I figured I should address other concerns that seem to be popping up (and Incidentally, if people would contact me personally and ask about these things, hard feelings wouldn’t happen, as we could have an adult conversation about it--- I am not an ogre, I do listen to people’s suggestions and incorporate when we can to help this con evolve and grow with the ever growing and changing needs.)
I. Why does AAD have an Author Cap:
AAD has author caps because of three things: 1. Author to reader ratio, 2: Space allotment, and 3: Bookseller ordering. All three are taken into account when deciding the cap for authors so that it’s fair and people don’t get screwed.
Every convention has featured authors and author caps, even if they are identified by different labels.
At RT, those authors on panels, that have events and parties… they are FEATURED AUTHORS.
At the RAW event, it’s the authors promoted on the publicly posted list.
At RomCon, it’s the authors that, again, do the parties and the events.
EC’s RomantiCon? It’s the authors that are slated to do events, workshops and parties.
Lori Foster weekend? The official list is put up of “Attending” authors. Even Lori Foster's event explains that the list is not generated by favoritism, but by those who have attended all or most past events, contributed largely to the event, or are part of the attendees “Most wanted” authors – meaning the readers have requested them.
Authors After Dark is no different, simply referring to the authors on panels and doing events with an official label of FEATURED AUTHORS.
THIS HAPPENS AT EVERY CON.
At no time anywhere at any of these (that I am aware of but correct me if I’m wrong) are just attending authors not allowed to promote their work or books. AAD is NO DIFFERENT. Those attendees not on the Featured Author list who are authors will have have plenty of opportunity to network, talk up their books, hand out swag during those conversations and Meet Readers.
AAD is just upfront about it. We try to be fair, and wish we could have everyone be a FA, but from year to year, space changes and as AAD’s focus is the readers, we have to change the author acceptance to fit our space allotment.
(And just an FYI, Savannah will have an author cap of 100 authors for the Featured Author spot because the space we have allows for it.)
AAD is the ONLY con that offers the spots to everyone that registers as an author. Everyone gets the same email about being a featured author (Until we close the acceptance because we have hit our cap.Yes, AAD is upfront with what we want for the con because it does nobody any favors to not be concise and honest about what we expect from the authors we have as Featured. Again, ALL CONS ARE LIKE THIS. For AAD, we ask for things that HELP YOUR CAREER --- good promo, books from your publishers, participation in events that keep your name in the forefront of the reader’s minds.
II. Why don’t you take Paper promo?
The reason we don’t take paper promo is in Philadelphia (2010) we threw away 9 bags of garbage that was ALL paper promo, one entire bag was “trading cards.” Attendees were taking the paper out of their bags and not even looking at it and tossing it in the trash. So, in a bid to help your wallet and the environment, we have limited the paper promo.
Yes, I know it’s cheaper and YES I know it’s easier to get that stuff when you are not getting huge royalty checks--- but I also know that if you plan correctly you can have a LOT of good promo and not spend an arm and a leg. It takes a little diligence on your part, but it is possible.
III. The issue with hotel rooms
AAD’s NOLA hotel has MORE singles then doubles. They did not tell us this when we signed the contract and ASSUMED (and you know what happens when you assume) that since it was a romance con (IE; they thought Dating and such) that Singles would be fine. When it was straightened out, they gave us EVERY DOUBLE IN THE HOTEL. Their room availability is NOT AAD’s fault and we have been working hard to make sure we get all 400 attendees in the hotel.
Some people were upset that they had to switch rooms. Please note that we ASKED you to, but that didn’t mean you had to. To those of you that did, THANK YOU, because you helped us get this sticky situation rectified.
Because of the issues this year with room options, we made sure that Savannah has MORE doubles (which they do: 85% of the rooms in the hotel are doubles) and the suites are open to our use and EXTREMELY cheap. Those of you that have moved your rooms this year without issue, we have some cool options for you for next year if you attend so be sure to contact us about it.
It saddens me that we have to talk about this yet again… all this information is actually in the FAQ’s in some fashion, and I hope that seeing it explained further will quell any issues you may have had with this. I know I can’t please everyone. If these answers aren’t satisfactory enough for you, then, well, you will be missed at the con.
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