A Look Back at GEAR Con 2015

Last weekend I attended GEAR Con in Portland, a steampunk-themed convention embracing the art, literature, and music of this unique subculture. Not only was this my first real Con, but it was also my first author appearance outside of Washington state as well as being my first time running a vendor table. Luckily, I wasn’t alone. I shared my table (well, half a table, more on that later) with veteran authors Lee French and Jeffrey Cook. Lee and Jeff were great fun to hang out with, and I tried to learn as much as I could about Cons and the art of selling my books in person.

Speaking of selling books, this was my first time running a vendor table over a three-day period and it was definitely a learning experience. First off, we found out after arriving at the Con that we would only have half a table to display nearly twenty different titles. While our table-sharing neighbors were very polite, it was difficult to use our limited space effectively and for once I was grateful that I only had two different books to display.

If I had to pick just one lesson that I learned from the vending experience, it would be the value of selling other authors’ books. While this may seem counter-intuitive, the truth is that our customers seemed to respond much better when we praised each other’s books, rather than trying to compete with each other. I think that our customers appreciated that we really tried to find the best book for each person, even if that book wasn’t one of our own.

By far, the most memorable encounter at the vendor table came on Saturday afternoon. A pleasant looking fellow came up to us, glanced at the table, and said “I’ll take one of each!” We laughed, since we’d heard this joke several times already, and asked him what sort of book he was looking for. He then picked up one of Lee’s books and asked what it was about. She got about one line into her pitch and he said “I’ll take it.” Then he picked up The Beast Hunter.

“What’s this about?” he said.

“Well, it’s the story of a steampunk monster hunter who-”

“I’ll take it.”

He did this with each book on the table, slowly building up a pile of titles until he finally had one of each. He then paid for it all in cash. I talked with Lee and Jeff about it, and both of them agreed that they had never seen anything like it before.

Of course, I did a lot more than stand by our vendor table for the whole event. Over the course of the Con, I had the opportunity to give several workshops, sit in on a couple of panels, and do a reading from The Beast Hunter. My favorite presentation was on Sunday when I was invited to take part in a panel that included a variety of steampunkers from a multitude of backgrounds including writers, artists, musicians, and game developers. Sitting there among my peers, I was struck again by the feeling of community and acceptance that seemed to permeate the entire Con. I felt like I was part of a group that managed to be close-knit without being exclusive, as everyone I met was both friendly and excited to be there.

I really enjoyed my time at GEAR Con, and I’m sure that I’ll be doing more Cons and steampunk events in the near future. If you’d like to keep up to date on my ever-changing schedule, then be sure to follow this blog and keep an eye on my workshop and appearances page.