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Book Universe, science-fiction bookseller - Why have an Author GoH...
| Jul. 20th, 2009 04:36 pm Why have an Author GoH... Why have an Author GoH... if your con's not going to have any booksellers?
Out of curiosity, I recently re-checked the SteamCon website: www.steam-con.com ...and their dealers' room is now filled, with mostly costumers, jewelers, etc. The one "bookseller" is Studio Foglio, which publishes and sells the excellent "Girl Genius" graphic novels.
See, I thought they sounded like a LOT of fun, and had looked into being one of their dealers. Then I heard from another bookseller that "They don't want ANYTHING but SteamPunk in their Dealers' Room so we aren't doing the con..." I double-checked the contract, and indeed, it has a very sternly-worded clause allowing them to KICK YOU OUT if you brought and displayed merchandise that wasn't "theme-appropriate"(!). So, I e-mailed and asked "What about booksellers?". It makes sense that they wouldn't want, say, a costumer with two or three Steam-punkish waistcoats and corsets, and the rest of the booth fairy-wings and Star Trek uniform jerseys. Or a widget-seller with baby dragons and pink unicorns in among the miniature steam-powered airships... but Books? Yes, they insisted, Books too. Steampunk only, no exceptions.
Hell, even much of their Author GoH Tim Powers' stuff doesn't really qualify under that rule. If I tried to cherry-pick ONLY the "theme-appropriate" books, I'd MAYBE have one table's worth (unless I reordered lots of extra copies of a few books). Unfortunately, selling ONLY "theme-appropriate" books at a themed con means you've got a self-selected audience that probably already HAS a lot of it. I could stock 20 copies of THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE and Jules Verne's entire backlist... but that's like going to an evangelical convention and only selling Bibles. I can't make my profit margins on "Oh, I should get a copy of that for my friend who's never read it!"... I need at least as many "If you liked THAT, you may also like THIS" sales.
As a dealer, I try to stock "cool stuff" even if it's not strictly "in genre"; I've had good sales of merchandise that had nothing to do with science fiction (historical mysteries, re-enactment "how-to" books and notions, childrens' picture-books, political cartoons, Obama campaign buttons, books dealing with topics in sociology, history, and anthropology, even a fan's scholarly thesis on the Inklings). I've had fans wander in while I was unpacking an order of new books I'd picked up en route to a con, and exclaim: "Oh, THAT looks interesting!"... and found they were flipping through a coffee-table book on old sailing-ships I'd picked out for my Dad, who I'd be visiting on the way home from the con.
FANS ARE OMNIVORES. FANS HAVE AN INCREDIBLY WIDE RANGE OF INTERESTS. Why not offer merchandise that widens horizons rather than narrowing them?
I like Tim Powers (he's a lovely gentleman; I see him every year at LosCon) and was happy to see him get a GoH spot at a Northwest con. If their rules had been more liberal, I think I'd have had a LOT of fun at SteamCon, and probably made enough sales to be worth the trip. :-( I just hope someone there is selling his books...
[side note... This was written about a month ago, and I just found out it didn't post then... I backdated it to July instead of August; hope that puts it where it belongs...] 5 comments - Leave a comment    | |
 | | From: | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) ellid |
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| Date: | August 8th, 2009 11:48 pm (UTC) |
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That's a good point - fen read everything they can get their little pink pitty paws on. Very, very peculiar.
The problem is that you miss the point of the con. This is NOT, at least to my way of thinking, even a real 'steam punk' con. It is a costuming con with a steam punk theme.
Really, very few of the people I know who are involved have much real interest in Steam punk other than dressing up.
 | | From: | artvixn |
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| Date: | August 12th, 2009 05:16 am (UTC) |
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@corwynofamber: I think you miss the point of our con as well. We are very much a well rounded steampunk convention. While a great many steampunk enthusiasts enjoy dressing up, it's hardly a costuming con. We are doing a lot of other things as well. There will be panels about steampunk literature and many other aspects of the fandom. There will be readings and book signings. Paul Guinan, the artist guest of honor will be selling his books in the vendor’s room. Phil and Kaja Foglio will be selling their books in the vendor’s room. The fact that no vendors selling only books applied to be in the vendor’s room is the reason we have no vendors selling only books. It certainly doesn’t mean that Steamcon was pushing them away, or trying to exclude them. It isn't however exclusively a literary genre and we will be embracing all aspects of the subculture including music, film, costuming, and literature.
~artvixn
That certainly was not the vibe I got from the meetings I attended or the unnderstanding I would take away from viewing the web site.
Er... I e-mailed and asked about the "Steampunk Merchandise Only" rule, and was told it DID apply to all my books. That is WHY "no vendors selling only books applied to be in the vendor’s room"... I might not have been able to bring enough "in theme" merchandise to break even, and at least one other bookdealer told me the same thing in explaining why THEY weren't applying. If you were not "trying to exclude" book dealers, why such a strict rule that, if it were honestly applied, even some of your Author GoH's books wouldn't be allowed?
Had I been allowed to sell at SteamCon, I'd have done what I do for every con where I do business: sought out and stocked books relevant to the theme, of interest to the attendees, and those by the authors attending, and done my best to display most prominently the most appropriate material. I'd have had a shelf or two of books by the Author GoH (including some out-of-print material). I've got a line on some amazingly cool SteamPunk-ish calendars, cards, and art books by a friend now living across the country (i.e.: he doesn't sell at west-coast cons, so it'd be "new" to this audience). But I would NOT have emptied my shelves of anything not "in theme", and by YOUR rules, you could've shut me down for that... :-(
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