Category Archives: Conventions

BookCon 2014 is Tomorrow!

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BookCon-2014-MapThe first-ever BookCon is this Saturday, May 31, and StarWarp Concepts will be there! Run by ReedPOP (the folks responsible for New York Comic Con), this one-day show is a spinoff of Book Expo America, the publishing industry’s annual tradeshow, and is the first time the doors are being widely opened to the general public. Big-name guests include Stan “The Man” Lee, Holly Black, John Grisham, R. L. Stine, and…Grumpy Cat? Really? Jeez, they’ll give anybody a book deal these days…

Booth #3061 is where you’ll find me and Richard C. White—author of the dark fantasy superhero graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings and the digital pirate-fantasy comic The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special—promoting The ’Warp; as always, just look for the Pandora Zwieback banner. We’re right between Penguin Group’s Book Country and Publishers Weekly booths, and directly across the aisle from the booth for a novel titled Waiting for the Bomb.

BookCon is being held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, located at 655 W 34th Street, on Manhattan’s West Side. Show-floor hours are 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. (That’s right, the con is only six hours long, so be sure to get there on time.) For more information, including how to order tickets, head over to the BookCon Web site.

StarWarp Concepts to Attend BookCon 2014

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For years, friends in the book industry have been telling me: “If you want to be a successful publisher, you have to exhibit at BookExpo America.” BEA is the Super Bowl of book festivals; the literary equivalent of New York Comic Con. For book people, it’s the place to be.

Problem is, exhibiting at BEA is insanely expensive—an average 10×10 booth can cost up to $4,000! And recouping that fee onsite is out of the question: publishers are there to tout their books and try to convince librarians and booksellers to order them, not to physically sell copies to them at the expo. And the general public is excluded from attending because it’s a trade show. So without a chance to make money at the expo, I saw no reason to put StarWarp Concepts in one of those sky-high-rent booths.

BookCon_logoBut then came the recent announcement of BookCon.

According to industry magazine Publishers Weekly:

“Reed Exhibitions [which also runs New York Comic Con] has made no secret about its interest in drawing more consumers to BookExpo America. Today the company released new details about its plans for the consumer-focused third day of the trade show, unveiling an event called BookCon that it is describes as a ‘show within a show.’”

Bottom line? Unlike its parent convention, BookExpo America, BookCon is open to the general public. Also unlike BEA, BookCon publishers are allowed to sell their books, and the booths for this one-day event cost less than the same 10×10 space at either BEA or NYCC. So now StarWarp Concepts has a reason to be there.  😉

BookCon takes place on the last day of BEA: Saturday, May 31. Show hours are 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It’s being held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 34th Street and 11th Avenue, in Manhattan. Adult tickets are priced at $30; tickets for kids 6–12 are $5. Go here to order.

Question is, Will you be there to greet us? If so, you’ll find us at Booth 3061, right between the booths for Publishers Weekly and Penguin’s online imprint, Book Country.

For more information, visit the BookCon site.

2014 Convention Schedule

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Plans are already in the works to finalize StarWarp Concepts’s 2014 convention calendar, and so far we’ve got two appearances locked in place:

Awesome Con DC (April 18–20): It’s the second year for this fast-growing Washington, DC show, and we’ll be making our first appearance there. It’s being held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, in the heart of the nation’s capital, and you’ll find the StarWarp crew set up in artists’ alley.

Eternal Con (June 14–15): Another show that’s been getting a lot of attention as it prepares for its second year. This one is held at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, Long Island, and artists’ alley will be our home for the weekend.

We’re still awaiting word on a date for September’s Brooklyn Book Festival—as well as waiting to hear back from other book festivals we’ve reached out to—but it’s a sure bet The ’Warp will be back in attendance at Borough Hall Plaza in the fall. Stay tuned for the latest updates!

Baltimore Comic-Con 2013: Pan Sketches!

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This past weekend, StarWarp Concepts attended the latest Baltimore Comic-Con to meet old Pan-atics and greet new ones. It’s a constantly growing venue—expanding to three full days in 2014—dedicated almost solely to comics and their creators, so it’s a good thing we had copies of The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1 available so we could fit in!  😀

So how’d the show go? I’ll have an in-depth con report over at the StarWarp Concepts blog this week to tell you what went on.

Meanwhile, here are a couple of sketches of our favorite Goth adventuress that I commissioned from local artists in attendance. Check ’em out!

Cheltz_PandoraSketchFirst up, we have pencil art from Cheltz. She was part of the PLB Comics crew at the next-door table, and at one point on Saturday afternoon she got a deep cut on one of her fingers. Since I just happen to carry a small first-aid kit in my messenger bag, I was able to provide immediate medical assistance. “Just for that,” Cheltz said, “you’re getting a free crappy sketch!” Not so “crappy,” in my opinion; in fact, I think it’s great!

 

 

 

 

 

Danielle_PandoraSketchThis color sketch I commissioned from Danielle Sylvan Dernoga, who was sitting one aisle over. I’d passed her booth a few times and really liked her art style, so I had to have her draw Pan. Then we discussed the possibility of her doing a Pan Annual cover at some point. We’ll definitely be talking again!

Next up: the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 22. Hope to see you there!