I Iz Popular?

[douglascohen]

Well, no.  Still, I received a pleasant surprise yesterday.  I was swapping some emails with Jetse de Vries, the assistant editor at Interzone.  And he had this to say:

One thing: at the dealer's room in Denvention, there were quite a few questions about IZ #212, specifically from people who wanted it because "Feelings of the Flesh" was in it. Well

Comments

[douglascohen]

But they don't know me as a writer! It's my first publication. But people do know me as an assistant editor. I like the story, and certainly hope people enjoy it when they read it, but I'm going to assume the word-of-mouth surrounding the story itself is that big ...

[jimvanpelt]

Nope. I'll bet it's because they heard about the story. Word of mouth can be a big thing for short story writers, especially when you're at a big convention where the folks who are EXACTLY the audience for your work can get together. I've had mini-runs on magazines I've appeared in at conventions for exactly that reason. You can also provoke little spikes in sales at the convention by appearing on a panel, giving a reading, or doing a signing. I sat at the Hadley-Rille table for 30 minutes at Denvention and we sold a half-dozen copies of Visual Journeys, an antho I'm in.

I'm looking forward to reading your story (I haven't got to that issue yet). Interzone is a great market and a good venue. That's a high-profile appearance. You know that there were probably about a thousand writers at the convention who would sacrifice favorite pets to have made a similar first sale *g*.

[douglascohen]

Ha! Thanks for the kind words. I was quite thrilled at having IZ as my first sale. I suppose word of mouth about the story is a possibility, but I was also in a rather rare situation of wanting to be a speculative writer, being unpublished, but still being known in the short story community more than the average unpublished author because of my affiliation with ROF.

I don't think that can be completely discounted, so I propose a compromise: little of column A, little of column B. :)

And I get a real kick out knowing you'll be reading my story at some point in the future. I admit to being unfamiliar with your writing before joining ROF, but since coming aboard I've read a lot of work you've submitted to us, and a lot more of it in our back issues. I've come to respect your writing tremendously.