Daniel J. Hogan's Blog

I had the pleasure of talking to students at Haslett Middle School today about being a writer (and self-publishing, etc). It was fun, the kids (ages 11-12ish) were very polite and many had a lot of questions for me.  I gave each of them a promo card and those who answered certain questions got a free mini-pin.

They started paying more attention to my questions after I started handing pins out.  I think I did a pretty good job talking about writing, self-publishing and self-promotion. I donated a copy of The Magic of Eyri to their library, which they were happy to take. I grumbled a bit at first about having to be all the way in Haslett at 8 in the morning, but it was worth it.

I asked some fun questions to keep them involved, like if I pay $16 a copy to have a book printed and sell them for $20 at a con, how much money do I actually make? And what is that amount of money called? They all knew the answers, which was good. I had fun explaining what a satire/parody was too.

Hopefully some of the kids visit my sites and check out my book from their library, some seemed excited when I told them I was donating a copy. I also gave a copy to a lucky kid after drawing a name from a hat. Thankfully, there were four different groups so by the time I got to the last one I had my routine down pretty smoothly.  I also mentioned National Novel Writing Month and having to write 50,000 words in less than 30 days. I asked the kids to shout out the longest thing any of them of written, I think the longest was 35 pages.

All in all, it was a great time and I hope I got some kids interested in my book.

Motor City Comic Con was a successful adventure for me. I got to see some old friends I haven't seen in long while, sold 3 books, traded 2 and made some great contacts. Oh and Erik Estrada winked at me.

I was upset because my order of 500 promo cards did not arrive from Lulu.com by the time I left for the con, and they still haven't come yet! Looks like I'm gonna have to do something about this...Anyway, picked up Lovely Assistant Thursday night and headed down to Novi Friday morning. We grabbed a quick lunch at Twelve Oaks Mall before heading over to the Con to set up. Checking in was a breeze, thankfully. However, locating my table was a bit of a challenge. Lovely Assistant and I spent ten minutes walking around trying to find it before another artist said "You look like me ten minutes ago!" he then quickly pointed out that our table numbers were written in chalk on the floor under our table. D'oh.

Lovely Assistant and I at my table.

We set up the table and got to work trying to sell books. Thankfully we were across from the guys and girls of Comics Obscura, an indie comic done right here in Lansing. I had requested to be by them in my table form/contract and thankfully they were able to make that happen. Woo hoo! And to my right was artist/writer William Messner-Loebs, who I didn't know much about until Jay from Comics Obscura told me he worked on The Maxx--which I didn't really read, but I watched the cartoon of it on MTV religiously. After learning that, I chatted with Bill about it and sure enough he worked on cartoon a bit. Neat!

The Comics Obscura booth.

Didn't sell any copies on Friday, but Saturday I sold two (joking over dinner that my sales increased by "200%") and I sold one on Sunday. But I traded a couple of copies--I gave one to Tom Sullivan, the special effects genius behind Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2--too of my favorite films. I went up to him and said that I was a fan of his work and wanted to give him a copy of my book. He gladly accepted it and the people in line behind me were amused to see Tom getting an autograph for a change as I signed the book. I wanted to buy one of his prints (see photo) but he wouldn't have it: "No,no--it is my gift to you!" He's a very nice guy and is very appreciative of fans. I just think it is really cool that someone who worked on the Evil Dead series has a copy of my book.

My autographed Tom Sullivan print--I gave him a copy of The Magic of Eyri, so he gave me this.

My other trade was to Star Wars artist/Michigan native, Katie Cook (aka smarbaby ) We've talked a bit online prior to the Con and I told (warned) her I would stop by her table on Saturday. During one of my other visits to her table I asked her if she'd trade a sketch for a copy of the Magic of Eyri, and she had no problem with that. She did a great sketch of Boba Fett for me (see photo) and an amazing little sketch card drawing of Godzilla for Lovely Assistant (and she let me take one of her pre-made sketch cards too!). I am in awe of her skill, especially when I watched her do the sketch card of Godzilla and how it only took her a few seconds. Amazing. She had a big weekend herself, when she stopped by my table she told me that the 501st made her an honorary member. Very cool (I told her how jealous I was).

The sketch I got from Katie Cook in exchange for a copy of The Magic of Eyri. Neato!


The sketch card Katie Cook whipped up for Lovely Assistant. Awesome!


Another sketch card that Katie Cook let me have because she's super-cool.

Getting my book in the hands of people like Katie and Tom is a good thing and that is why I don't mind trading with them (or even just giving it to them--the trade part was a bonus). I should have given one to Bill as well or even Guy Davis (another comic book artist/Michigan native). Next time. But the mini-pins were a success, I only have 3 (out of 40) left. Not bad. And if I had put the rest on the massive freebie table at the front of the con, they would be gone. I got a lot of people to come up to my table and to talk to me because I had a sign that said "Free Buttons and Candy" (I gave out Air Heads, which I had Lovely Assistant cross out Air and write Eyr on each of 'em).

And my other bit of guerrilla marketing was that I had a couple proof copies of t-shirts with the cover art (and the website on the back) that I don't really wear, so I threw those on the freebie table as well. They were gone moments later. Bingo bango. All in all, it was a fun weekend. I sold books, which was nice considering I wasn't on panels or anything like that. I don't know yet if I'd do this again, because I had more than a few people look at my book and say 'OH! It's a novel...?" and were surprised I was there promoting it. Oh well. It certainly didn't hurt any to be there.

Bonus Pictures!


Cloud from Final Fantasy VII


Joey Pants left early on Saturday and didn't stick around all weekend :(




This Jawa costume was pretty great.


Vader telling me to stay off his lawn.

Yeah I kind of dropped the ball here and forgot to write about my last day at Penguicon over the past couple weeks. Oops! I've been busy. Honest :/

Sunday

Since I had a 9 AM panel (followed by a 10 AM reading) I decided to call it an early night on Saturday. I kind of regretted it at first because Saturday night is the big party night, but the next morning I quickly realized I made the right choice. My first event of the day was the Guerrilla Marketing --- The Art of Self-Promotion panel. Usually, 9AM on a Sunday isn't the best slot for a panel (see above about Saturday being the big party night), but the room was PACKED. I was joined by The Time Traveler and Michael "Freon" Andaluz. The Time Traveler recorded the panel and I think he's gonna post it on his site at some point. This was a fun panel and it was my first time being a moderator, which was interesting.

The three of us talked about what we each consider Guerrilla Marketing and how we promote ourselves. I told about how I put my website address on everything I can that I give out, or in some cases wear, at conventions. And how I always carry cards with the websites on them, because you never know when you'll be somewhere you can leave a few laying out or meet someone who is interested in the book. I've found that when people ask me what my book is about, giving them the card makes it a lot easier (and they like the cover art on it too).

I must digress for a moment, because I ordered a new batch of promo cards yesterday and I changed what they said a bit. Above www.magicofeyri.com it used to say 'Learn More At" , but I changed it to "Discover the Magic at." I like that a heck of a lot more.

Back to the panel: we focused a lot on internet stuff and I told of how I'm on Livejournal, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, YouTube and Internet Movie Database. I also have this blog syndcated to my profile on Amazon.com. So I'm all over the place. I had a lot of fun on this panel and hopefully those who attended took home some helpful info.

Immediately following the panel, I had a reading with Freon at 10 AM. I was very nervous about this, as I have yet to do a public reading of ay of my stuff. Getting up and talking in front of people doesn't bother me at all, but reading some of my stuff aloud does. Go figure. Well, thankfully (but also sadly) I dodged a bullet. No one showed up to the reading, it was just Freon and I. So we sat around for an hour and chatted.

After the 'reading' I headed over to the Dealer's Room and thanks to William and Deborah Jones, was able to set up camp at the Elder Signs Press (ESP) table. I sold three copies while in the dealers room, which was great, and led to Deborah teasing me that I was monopolizing the table. I stayed in the Dealer's Room until my last panel of the weekend,  How Has the Ease of Computer Animation Changed the Monster Movie?

This panel was a  hoot.  I was joined by William Jones, Jeff deLuzio and another gentlemen filling in for John Scalzi. Sadly Scalzi had a family emergency pop up at the last minute and he had to leave, so I didn't get a chance to meet him. Oh well. I still had a lot of fun. This panel had the most audience participation of all the panels/events I was a part of. We talked about all kinds of things, "less is more", flimmakers having limitations in the old days and how that made things more interesting, movie trailers showing too much, and all kinds of other fun movie related things. We of course touched on Cloverfield and pretty much all agreed that it was a step in the right direction in regards to using CGI in a monster movie.

After the panel I bummed around the hotel for a bit, talking to friends and fans -- even selling a copy of The Magic of Eyri in the halls. But the best part was when I was stopped by a fan:

Him: "Wait...you're Daniel J. Hogan?"
Me: "Yes."
Him: "I bought your book back at ConClave (October '07) -- I loved it !"
Me: "...Realy?"
Him: "Yeah! It was fan-f@#%ing-tastic! I couldn't put it down."
Me: "...Really?"
Him: "It was so hilarious, my mom kept asking me what the heck I was laughing about. It was great, and your world is totally believable."
(one side note: this is the second fan who's told me my world/characters are 'believable.' I guess I'm doing something right.)
Me: "What was your favorite part or character?"
Him: ::thinks:: "The ducks! I loved the ducks."

That was certainly one of the high points of my weekend. So, I'd say Penguicon was a big success. I had a great time.

Today, May 1st 2008, The Magic of Eyri is a year old.

Hard to believe it has been a year already. And what a year it has been: I've sold 115 copies of the book (that I know of to date) so far, averaging around 10 copies sold a month, been to three fan conventions (two as a guest panelist), meet a lot of great people (fans and writers alike) and over all learned a heck of a lot about publishing, writing and promotion. Here's a link to my six month recap I did back in November.

Phew.

I'll admit that I had planned to have the second MoE book ("Them Bones") finished by now, but I had a few months were I was working on short stories so I don't feel too bad about not getting it finished. I have part of the first draft started, so I'm getting there. I just have to get back on the horse, which after not working on the story since early December is a bit hard. But I'll do it. Once I get in the groove, I can't be stopped.

Recent accomplishments (in no particular order, since November, that I can think of off the top of my head):

• Attending the fan convention ConFusion, sold a couple copies and met some great people.
  
• Had a signing with Jim C. HInes (jimhines) that went very, very well. I sold 8 copies in one day, my best day ever.
  
• Appeared on the Ebling and You radio show here in Lansing.
• Wrote two short stories and submitted them by their deadlines. They didn't get bought but I was given some very positive feedback on both.
  
• Attended Penguicon, where I took part in eight events. I also sold six copies of The Magic of Eyri while there (oh yeah..I still have to do a write up about the last day of the con..oops).
• Found out a middle school student did a book report on The Magic of Eyri.

On the Horizon:

• I want to revise and expand my steampunk fable short story, Slow and Steady, and start sending that out to various mags to see if I can sell it (think of it as a steampunk Wind in the Willows). I'll do the same with my fairy tale retelling, A Queen's Tale, as well.
  
• Seriously considering serializing The Magic of Eyri on my websites with weekly installments of the chapters. This would give me a chance to run through the story again and fix a few things, and add chapter titles -- which I think would be a nice touch. However, I wouldn't keep an archive of all the chapters, so if you missed a few weeks you'd be lost. I think I'd keep the previous week up tho, that makes the most sense.
  
• Being a guest at Motor City Comic Con in a couple of weeks. I ordered a new batch of promotional cards this morning, I should get them by then (or there will be hell to pay). I already have my shipment of books and I should get my mini-pins from CafePress any day now.
  
• Attending a Career Day at a local middle school to talk about working in film/video production and writing. That'll be fun.
  
• Being on a panel about Self Publishing at the Delta Township Public Library in August, I'll certainly have plenty to say.
• Finishing the second Magic of Eyri book and shopping both around to publishers/agents.
  
• Keep writing short stories.

What a year. Hopefully the next will be just as good.

Guess who was added as a guest to the front page of the Motor City Comic Con website:


Neat! I'm also on the full guest page too, but I'm listed as a "Comic Creator," hehe. Oops. I guess they probably don't have a category for me to go in otherwise. Still, it is a bit of an honor to be listed on the same page as the dude who played Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. However, don't too excited about this--I am paying to be there. But still, this is cool. More Penguicon posts (and pictures!) later tonight. 

I was contacted by the folks at the Delta Township Public Library today and they want me to come in and be on a panel about self-publishing. It'll be on Tuesday, August 12th, 6 to 8 PM. Neat! There will be two other SP authors with me and it looks like we'll each do readings and have signings afterwards. Woo hoo! I certainly have a lot to say on the topic, this will be fun. Now I'm off to make an appearance at jimhines  's book signing.