Help Build Your Authors Alley

I am happy to announce that I have a new nonfiction book set for release this March. It’s about my experiences developing Authors Alley for Cleveland ConCoction and how to adapt those experiences for other conventions. (See below for a brief summary.)

Recently conventions have started modeling their literary departments after ours and I have been asked to provide information for convention boards to review for potential improvements. Considering this information is proving helpful to conventions in surrounding states, I figured I’d do what I do best and write a how-to book based on my experiences. It is currently titled “Build Your Authors Alley: A Convention Story”. But that is a working title. I am considering changing it to “Build Your Authors Alley: A Convention How To Guide” because I think that would fit better since the focus is not on telling the story, but using the events to help build and update future literary departments at other conventions.

And that is where you can help. Please weigh in on the title and let me know which cover attracts your attention best. If there is anything that doesn’t quite work for you as a reader, what is it? Simon Critchell, the cover artist for Build Your Authors Alley, has created two with varying texts. Which do you like better, A or B? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Brief Summary

Cleveland ConCoction did pretty well the first year. I even got to see the fruits of the volunteers’ labor, but their literary side was nearly nonexistent. In fact, the one literary panel on the schedule that I attended had no panelists. When the organizer asked the group at the door if published authors would raise their hands, surprisingly I was the only one to do so. So, I wound up improvising and leading that panel when I meant to attend and see how it was done. Talk about being thrown into the lake to learn how to swim. Shortly afterward I was asked to step in as the department head and make the literary department something to be proud of.

Now, four years later, Authors Alley is thriving, our volunteers are passionate about helping authors and readers, and nearly 30 authors attend annually. Panelists range from self-published and newly published to New York Times, Amazon, USA Today, and international bestselling authors. They include esteemed Bram Stoker, Hugo, Nebula, Elgin, and Robert A. Heinlein award winners, and some are included reading on the International Space Station.

Using my tried and true experiences, you can confidently build your own Authors Alley or update your current one. Build Your Authors Alley will be available March of 2018. Look for its official release at Cleveland ConCoction 2018.

Weston Kincade ~ Author of the A Life of Death collection, The Priors, and Strange Circumstances