Gregeration X Newsletter November 11, 2023-It’s Vegas, Baby!

This. Is. Me. I am happy.

For the most part, I’m a positive person and tend to keep an optimistic attitude, but in this picture, I am truly happy. This is me being me. This is me about thirty minutes before doing one of the two things I love most. The first is writing, the second is talking to others about writing. In this case, it’s me right before the start of the RAVE (Reader and Author Vegas Event) on Friday, November 10, 2023. I’m about to spend the next six hours on my feet talking to readers (and other authors) about my books and persuading them to buy them, or if they prefer e-books or audiobooks to take a bookmark and check them out later. If you took a picture of me six hours later, I’d look just as happy…maybe even happier.

This event was the culmination of the final 20Booksto50k Las Vegas conference, so my happiness was bittersweet. The show will continue next year under new leadership as Author Nation with promises that it will carry on in the same spirit, but 20BooksVegas will always be special to me. Two years ago, I attend my first event. I shared a table with five other “newbie” authors and it was a blast, but this time I had published enough books to share a table with another author.

I sold some books yesterday…in-person…to people I’ve never met. Sure, all my other sales have been online and I’ve never met most you, but as you’ve probably guessed, most writers are introverts, so coming out of my shell to talk to strangers and convince them that my stories are worth reading goes against my natural instincts to retreat to a quiet corner of the room to watch and to observe, but not necessarily to take part. This time though, all week really, I forced myself to fight my instincts and take part. It wasn’t always easy. I’m not a natural conversation starter and often feel awkward trying to make small talk. There were times I found myself at the edges of the room just watching. But I also made it a point to say “hi” to people, to introduce myself, to remember names, to go up to presenters whose presentations I enjoyed to thank them for sharing their knowledge.

I even read a five-minute passage from Pax Machina to an entire hall full of people. Sure, most were browsing and not listening, despite that, I wasn’t expecting to be introduced by one of my favorite audiobook narrators (Jeff Hays) and have him standing nearby as I read my passage and attempted to do voices of my own. My reading wasn’t perfect, but it went well enough. I definitely have some ideas on how to improve if/when I do something like that again.

I made some connections this week. Hopefully, some of them will be lifelong. From Sean Willson, who I’d met two years ago, but who I kept running into this time around. To Phil Huddleston, my table partner and Patricia Gilliam and her husband Cory, who 3-D prints really awesome dragons and dinosaurs. There are so many others I can’t even list them here. I joined a mastermind group of like-minded authors with promises to meet online monthly and work with each other to help meet our goals. Eight of us came together randomly for dinner Thursday night and agreed to a very specific writing challenge and promised to meet up at a future event. Several mornings, I shared a table with complete strangers during breakfast and had some wonderful conversations. I even received a thank-you message from one gentleman from Chicago. In the past I wouldn’t have risked putting myself out there so much, but 20Books has that effect on people.

If I told you I wasn’t tired, I’d be lying. I am. I drove home last night after standing and talking all day. My brain is saturated from trying to drink from the firehose of knowledge all week. The streets of Las Vegas are in disarray because of the upcoming Formula 1 race. It took me an hour of sitting in traffic just to get to the freeway, but at atleast it gave me time to process all that I experienced over the past week. Some sessions that I attended were on artificial intelligence, direct sales, kickstarters, live events, and more. I learned more about various genres, marketing, and writing craft. Luckily, I have access to recorded video streams of the sessions I wasn’t able to attend, so the learning won’t end. I’ll watch the sessions I missed and rewatch the sessions I found important in the weeks and months to come. At some point, they will post the sessions on YouTube. I’ll share them with you when they do. The 20Books group is like that, the motto is a rising tide floats all ships. One person’s success doesn’t hurt anyone else’s. It’s all about what you learn and how you apply it.

This conference is great. Six and even seven-figure authors are around mingling in the crowd. You never know who you could pass by, wait in line next to, or share an elevator with. The adage of never judge a book by its cover was never so true than at 20BooksVegas.

Once I finish this newsletter, I’ll spend the rest of the weekend with my family and dogs recharging from this week and preparing to rejoin my regular life (and job) next week. In the back of my mind, all the things I leaned will be percolating.

One thing I learned is that as a writer, I love live events, and I’m convinced my decision to do more of them is the correct one. I’m looking forward to Comic-Con Revolution in the Spring, unless I can find another event to get in before then.

Thanks for indulging me on my stream-of-consciousness review of my past week. I hope you got something out of it. Finally, one piece of advice I’d like to share with everyone is if you have a dream, don’t just dream, take steps to achieve it! That’s one thing you’ll never regret.

Disclaimer: Steps = “responsible” steps, such as learning how to do something new or establishing a new habit or goal. (don’t quit your day job if you don’t have a way to replace your income yet!).

Mechhaven Missives

Time to get back to work on Book 5. I have lots of cool stuff planned. This week I’ll get back to business!

New novella…I’m still a little ways off from finishing but I’ve crossed the mid-point, so the next half should go faster. That being said, from her on out Book 5 will be the priority.

Audiobook…I hope to have some updates on this soon, my narrator had some health issues come up, so that slowed things down a bit.

Featured Author

This week’s featured author Rayner Ye.

Yufu’s Run

Rayner Ye

Cyborg Killers, Power-Seekers, Cyber-Terrorists, and a Crazy Scientist. What could go wrong?

All he wanted to do is retire in peace.

YuFu works on a lunar methane rig, dreaming of the day he can retire to the planet and live in peace with his family. But he has to flee into space when he is framed for a terrorist attack he didn’t commit.

Can he prove his innocence while being pursued by police and killer cyborgs?

And who is assassinating government officials?