Introduction
I attended the SF conference Cleveland ConCoction 2018 at 600 North Aurora Road Aurora, Ohio at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 9, 2018, to March 11, 2018. The 2019 convention was from March 1 to 3, 2019 and I realized when I wrote a recap for that conference, I had not posted a recap for the 2018 conference. This is a recap of the 2018 conference. I attended the opening ceremony, five panels, two author showcases, a performance, and the closing ceremony. I also volunteered in the ConSuite for eight hours.
Cleveland ConCoction Banner
Cleveland ConCoction 2018 Program Guide Cover
The link to the ConCoction website.
http://www.clevelandconcoction.org/
Picture of my badge from Cleveland ConCoction 2018
Summary
Friday, March 9th at 5 PM
Opening Ceremonies
Mogchelle, the mistress of ceremonies, started the event. She introduced the Con Co-chairs Laura and Stan. Sean Owen Roberts was the Media Guest of Honor and Seanan McGuire was the Author Guest of Honor. The Harp Twins were the Music Guest of Honor. Knightmage was the Cosplay Guest of Honor and Stitches was the Fan Cosplay Guest of Honor. The event was a chance to meet the Guests of Honor before they took part in the weekend events.
They held the ceremonies in the McKinley A Room.
Friday, March 9th at 6 PM
Author Showcase (Session 1)
Five authors read from their works. They were all different and interesting.
J. Thorn read a scene from his novel Barren. It was about the protagonist on a sailboat near Kelly’s Island in a post-apocalyptic world.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35282947-barren
Vik Walker read from the novel The Crystal Dragon of Nital. It’s a humorous middle-grade book about the adventures of Nathan and Zozz, his cat-like being friend.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34769784-the-crystal-dragon-of-nital
Geoffrey Landis read his short story called Chatbot and the Drone. It’s about the conversation between a Chatbot and a Drone.
They published it in the July 2014 issue of Communications of the ACM, linked below.
https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2014/7/176207-future-tense-the-chatbot-and-the-drone/abstract
Marie Vibbert read the short story called Flying Cars.
Olivia Berrier read from her novel A Book Without Dragons. The novel uses five different points of view.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29456965-a-book-without-dragons
They held the panel in the Presidential Boardroom with 6 attendees.
Friday, March 9th at 7 PM
Villains, More Than Just Black Hats, a panel with Addie King, Barbara Doran, Brent Seth, J. D. Blackrose, and Cindy Matthews.
The panel sat at the end of the table farthest from the window and the attendees sat at the other end of the table. Examples of good villains are Darth Vader (not in the prequel movies), Voldemort (from Harry Potter), and Cersai (from Game of Thrones).
They held the panel in the Presidential Boardroom with 14 attendees.
Saturday, March 10th from 9 AM to 5 PM
I volunteered in the ConSuite Department for eight hours on Saturday. The ConSuite in 2018 at The Bertram differed from 2017 when the con was at the Sheraton at the Airport. The ConSuite was in a back bar at the Sheraton. The new area, the Garfield ballroom, is a nicer and light-filled windowed open space.
Saturday, March 10th at 7 PM
Elevator Pitch and Publishing Expectations Tutorial, a panel with Adrian Matthews, Addie King, Weston Kincade, Mary Turzillo, and Geoffrey Landis.
An Elevator Pitch explains the essence of a novel. The idea is to give the pitch to someone who could be interested in representing your book in the time it would take an elevator to go six floors. Suggestions were to not use character names in a pitch and to get the pitch down to one sentence. I presented my pitch for my novel in process, Assassin in New Marl City. The panel understood my pitch, but Geoffrey Landis suggested that I not use the phrase telepathic detective, since deception would not fool a telepath. It was a good suggestion. I revised it to a mind-reading detective since a mind reader is more constricted than a telepath.
They held the panel in the McKinley B Room with 9 attendees.
Saturday, March 10th at 8 PM
The Performance of the Letter of the Travails of Victor Frankenstein (While at University)
This was a performance staged by the Confused Greenies from the Player’s Patchwork Theater Company. The story was a humorous tale of a young Victor Frankenstein working on a special extra credit project at University (the monster).
They held the performance in the McKinley A Room with 20 attendees.
Saturday, March 10th at 9 PM
Flash Fiction, a panel with Addie King, Marie Vibbert, Megan Engelhardt, Olivia Berrier, Weston Kincade, and Josef Matulich
The best way to find a potential market for flash fiction is the submission grinder. Some markets are Apex, Daily Science Fiction, Everyday Fiction, and 101 Fiction. Flash fiction is short, has a high concept, and has an implied ending. They suggested reading the story aloud to see if it worked.
Examples of one line flash fiction follow. “Baby shoes for sale, never worn.” “I put a ring on her finger and pulled the pin.” “The last man on earth sits in a room and hears a knock.”
They held the panel in the McKinley B Room with 11 attendees.
Sunday, March 11th at 10 AM
Publishing in the 21st Century, a panel with Addie King, Linda Robertson, Daniel Willis, and Weston Kincade.
Addie King was the moderator of the panel and handed out a printed power point presentation on the topic. The two paths to publishing are novels and short stories. Traditional, small press, vanity, or self-publishing can publish novels. For novel publication, get an agent to represent you by following submission guidelines and submitting a query letter with a synopsis. She handed out examples of her query letter and synopsis. For short stories, find markets and submit stories with a cover letter. Resources for finding markets are Ralan.com, Duotrope.com, and Locus magazine at locusmag.com. Understand what rights you are giving in any contract you sign. Don’t quit your day job. Write to have a career, not a one hit wonder.
They held the panel in the McKinley B Room with 6 attendees.
Sunday, March 11th at 12 PM
Author Showcase (Session 6)
Four authors read from their works.
Mackenzie Flohr read from her novel Rite of Abnegation, the soon to be published book #2 in the Rite of Wands series.
https://mackenzieflohrblog.wordpress.com/
Adrian Matthews read from his novel Fire on the Sands (Book #1 of a prequel series to the BloodDark series)
http://adrianjmatthews.blogspot.com/
Cindy Matthews read from her novel Olivia’s Return (BloodDark Book #2)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34197040-olivia-s-return
Mary Turzillo read from her NaNoWriMo project titled “Cat, Sword, Dragon”.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7849252.Mary_Turzillo
They held the panel in the Presidential Boardroom with 8 attendees.
Sunday, March 11th at 1 PM
Marketing, an Author’s Best Friend, a panel with Weston Kincade, Marcus Calvert, Olivia Berrier, Sara Dobie Bauer, and Troy Maynard.
The panelists gave advice about marketing yourself and your work. Create an author platform for an online presence, make yourself an LLC, use Amazon Marketing, Facebook snippets, Instagram, and Bookbub. Consider using a professional web design for your website and use a professional photographer for your author picture. Buy bookmarks, business cards, and items to give away free at conventions related to yourself and your works.
They held the panel in the Presidential Boardroom with 5 attendees.
Sunday, March 11th at 2 PM
Closing Ceremonies
The Guests of Honor were presented and thanked.
They held the panel in the McKinley A Room with 25 attendees.
Recommendation – Conclusion
I had a great time at Cleveland ConCoction 2018. The location was different. It was better for me and the parking was free. I worked eight hours straight in the ConSuite and I don’t plan on doing that again because I missed events I wanted to see and it was too exhausting to work in one block of time. My star of the con was Addie King. I attended four panels where she was a panelist and I liked her handouts for publishing. My other highlights were the performance by the Confused Greenies and Geoffrey Landis’s comments on my elevator pitch. I attended Cleveland ConCoction in 2019 and I bought my pass for 2020.
Links
The most recent SF conference I attended was Cleveland ConCoction 2019 at 600 North Aurora Road Aurora, Ohio at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 1 to 3, 2019. I attended the opening ceremony, four panels, and the closing ceremony. I also volunteered in the Programming Department for four hours and in the ConSuite for four hours. This is a link to my conference recap.