn\u2019t seem interested in our books (or books, more broadly), Matt and I still put our game faces on. We went in there and got some blood on our teeth. And here\u2019s where this article takes a hard turn into \u201chow to\u201d territory (a genre of article I usually dislike, especially when it comes in the \u201cwriting tips\u201d variety).<\/p>\n Matt and I came to the show with a plan and a feel for our audience. Once we stepped behind that table we dropped all pretensions of being \u201cwriters\u201d (because over those three days were weren\u2019t writers, the writing was done and the books were printed and on the table). We became salesmen. Salesmen who were fans of the genre.<\/p>\n Before we get into my \u201crules\u201d it should be noted that I was so freaking busy at this con, it ended up feeling like I didn\u2019t actually attend the con. The New England Horror Writers had their own table a few rows down from us, as did bizarros (and true-blue weirdo fiction proselytizers) MP Johnson and Christoph Paul. I don\u2019t really know how those authors did as a whole and I\u2019m sure that they would each have their own tips. The only other authors I saw for any real length of time were Bracken MacLeod and Patrick Lacey, but that\u2019s because they hung out at our table and helped me sell my books by being super charming.<\/p>\n So here were our rules. It\u2019s not like we wrote them down or anything, but this is what we learned over the weekend. And everyone likes a good listicle, right?<\/p>\n 1) Make your table look good and have an opener.<\/strong><\/p>\n This rule begins before you even speak to a prospective reader. Matt and I took a run to the store before we arrived at the con and picked up two large bags of candy: Dum Dums and Laffy Taffy. Putting a bowl of sweets on our table got people engaged. We offered them some, drew them over.<\/p>\n After the first few instances where someone said \u201cI don\u2019t take candy from strangers\u201d (which was a line we got a lot), I began spinning my response into: \u201cwell, If you heard about my books I wouldn\u2019t be a stranger!\u201d<\/p>\n Corny? For sure. Bribery? Debatable. Did it work? More often than it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n And if our candy didn\u2019t work our signage would. I had a four foot vinyl banner printed up (much cheaper than you\u2019d think, using Vistaprint) and we also had plastic table stands to hold our prices and some additional signs (a couple bucks for the stands at Staples).<\/p>\n We may not be authors that attendees had heard of, but we did our best to present ourselves like people they should have heard of.<\/p>\n The candy and signage draw people in, but you still have to talk to them. My favorite opener is the most utilitarian: \u201cWhat kind of horror do you like?\u201d<\/p>\n 2) Know your stuff.<\/strong><\/p>\n In both senses of \u201cknowing your stuff\u201d you should know your stuff.<\/p>\n See someone in a Blood on Satan\u2019s Claw<\/em> t-shirt? That\u2019s a rarity, that\u2019s someone you (or at least I) want to talk to. So make the effort. Have an earnest talk with a fellow fan. It\u2019s a big part of why you\u2019re here.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re going to comment on someone\u2019s shirt or costume or the DVD they purchased at your neighbor\u2019s stall, be ready to have a for-real conversation about it. Don\u2019t be a phony.<\/p>\n For example: Matt is a fount of information about the Puppet Master<\/em> movies. I\u2019ve seen most of them, but that was years ago and I\u2019m hardly an expert. If I had to talk to someone about the differences between the second and fourth one? Forget it. I\u2019d look like a poser, reaching at straws to get someone to pick up my books.<\/p>\n Also: know your own work. Know why it\u2019s good and what kind of people like it.<\/p>\n Know how you can best pitch a specific title to a person after only knowing them for 30 seconds. Yes, similar articles will tell you that you have to have an \u201celevator pitch\u201d for each of your books, but even more ideal would be having multiple versions of each pitch to better tailor it to a specific audience.<\/p>\n It also helps if you can offer people a variety of goods. I\u2019ve got more subtle work (The Summer Job<\/em>, The First One You Expect<\/em>) and more gonzo stuff (most everything else I\u2019ve written), and I also brought along material I could afford to part with at a cheaper price point (issues of zines, Matt brought posters). It\u2019s not an option for every author, but it is for most if you really think about the kind of work you want to present.<\/p>\n 3) Be alert, not desperate.<\/strong><\/p>\n Are you sitting down? There\u2019s no sitting down at horror cons! Stand up. You\u2019re not Stephen King, nobody\u2019s going to approach some dude taking a load off behind his stacks of unsold books.<\/p>\n But being alert means more than standing. It means watching the crowd as they turn the corner to walk down your aisle, looking at people\u2019s shirts and costumes.<\/p>\n Be high energy if you can, but target that energy. Don\u2019t flail.<\/p>\n 4) Be humble.<\/strong><\/p>\n This isn\u2019t a \u201cmeet and greet\u201d with your adoring fans. You\u2019re just some schmuck nobody here has heard of looking to sell your books. Out of the hundreds of people I talked to last weekend, three of them were familiar with my work.<\/p>\n One of my biggest pet peeves in the way other authors can sometimes present themselves (in person and online) is when someone takes \u201cfake it \u2019til you make it\u201d way too far and starts acting arrogant.<\/p>\n You shouldn\u2019t devalue your work, but you should also have a healthy amount of self-awareness. No one short of King, Barker, or Rice has any right to assume that people at a show like this know them or should know them. Be a man or woman of the people. No matter how many flattering reviews your aunt has left you on Goodreads.<\/p>\n And the opposite side of this ego coin is: make sure people realize you\u2019re the author.<\/p>\n It seems strange, but Matt and I had full conversations and pitched our books to people who didn\u2019t realize until later that we were the ones who\u2019d written them. Eventually I started introducing myself with \u201cI\u2019m Adam and these are my books.\u201d<\/p>\n 5) Have fun and stay caffeinated.<\/strong><\/p>\n This rule is self-explanatory.<\/p>\n There you go, my five point plan for success selling horror fiction at horror movie cons. And keep in mind that doing this stuff doesn\u2019t make you any more or less of an author. I know plenty of writers who let their work speak for itself.<\/p>\n These tips make you a salesperson. And if you can sell books to movie fans, then in my opinion you\u2019re doing good work. You\u2019re bringing us one step closer to a more unified scene. Horror film fanatics and creepy lit fogies, living together in peace and harmony.<\/p>\n I just hope you (I) sold them some books they end up enjoying.<\/p>\n Adam Cesare is a New Yorker who lives in Philadelphia. He studied English and film at Boston University. His books include <\/em>Mercy House,\u00a0Video Night, The Summer Job,\u00a0and <\/em>Tribesmen.\u00a0He has an oft-neglected\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0and tweets as @Adam_Cesare<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hustling at Horror Cons 101 or: Dispelling the Myth of the Non-Reading Horror Fan<\/h3>\n
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My experience at Rock and Shock was overwhelmingly positive. I got a chance to talk with people who shared their horror lit origin stories (one older gentleman who wasn\u2019t a big reader until he read Stephen King\u2019s IT<\/em> years after he\u2019d finished high school), people who shared their experiences at the con so far (a young woman who straight-up Beatlemania cried upon meeting George Romero), and even met one young reader who\u2019d brought a copy of Tribesmen<\/em> from home to get signed (you and your awesome mom April made my weekend, Shea!). All of these folks walked away from our table with books, and you\u2019re not going to tell me that they didn\u2019t cut a wide swath through the length and breadth of horror fandom.<\/p>\n![\""The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/alec-300x214.jpg?resize=300%2C214\")