Advice

Guest Post by Leona Wisoker: Ideas and Fear; or, The Fear of Ideas

by

(I'd like to thank Leona Wisoker, a talented writer who's also had me blogging at her blog, for this contribution on writing, ideas, and fear – something a lot of us know of.  I reccomend her blog as she has some fascinating insights.)

I used to be paralyzed by the thought that I had nothing worth saying, no skills with which to say it, and nobody who would want to read it anyway. Even after landing a four-book contract deal, publishing a handful of short stories, and running a relatively regular blog for almost two years now, I still hear those statements in my head nearly every day:

It's a fluke. It's not real. People are just being nice to me. If I was a 'real' writer, I'd be signed with a Big Name Press, like Tor or Baen. I'm an upstart and I'm going to get squashed very very soon now….

Read more

Go Farther: Anime Cons

by

So I discussed how I think Comic Cons can go farther career-wise, next up is a focus on one of my personal favorite: anime cons.  What do I think they can – and should – do career-wise in the years to come?

Well anime cons have a few unique traits:

  • Despite being anime they tend to be multi-media and often cutting edge.  Anime's always had a hip thing going for it, even when it was being made fun.
  • There's a heavy emphasis on creativity and use of talent – art, web-pages, costly, etc.  Go to even a small con and be amazed.
  • The attendees also tend to be very technical – from programmers to being internet-savvy to digital art.
  • There is, in my experience, more emphasis on professional development.  I'm not 100% sure why this is, but I should analyze it.
  • People have a more intimate knowledge of the industries they're fans of.

So my take is that anime cons have a good foundation, but need to leverage what's really unique about them.  To do career events, I recommend anime cons:

  • Leverage the diversity.  You can experiment with all sorts of career panels and events because, if your con is of any size, someone is probably going to want to attend these events.  This gives you a chance to find out what works best.  In short a decent-sized con is a great laboratory.
  • Use the skill-development focus.  Many cons already do such panels, so adding a more professional emphasis to them – such as lists of professional resources and associations – would be a good idea.
  • Try project-oriented educational and career events – from works at a con to a project outside the convention such as a group manga, novel, etc.  Since anime fans tend to be "product-oriented" this will help them and help your con's relations.
  • Feel free to try more technical panels such as ones on web-design, programming, and so on.  You'll probably find a lot of response.  For extra fun, tie it into your own technical elements – such as if you use webcasting for events.
  • Take your industry panels into professional directions, such as talking about trends, industry issues, etc.  There's plenty to cover in international media, video games, and so on.  You'll get a good response I'm sure.

Anime cons are already a pretty powerful package career-wise, with a strong cultural foundation.  Working with this will let you turn it into a powerful career engine.

– Steven Savage

I Have a Job, They Don’t: Fansourcing

by

You know those friends and fellow fans that are incredibly talented but don't have work?  Yeah, I thought so.  You wonder what you can do for them when they are so talented, so gifted, yet are looking for work.  It's easy to wonder since they're so good at what they do, you're left wondering what you can do.

What you can do is give these talented people a chance to use their talent for you – and thus give them a chance to earn money, build skills, and gain another reference (that's you here).

Read more