SF/F and Social Media and – Join Us Live at EasterCon

At EasterCon this year, on Saturday 3rd April at 3:00pm (BST), UStreaming live from Odyssey 2010, we will be merging industry and Social Media to debate – and real-time demonstrate – this question: -

Just how far has the SF/F industry really embraced Social Media?

We know that writers are all over Twitter; they’re everywhere. Promoted by publishers, orbited by bloggers and followed by fans, they meet one another through the #amwriting hashtag or join David Rozansky’s #scifichat. Competitions and give-aways abound freely (please RT), circling like little bluebirds over the head of a dazed man.

But, in the grand scheme of things, how much impact does this have? In a world where only the top 15% of books published sell more than 5,000 copies… can we do more with Social Media to ensure that the industry accepts change and allows itself to grow?

The Twitter support community is great – on one level, we’ve embraced the ideal of completely. People help each other – no, I mean it. But socially, the industry is insular – despite the ‘New Age of Geek Chic’ and all of that gubbins, are people reluctant to reach beyond their safety zone?


Are we going round in circles, preaching our love of SF to the already converted?

And it goes beyond Twitter. Twitter is the foyer; there are many other rooms to peek into. The David Gemmell Legend Awards can be found on Ning; video promotions for book titles are becoming quite the thing, dahling – and more and more authors follow the free-download example set by Accelerando.

Is good Social Media an effective long-term investment – or is its short-focus immediacy just a smart way to give out a quick dozen books? Will it, as Jim C Hines mused, eventually prove to be the end of the book signing?

And, of course, the very nature of those books is changing under our hands – not only their format, but how they’re sold – that was one trip up the Amazon we all remember. How far can Social Media promote the awareness and acceptance of those changes – professional, legal and personal – and help ensure that they’re beneficial in the right places?

To find out - and to chip in - come to #LiveCon.

Track the #EasterCon and #LiveCon hashtags at UStream TV, or on the BSFA website – or join us on Twitter – use the #LiveCon hashtag to ask my panel a real-time question.

Join author Paul Cornell and Angry Robot Books' editor Lee Harris as they match their industry wits with Social Media experts Nik Butler and Del Lakin-Smith – and follow all of us live on Twitter for commentary, not only from #LiveCon, but from the whole weekend.

Five Authors; One Event (You Know How This Works!)

FORBIDDEN PLANET and Gollancz Publishing are delighted to be hosting an open-format, multi-author signing. Five authors, one event – at 6pm on Thursday November 26th, Forbidden Planet 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London will be playing host to: -

• David Devereux
• Paul McAuley
• Justina Robson
• Adam Roberts
• Chris Wooding

To promote the release of Justina’s new book CHASING THE DRAGON, Forbidden Planet and Gollancz Publishing have gathered a host of science fiction and fantasy talent into one event – an event to bring writers and fans together and to promote interest in new and different kinds of fiction.

This is a free-form and open signing, bringing the authors out from behind their tables and giving their readers a chance to meet them and talk to them about their work. An array of fantastic books will be on hand to be picked up and signed – including works by every one of the writers present.

And, as usual with these events, there are likely to be more than a few surprise guests...

...and a subsequent visit to the pub!

'No, You're The Rock Star' - FP's Ten-Author Signing

It started with a call.

When I asked David Devereux to come in and sign ‘Eagle Rising’ at Forbidden Planet, he muttered something innocuous about bringing in one or two of his mates. It sounded harmless enough.

But it snowballed.

The Magnificent Seven became eight, became nine, became ten. Thundering forwards with a strong belief that this was absolutely the Right Way To Go, we set light to the rulebook and we threw it away.

On Thursday evening, Forbidden Planet played host to: -

• Joe Abercrombie
• Alex Bell
• Mark Chadbourn
• David Devereux
• Jaine Fenn
• Jon Courtenay Grimwood
• Tom Lloyd
• Suzanne McLeod
• James Swallow

Sadly, we were down a man as Steven Savile got snarled up with a snowy airport and chairs designed by the Marquis de Sade – but the format (or lack of it) remained.

No barriers, no queues. No formal signing tables. With bowls of Pringles on stand-by and titles available by all the authors present, we let readers, writers, fans and journos mix it up, free-style. This wasn’t only about meeting your favourite author – this was about discovering new ones, about meeting new people, about opening your bookshelf and mind to a host of new concepts.

Jon Courtenay Grimwood described it as a ‘miniCon in a bookstore’ – a phrase David of GeekSyndicate picked up as his podcast tagline. (I think he got enough interviews to keep him busy for days!). Also in attendance was the irrepressible @loudmouthman – even wifi-less, he was uploading some kick-arse footage and promises edited highlights soon.

Not to be outdone, the wonderful Robert Rankin – a week after his own signing (though not demanding rayguns this time) – dropped in to hang out. He refused a name-badge, just wanted to join the fun.

This event was a total boundary-breaker – it’s been tried before, but never on this scale and never at Forbidden Planet London. With a guest list to rival any UK SF Convention, it’s generated huge amount of energy, enthusiasm and talk about the future. Many happy customers, happy authors, happy publishers and happy FP – as we all kept saying, ‘everybody wins’.

More pictures will be found on my Flickr page.

Lastly, a big list of ‘thank yous’ – to the much-undersung staff at the FP Megastore (who kick arse), to Jon and Gillian at Gollancz for their help and support, to all the authors who came in, and to the man who kicked the snowball off the top of the mountain, Mister David Devereux, Rock Star.