The other day on Bluesky (where people went when Twitter went toxic), there was a discussion about book tours and which authors get them and why. Someone pondered whether there would be any benefit to an author creating their own book tour, and as I thought about it, it occurred to me that if you’re a relatively new author working in science fiction and fantasy and you have the time/money/energy to create a book tour, you’d do better to spend that time, money, and energy going to as many science fiction conventions as possible. You won’t be able to do it all in one neat trip since they happen throughout the year and only on weekends, and you won’t be able to time it to your book’s release, but you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck when it comes to building an audience. I decided to make a blog post about this since this is going to be way too long for comments in someone else’s thread.
I should add the caveat that this was what worked for me about 20 years ago. Publishing and conventions have changed since then. I haven’t been back to conventions since the pandemic, so I don’t know how things have changed because of that. There are also reader-oriented gatherings in romance and mystery, but I’m not as knowledgeable about how they work, and I don’t think they have the smaller local and regional events that you get in science fiction/fantasy. Most of the local/regional romance events I’m aware of are aimed at writers, not readers, and aren’t a good promotional venue. Most of the sf/f conventions will welcome related genres, like horror, paranormal romance and mystery with some sort of speculative element. I should also add that I have not been a bestseller and the series I promoted like this got dropped by the publisher (not entirely due to specifics about me/my books but an overall change in direction), but the series is still in print 20 years later and I’ve been able to successfully continue the series independently, so it seems to have worked.
First, let’s define what I mean by “conventions.” There are two main kinds, the media cons and the literary cons. The media cons are what you’re most likely to see depicted in popular culture (a lot of murders tended to happen at these on CSI). These events are focused on movies, TV, and comic books, and the guests tend to be celebrities. The panels are mostly about promoting TV shows, movies, etc. You can get autographs and pictures taken with the celebrities, for a fee. These take place at convention centers or at major hotels that have their own convention centers and are usually run by companies for a profit. They’ll often have “comic” (since many of these started as conventions about comic books, then branched into TV and movies when they started making adaptations of comic books, and from there to all TV and movies in related genres) or “fan” in the name.
Literary cons tend to be non-profit and volunteer-run. Most of the guests and speakers are writers of some sort. There may be panels about media properties and popular culture, but the panelists will be writers and fans sharing their perspectives, not people involved with these properties. There are a lot of panels about books and writing (though it’s not strictly a writing conference, and there may be a writing workshop held in conjunction with the con). The convention may have a big-name author as guest of honor, but otherwise the speakers will be authors from that area or who are willing to travel on their own dime.
Some of the big media cons have begun adding literary tracks and inviting area authors, and some of the literary cons have added more media programming and have even brought in guests (though not so much celebrities as people behind the scenes, like special effects artists, composers, writers, sometimes voice actors for animated shows). I’ve been an invited speaker at a few media cons and haven’t found much benefit, so I’m mostly going to address literary cons (which includes those that may include some media elements).
What can you expect if you attend one of these events as an author? Mostly you’ll have the opportunity to participate as a panelist for discussions on various topics. This usually will not involve directly discussing your book, other than in your introduction. The idea is to show yourself as a thoughtful, witty person, which may lead to people looking up your books. You may be able to get a reading session, at which you’ll read an excerpt from your work, and/or an autograph session. There are often parties in the evenings, and there’s usually a hospitality suite where you can hang out. Unless you’re the guest of honor, you will pay for your own travel and hotel. Many cons will give you a free weekend membership if you participate in a certain amount of programming, though some may require you to purchase a membership and then will refund you if the convention makes enough money, and some may require you to purchase a membership and maybe participate in some panels before they put you on the list to be an invited guest at future conventions. Once you participate as a panelist, you generally get on the list to be invited to future conventions (unless you behave badly or enough people say they don’t want to be on panels with you). There will likely be a dealers’ room full of vendors selling books, games, t-shirts, and related items.
The reason I say cons are a better use of your time and money for a new writer is that at a bookstore event for a new author, most of the people who come will be your friends. You might get a new person or two who happens to be in the store and is interested, and there’s always That Guy who’s writing a book and expects you to tell him how to get published, possibly even refer him to your editor or agent, and who has zero interest in your book. A convention will be full of hundreds of people who are interested in books in your genre. It’s a Target-Rich Environment for finding new readers, since they’re there to talk about things they love and find new books to read. These people are devoted fans, the sort of people who make fan websites for things they’re passionate about, who have podcasts, blogs, or whatever the thing of the day is. They make costumes to dress as their favorite characters. They make art about things they love. They’re the people who spread word of mouth. If you get these people hooked on your book, they will buy the rest of your series or other things you write when they’re released, they’ll leave reviews, and they’ll talk about your books with others. You probably won’t directly sell enough copies at a convention to pay your expenses, but you’ll have enough indirect benefits to make it worthwhile early in your career (though there may be diminishing returns as time goes on once you’re already known).
How to properly do a convention as a writer could be its own post, but here are some basics on how to get started. For one thing, you’ll need to approach a convention about participating in programming at least six months in advance. Look on their website to see what their requirements are. Some may have a form to submit. Others will have an address to e-mail. They may tell you when they want these requests submitted. You’ll share your writing credits and any other info that might be relevant, like any non-writing areas of expertise. Are you a scientist or historian? Are you an expert in some kind of craft? It’s fairly straightforward for traditionally published authors to get on programming, but it may be tougher for independent authors, since those who behave badly (and oh boy are there some) ruin it for everyone else and there are no gatekeepers like publishers to vet the work. You’ll need to show that you’re a professional. Having a professional-looking cover, website, and Amazon sales page will really help. Membership in SFWA will show that you’ve reached a certain level of sales. This is where that other area of expertise may help. Some cons might ask you to register as a regular attendee but give you the chance to take a “fan” slot on some panels, and then once they see how you are as a panelist, they may invite you as an author guest later. One really good way to get on programming is to volunteer to be on the con committee for your local con. Then they’ll know and trust you during the planning process, and they often turn to committee members to fill out panels. Once you get on programming at one convention, it’s easier to get other cons to accept you (and people who run conventions go to other cons, so you may meet them).
Once you get signed up to be on programming at a convention, get some kind of promo item, like postcards or bookmarks, made. This will be like a business card. You can give them to people you talk to about your books, and most cons have some kind of area where you can leave promo material. You can get postcards done pretty cheap through places like Vista Print with no real graphic design ability. Put your book cover on the front, then on the back you put the key info about your book, like title, your name, publisher and ISBN (if you’re traditionally published), your website (maybe a QR code too), and then a short hooky blurb about your book. This is all just text, so I’ve done it in Word and then saved it as a PDF to upload to the printer. It’s probably even easier using something like Canva. It’s important to have something to give people who ask you about your books so they’ll remember. Then the cover will jump out to them as familiar when they see it again in a bookstore or online.
If you’re traditionally published, you’ll want to visit any booksellers in the dealers’ room soon after you arrive. Introduce yourself and tell them a little about your book (if they’re not busy at the moment). If they’re stocking your book, point it out to them. If not, hand them one of your postcards. You can really increase the efficiency of your trip (if this is an out-of-town event) by mapping out any bookstores you pass along the way and in the city where the con is and stopping by to introduce yourself. Sign their stock if they’re carrying your book. Give them one of your promo items if they aren’t so they’ll have the info to order it. Either way, see if they want to take a few of your promo items to give out to customers.
If you’re independently published, check the con’s policy for book sales. I’ve seen some cases where they require everyone selling anything to have a sales tax document for that state. Generally, you can sell books during your autograph session. Some cons offer a “rent a table” opportunity where you can pay a small fee to have a table in or near the dealers’ room for half an hour to an hour. I wouldn’t recommend that a new author get a booth in the dealers’ room and spend the whole event just selling books. You’ll get a lot more mileage out of interacting with people and participating in programming. Sometimes the booksellers will agree to sell your books on consignment. You won’t make as much money per copy, but it’s nice to have someone handle all the credit card processing and sales tax, and your books will be displayed alongside all the other books rather than just on your little table. I’ve even had booksellers keep copies at the end of one convention to sell at other conventions, then we’d settle up the next time I saw them.
There’s a lot more to conventions for authors than that, but the main point here is that for a new author, there’s more benefit to getting in front of hundreds of people who don’t know about you but who are primed to be interested in your books than to maybe be in front of a few people who already know you.
Some pros/cons:
Book tour:
Pros — You schedule it on your timing. Less expensive because you can take care of it in one continuous trip and only spend one night in each place. You choose your hotel or can stay with friends/family. It’s all about you. You aren’t sharing the spotlight with anyone else.
Cons — If you’re new, most people who come will be people you already know. You’re not really expanding your reader base, especially if the tour isn’t arranged by the publisher so that there’s good signage and the store hasn’t ordered in a big number of books to go on display.
Conventions:
Pros — A big audience of people who are looking for things to read and prone to liking your genre, so a great opportunity to get more name recognition and expand your audience. Extended amounts of time to spend building relationships.
Cons — can get expensive because you’ll need multiple hotel nights and will likely need to stay at the convention hotel. Can’t hit them all in one convenient road trip. The con schedule may not coincide with your book release schedule. You’re sharing a spotlight with lots of authors, so it’s possible to get lost in the shuffle, especially if you’re an introvert.
