Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to another edition of Rosie's Rambles! A special shoutout to all the new subscribers from Apollycon. I’m so glad to have you here!

Now that the dust is settled, all the boxes have been unpacked, and I finally have my voice back, I’ve had time to draft a recap of my Apollycon experience. But since we have a lot of ground to cover in today’s edition of the newsletter, including book news and upcoming events, use the handy links below to skip to whichever section is most relevant to you:

Table of Contents

• Three Things I Learned at Apollycon

  • 1. Don't Be Afraid to Go Out of Your Comfort Zone

  • 2. Don't Sell Yourself Short

  • 3. Be a Reader Too!

• Rosie’s Updates

  • ASOWAR Special Editions Waitlist Now Open!

  • Pre-Order Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Saving the Worl …

• Upcoming Events

Three Things I Learned at Apollycon

For those who don’t know, Apollycon is major book event hosted each year in the Washington D.C. area by author Jennifer L. Armentrout. Though there is a big focus on fantasy romance, AC brings together thousands of readers with hundreds of authors over a weekend full of bookish fun. I was originally set to exhibit last year, but I had to pull out due to conflicting obligations. So that made it extra special for me to be able to make the all day signings on Friday and Saturday.

It was an incredible, exhausting experience. Looking back, there are three big things I learned from the weekend, starting with…

1. Don't Be Afraid to Go Out of Your Comfort Zone

Truth is, I almost didn’t apply to Apollycon to begin with. My entire career (so far!) has been in the young adult and middle grade spaces, while AC leans towards adult readership. And even though I have spoken at so many book festivals and conferences, I didn’t have any experience with direct sales to readers at such a level.

However, I am so glad I didn't give into my trepidation, even if the learning curve to prepare for this type of event was steep as a traditionally published author. The countless hours I spent figuring out everything from how to set up online inventory to navigating convoluted Maryland sales tax laws has only strengthened my knowledge and my respect for authors who work primarily in indie and self-pub spaces.

Many people go into traditional publishing because they have no interest in this kind of direct-to-reader sales role. And there's truly nothing wrong with that! Indie vs trad vs self pub is a discussion has been clobbered to death; the way I see it, there are pros and cons to each method depending on who you are, what you write, and what you're trying to get out of your career.

But no matter which route you go down, it's of the utmost importance to learn from others outside your chosen path. Some of the insights my indie and self published friends have given me about the market and readership have led to a deeper understanding of the trad landscape. Publishing is an interconnected web; it’s never the wrong idea to step outside of the portion of it you’re used to.

2. Don't Sell Yourself Short

If I could change one thing about my Apollycon journey, it would be to not underestimate the demand for the ASOWAR 5th Anniversary Special Editions.

I based the number for the first print run on how well the series had sold at previous festivals. I was completely confident that first run would be enough stock for two months of both preorders and floor sales.

Reader, we sold out entirely on preoders in three days.

As good a problem as this was to have, it led to an extra level of unncessary stress during the lead up to AC as we scrambled behind the scenes to have any special editions available to sell in-person at all. I had known that Apollycon has some of the most passionate attendees in the bookish world, but I had naively thought there is no way any of them could be that interested in my work. I was wrong.

People weren’t just interested in my work. So many new and old readers stopped by my table that not only did we completely sell out of special editions, I sold over three times as many copies as I had my last convention. No one on my team seemed as surprised as I was that my work had the ability to reach people the way it did.

Every situation is different, but if you are in a similar situation to me, don't count yourself out from the beginning. Do your research, of course, but make sure there's room within that for possibilities that you might be closing yourself off to without even realizing it.

3. Be a Reader Too!

Just like with any job, it can be be difficult not to get caught up in the business and performance aspects of authordom. But when we do that, we fail to remember a crucial fact:

We were readers long before we were authors. ¹  

I spent just as much of Apollycon fangirling over other authors as I did meeting readers.² Seeing the great work they were doing and all the joy it brought to their readers reinvigorated my love of the craft and reminded me of why I do what a do. That’s why even at a conference as big as Apollycon, make sure you give yourself time to be an attendee.

Both your author and reader selves will thank you.

Rosie’s Updates

ASOWAR Special Editions Waitlist Now Open!

If you missed your chance to grab the special editions at Apollycon, fear not! We’re currently working on putting another batch together, this time with delivery options available. Click the button below to sign up for the waitlist to be the first to know when they go back in stock!

Pre-Order Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Saving the World!

My next release, Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Saving the World will be out on May 6th! With it comes the conclusion of my first middle grade series. Click the button below to preorder your copy, and scroll down for information about my launch event with Rick Riordan (!!!!!!)

Upcoming Events

This year is a busy one for me, so here’s a list of my upcoming events both in-person and virtual":

• May 6th- Launch Event for Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting with Rick Riordan (Washington D.C.)

• May 7th- AMA with r/camphalfblood (Virtual) 

• May 17th - Gaithersburg Book Festival (Gaithersburg, MD)

• June 10th- In conversation with Arriel Vinson for her debut novel Under the Neon Lights (Washington D.C.)

That’s all for now! Enjoy the last of the April showers, and remember to never fear the May flowers.

With tired-yet-excited regards,

Rosie

1  Unless you are in that rare .001% who never read a single book before you woke up one day and banged out the next Pulitzer Prize winning novel, in which case good job!

2  A couple faves being Nikki Payne and C.M. NasCosta, among others!