TNEE Recap, or the "Let me set records straight" post. Facts and Truth Ahoy.

Ahoy everyone.

I’m home, and trying to get things in order here, it was a hellish flight back and Now I’m here with a cold and possibly the beginnings of con crud. Not fun. But, I wanted to make a statement here, and on the Event page about an incident and drama that happened at the con.

If anyone has any questions about my policies and such for my events, especially TNEE, please refer to this page on the TNEE website: 

http://www.novelexperienceevent.org/pages/policies.html

Because Imma drop some knowledge on you all, and while some might not want to see it and believe it, It is the truth. Remember, at least 2 sides to EVERY story…

So many know I didn’t allow an author that showed up on Saturday morning in to sign, and many are criticizing me for it. While that’s their prerogative, they obviously do not have all the facts. So lets lay them out.

And in the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that dealing with me, and trying to get one over on me when I KNOW you are WRONG gets me extremely pissed off, and I have the tendency to yell. Why? Because people need to follow the CLEARLY LAID OUT RULES, and if they don’t, if they feel they are special, well…

So lets start this shall we?

It is CLEARLY stated on the FB author group in A FILE, as well as on the TICKET PAGE, in the TICKET buying page AND in a WAIVER at the end of the ticket before the author pays, as well as PLAIN AS DAY on the EVENTS POLICIES page that there are specific times everyone needs to be in to register.  You know what, lets post BOTH policies right here:

2. All Authors must be in by Thursday evening at 10 pm and registered. This will ensure that there is ample time for set up Friday. in the event that a flight is delayed or cancelled please let a staff member know.

3. Signing table setup is Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm. Authors MUST be set up and ready for Saturday's signing on Friday by 5pm.

Now, if you look at Policy 1 it states:

1. Failure to comply with any of the following rules will result in a complete forfeit of a spot in the signing and event, and there will be no refunds for any reason.

This has been plain as day and clear as crystal for over 8 months. That someone would try to flout that, and attempt to think it would work? Yeah no. So let’s go into excuses.

This year, we had several people that had delayed flights, or extenuating circumstances. ALL OF THEM contacted either MYSELF or the staff. All of them were handled appropriately by the staff, as we know things get in the way.

I was given several excuses by the author that didn’t get to sign including that she was “looking for a parking space” and “Driving around for a while because Valet wouldn’t let her park” around “4pm” on FRIDAY. She also claimed that when she got in at 6 no one was in the room (which is a lie, as My staff were all there till almost 715 wrangling people and putting people’s books in the office to lock up). Apparently the 17 emails I had sent out via the ticket page never reached her, and she couldn’t navigate the Author group that clearly stated that ALL AUTHORS must be registered and IN THEIR SEATS on Friday by 245pm. And while some authors decided NOT to do the VIP preview, THEY WERE REGISTERED already by that point.  So the information has been out there A MONTH before this event even happened, and Every other author there had gotten the memo and followed the rules.

Then, I was treated to having to explain to a gentleman she thought that me talking with would make me give her her way. I was told by said gentleman that he was still on the phone with the author at 245pm on Friday. To which I stated, it was moot as she was 100% in the wrong.

See, I have rules for the event, and it’s very much a live by the sword, die by the sword thing with me. I do not negotiate with terrorists, and I certainly do NOT give in for someone that cannot follow very well displayed and simple rules. I’m a BIG fan of fair, and it’s not fair to let someone in when they can’t bother to follow the rules. So I stick by my guns. NO ONE will intimidate me because I will NOT be bullied into anything. And anyone that thinks to try is a god damn moron. Yes, I said it.

So let’s talk about rules… because I also understand that there’s some other authors that jumped on this band wagon to start a shit show at an event they should have been FOCUSING ON READERS AT instead of stirring a pot and creating drama.

I was accused of being unprofessional, of cursing at people and saying “Fuck” a lot. Yes. 100% true. That’s WHO I am. And I’m going to be candid here, IM NOT HERE TO KISS YOUR ASS, or BE YOUR FRIEND. I run an event you agreed to be at and agreed to follow the rules of. In corporate America people don’t like other people they work with all the time, hell 80% of the work force HATES their boss. But they DO their jobs because they are professionals. It’s no less than what I ask at my events. As a PROFESSIONAL AUTHOR you have one job: Sell yourself to the readers. As a professional AUTHOR I have the same job. As I don’t get PAID to put events on, (IE, I don’t make a dime for the 50+ hours a week I put into getting the event together, Taking time away from my CAREER and my family to make a fair and affordable event for people) and I largely end up paying out of pocket for the event at the end of the day NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO DICTATE TO ME HOW I ACT. That’s why I have staff. You don’t want to deal with me and my “foul mouth”? Do your job, follow the rules and if you have issues, deal with my staff.

It’s when people think they can get over on my STAFF and my con family that the fangs come out. So, now that that’s all explained… Let’s talk about AUTHOR PROFESSIONALISM and PROFESSIONAL COURTESY.

It’s PROFESSIONAL COURTESY to ASK another event if you are ABLE to promote YOURS when you are at the event. A simple “Hey I have cards for my con, can I put them at registration or maybe pass them out?” would have been all that was needed for THAT little Fiasco to have never have happened. And just so everyone jumping on the injustice of my staff collecting them is aware, it was Bloggers, Readers AND Authors that thought it was in poor taste. In fact, several came to me and ask if the person passing them out had gotten permission, because they saw it as “Tacky” (their words not mine).

It’s not PROFESSIONAL to start shit at ANY event, latching onto an author YOU feel was dealt a bum hand (All because they didn’t follow the rules) and start sabotaging the event by posting pictures showing a “Dead” event that were CLEARLY taken from YOUR TABLE. The Staff and the other authors you disrespected KNOW it was you because YOUR BOOKS WERE SHOWING in the picture. If that’s not the goddamn MEANING of the statement “you’re not professional” I don’t know what is. Causing drama for no reason when the event and the con director and staff have been nothing but nice to you is not only unprofessional, but stupid as well. All that proves to everyone is the bottom line of an event (in this case “READERS BEING HAPPY”) is lost on you. That the authors posting to sabotage an event would do that tells me they aren’t professionals, and they don’t give a rats tinkered ass about the damage they caused the AUTHORS in attendance.

Lastly, it’s EXTREMELY unprofessional to NOT honor your word when making appointments. We had an author completely ditch on one of our tattoo artists at an 11pm appointment. The artist not only wasted his time waiting, but also wasted the opportunity to rebook. And the person in question never contacted him or the tattoo assistant past the “Ok we will see you at 11pm” text they got when they tried to move the appointment up. This cost our tattoo artist, who we at AAD and TNEE consider family, MONEY. This could have all been avoided if they just honored their appointment. I had to ban said person from ever getting a tattoo from the guys ever again. Costing my artists money when they come from NY for these events is NOT cool, especially when you confirmed. You NEVER harm my con family when they are there to give YOU opportunities.

So I also know what’s being said about me online. And while that’s a person’s prerogative to have their opinions, I firmly believe opinions should be based on FACTS, not here say spouted by authors that I was “mean” to (IE: I told them NO several times) or that didn’t like how I handled things (Because it didn’t benefit them directly.)

What I find absolutely appalling is that a person that is old enough to be my grandmother is out there spouting lies and bullshit about ME and MY EVENTS when she’s never EVER spoken to me. You know, people throw around the word “Bully” a lot, but really that’s all this is. I have been around for 8 years doing events, and it’s NOW she decides to start a smear campaign on a person and an event that is focused on being affordable, and fair, while the person running it makes no money, only a FUCK TON of grief from people for trying to remain fair. Attacking me personally when they have never met me or spoken to me is completely insane. Why am I and my events suddenly a threat to you? There are plenty of authors out there, and MY events give the ones that don’t have other options and other opportunities the ability to get in front of readers, readers that are looking for them. FACT.

 I don’t think people really get that there’s ROOM in this industry for most events, and enough authors to fill them if the price and opportunity is right. Because I don’t get paid and I’m NOT LOOKING TO MAKE MONEY OFF ANYONE I can offer the cheaper prices and freebies for readers, and authors can utilize what we offer. Or not. But there’s is NO REASON to go around trying to fuck other people’s stuff up because you are having issues. What I do with my events is offer alternatives that authors and readers seem to like. If that’s what’s bothering you, maybe you should take a look at what YOU are doing and restructure, because all of this catty bullshit is making you look like a heel.

I honestly thought we had all moved past the high school bullshit, but as a lovely author told me this weekend “When you put two women in a room there’s always going to be drama.” Well multiply that by infinity and that’s the industry these days.

Look, I care about the readers LOOKING TO READ ME. ALL Authors should be that focused. Don’t sweat the bad reviews; brush it off because you obviously don’t write for that person. Don’t start drama because READERS see that and readers remember. Don’t talk smack because readers see that and readers remember.  I think authors forget that events are not about THEM. The staff and the promoters don’t do this to lick your ass. They do it so the READERS are happy and they keep buying books… without readers WE WOULD ALL BE OUT OF A JOB. I think a lot of authors forget that.

It’s for those reasons that I don’t give a fig about an authors personal BS. You paid to be at an event, be there, sell yourself to readers. Gain new readers, cement relationships with old ones, sell books. But keep yourself out of the drama. I don’t care about you or your petty bullshit. What I DO care about is hearing from readers that YOU were awesome, and better in person than they could ever have hoped for, and that YOU have gained a reader for life. SERIOUSLY. That’s really all I care about. And anyone that tells me or SAYS that I’m unprofessional for not giving a shit about the author needs to REALLY think about that. It boils down to this: the AUTHORS don’t pay my bills. They aren’t paying for ME to attend events, and they aren’t PUSHING MY BOOKS. READERS do that. And those are the people I care about.

And for you out there saying “Well you went off on a reader at TNEE”…

No. I went off on a person that was supposed to be another author’s assistant. That didn’t DO HER JOB. That stirred the pot,  that got all agro and expecting me to… fuck I don’t know what they expected. They weren’t MY reader, and said to the author THEY were working with (that they didn’t do shit with because they were always with the drama makers) that she didn’t read her “Shit” and she didn’t care… Which upset the author a lot because she took a chance on bringing this person in the help her. And notice, said “reader” came at me with the grievances aired above, but the authors didn’t. Funny right?

So yes, I will go off on someone that has an agenda. I always will. Because I don’t deal with bullshit.

Love it, or hate it, it’s me. You don’t like it, don’t attend my events. If you know you can act like an adult, realize that this is a goddamn business and the focus of your business should ALWAYS be the reader? I want you at my events; because the readers know what side their bread is buttered on… I can’t promise I will always handle everything with no curse words or calling people out for being assholes and not following the rules, but you will know that Readers remember the authors that care about THEM, and that show it.

So I’m sure this is going to get TONS of comments, but let me be the first to tell you--- EVERYTHING HERE IS THE GODDAMN TRUTH. YOU CAN’T ARGUE THE TRUTH SO DON’T TRY. ADMIT WHEN YOU ARE WRONG. It goes a LONG WAY.

And as always I’m open to rational discussion, and debate, but facts are facts people… and attacking ME personally is just going to get yourself banned from anything I do. Because it’s not ever about ME, fuck I LOST SALES this weekend because I couldn’t be at my table because I was dealing with everything else. You bring ME into it, it’s a banned guarantee.

And to those of you that understand that this isn’t MY way of thinking, it is a rational way of thinking… well thank you and your input is always welcome.