Bookstores at Conferences and Conventions
Something that was too bad at Epicon was the bookstore. Unfortunately it was hidden away at the side of the banquet room. Barnes and Nobel brought a few of the authors' books. We'd been given instructions on what to do to get the bookstore to order you books. Though several of us followed the instructions to a T, our books weren't among those for sale. My publisher brought copies of three of my books, but the bookstore wouldn't carry those, even though that was something that had been promised. At my publisher's instructions, I gave the books away to people I met. To be perfectly frank, I've had books at Barnes and Noble, both at Epicons and when giving a talk--and guess what, I've never been paid for the books sold. So giving them away to people I know will read them is probably every bit as effective if not more. To bring people into the bookstore, it seems to me it would've been smarter to have the store set up in the main room and then (this is...