Loose Change

I was going to write about dealing with conventions and booksignings when you’re an author (e.g., more comfy with the voices in your head than the voices outside asking you questions) but I started thinking about other things that veered away from that topic because I do that.  But I'm getting there.  Hang on.

I realized often writers are excited about conventions because they get to see their friends.  Sometimes their friends are people they only see on-line or once or twice a year (which is almost as good as voices inside your head) but you know them and get them.  Because the e-pub world is a small one, the more you network the more you start thinking you know almost everyone in e-pub land. 

It’s relatively easy to feel like an insider if you spend a few years on-line with the authors, editors, publishers and readers of e-pubs, especially those in erotic romance.  Because there’s still enough outside disapproval or misunderstanding of erotic romance and e-pubs, you can feel special – or at least different – pretty quickly.  And you learn to identify your co-conspirators easily.

It can be fun.  It can be incestuous.  Good, bad or everything in between, it’s sometimes smart to take a step back and remember it’s not just you hanging with your friends (of course being with friends can make some introverted authors nervous enough) – you’re in a small world that grows bigger all the time and to keep you identified as a professional, you need to be friendly but know when to keep a distance.  That’s an art form in and of itself.