I have to say, I'm fairly down on it at this point. I distributed 4,500 flyers, and I've seen only a handful of downloads as a result. It was impossible to track the Westercon downloads separately from the Summer/Winter Sale downloads, so I couldn't quantify results there, but I could with GeekGirlCon, and...yeah, no. I mean, you could argue that if I improved the flyers, blah, blah, blah, but I'm saying, 4,500 people each received a flyer in their hot little hand, and the VAST majority of them did not choose to take advantage of it. And advertising in a con program didn't work. All this makes me question the fundamental validity of marketing books at cons.

I already canceled the Foolscap table, just because I didn't think the group was ready for something like that at this point. If it turns out that people really, really want to do a table, I'll join in, but I'm not going to push for it. I think it's an awful lot of work for a not-very-promising shot at results.

The conventions have been fun so far. I'm still going to Foolscap and Norwescon (and you know, since I'll be there anyway I'll do flyers), but I'm mentally reclassifying them as entertainment as opposed to a meaningful marketing opportunity. I mainly seem to attract other writers, which is fine as far as it goes (I sincerely hope they find the blog worthwhile), but obviously marketing should focus on reaching actual readers.