If a Geek Writes a Book, Does It Make a Sale? The WonderCon Interviews, Part II
Geeks Get Published: it sounds obvious. At first blush, with the exception of folks like Snooki, the Fifty Shades of Grey author and Penthouse letters, who else do you imagine is getting published? Mostly geeks, that's who! Bookworms, academicians, poetry goths, art nerds, amateur scholars, film dorks, scientists, comic book enthusiasts, pop culture obsessives, military buffs and historical reënactors are busily scribbling, publishing and selling the most important theses and musings of all: their own.
With a plethora of visual outlets today, it takes a geek to stick with the romance of the written word, I know. It takes a geek to write anything today, even a Thank You note. The real trick is not getting a geek published ... it's getting a geek read. All those non-geeks roaming the planet, unaware as they are of being thiiiis close to mankind's discovery of the God particle, have a Black Hole's worth of activity to keep them occupied without cracking a book. Authors' efforts are being slaughtered like Britons at the hands of marauding Vikings, slaying and slicing with a force of diversions no other generation of writers has ever suffered. Sure, it was probably easy for Chaucer to be a best-seller. What else was there to do in the Medieval era? Everybody just waiting around to die from a splinter, plus everything was dark by four o'clock. Today? It's never dark.
WonderCon 2013: Dr. Batman, Monster Man, Fierce Women and Missing Seth Green, Again
WonderCon Anaheim is a fait accompli. These California comic book conventions are like a Tequila Sunrise: equal parts fun, tequila, sunshine and just the right amount
of tart. The bar in the Anaheim Hilton, Mix Lounge, was a bit too much fun. Of course, like any trade show or con, those après-show mixers also serve as yummy networking juice. Having an affable, excitable, confident pirate in your corner also helps the networking process.
This con was chock full of crucial contacts, old friends, new Geek Meets and enough pop culture goodness to make the wait for summer's San Diego Comic-Con nearly unbearable. I met a Batman Ph.D., dined with a Monster Man, met a smarmy yet kindly fellow from Bongo Comics and missed meeting Seth Green, again, by thiiiiiis much. As I covered the event for GoodToBeAGeek, there shall be a full wrap-up and slideshow coming soon. There shall also be interviews. Whilst there, I attended a few panels, including All Shapes and Sizes Welcome and Geeks Get Published - and Paid!.
Portlandia Spies on Hannah & Lucy: WonderCon 2K13
Hannah Hart, ghostdame here, kids! I think we are being spied upon, as of late. As Dr. Lucy and I prepare for WonderCon (Anaheim Convention Center March 29-31, 2013), it appears the bonkers-brilliant minds behind Portlandia have clearly been engaged in careful examination of our cosplay methods. We mistakenly thought our crossed fingers to be our little secret. (Uninitiated to the wonky randomness of Portlandia? Read a wee TV review by my pally, Jennifer Susannah Devore.) Yes, I imagine our short sojourn at the Anaheim Hilton and WonderCon shall prove raw-ther similar to Portlandia's spot-on effort: Steampunk Convention.
The Darlings of Orange County Soundtrack
Taking this playlist idea from a fellow author and friend, Natalie Wright of Emily's House fame, I thought it would be fun to share the soundtrack to my upcoming release. I never actually pondered the tuneage in my noodle, cohesively, as a soundtrack per se; yet, as music is integral to my daily life as well as to my writing, I absolutely had songs that not only played in my head as a running score, but are indeed referenced in the pages of The Darlings of Orange County. For those of you whom will be reading it (Thank you! Releasing next week!!), you'll note specifically in Chapter 54, wherein our heroine Veronica Darling does a guest spot on Imus in the Morning, she has ready her Five Fave songs: a standard requirement for all Don Imus interviewees. She also reveals she used to have a fave Gwen Stefani song, It's My Life ... until she learned on a show that it was also a fave of Alan Colmes and it was instantly tainted.