Two Weeks Later… One More Wrap Up & Feedback Request
It’s been a couple of weeks since Coastal Magic 2015 happened. I’ve said my many thank yous to the authors, bloggers, and readers for an AWESOME weekend. Now, I’d like to share a few thoughts, and a few pictures, from my viewpoint as a fangirl, rather than convention director. 🙂 (These are going to be limited, as director trumps fangirl in the “time dedicated to” column for the event. Huge thanks to BTSeMagazine photographer Simon, and my sister for letting me use some of their shots along with my own.)
To start… a couple of shots of/from my “home away from home” for 4 1/2 days. The Hilton Daytona Beach OceanWalk Resort has a few drawbacks (distance from a large airport, catering costs *ouch*), but their pros outweigh their cons. I love this hotel, and it’s a great home for us.
Then I settled in to where I would spend much of my time for the weekend. This was our staging area, our storage area, and our “fix all the problems” area. Also close by was registration checkin, also a pretty busy spot, manned by my book club girls and family members 🙂
While I relied on conversation and excited recounting of events to hear how most of the panels were going (all sounded like SO much fun!!!) I was able to escape my boardroom vantage point to attend a fun meet up with some of the 1001 Dark Nights authors, keep time at our Author/Blogger Speed Dating, moderate one daytime panel (Life with an Author, talking to family members of Featured Authors), and help run our annual Cinema Craptastique.
After the full day on Saturday (panels, meet & greets, author/reader lunch, public book signing) it was night to have a nice sit down / chill out with friends, then goof off with peeps at the mixer.
On Sunday… we had the last of our panels and meet & greets, along with people saying goodbye and heading home. We ALSO announced the winners of the charity raffle baskets (we raised $431 for Habitat for Humanity!!) and photo scavenger hunt contest.
I had SO much fun you guys!!! I was missing a few of my favorites from previous years, but getting to know some of our new additions helped. I loved meeting authors I’d read before and loved, and also added some “new to me” authors to my TBR pile. One of my favorite things about this weekend, every year, is that we become FRIENDS with these people, both readers and authors, who share our silly quirks and passions. It’s really special to me.
There was a lot of chatting, and some really great feedback. I loved hearing what all of you had fun with, and hearing some suggestions for making things better next year. That leads me to our feedback forms!! There are some things that will always be the same. We may embrace other genres, but UF and PNR will stay a focus. No matter what activities we plan, we’ll stay casual and intimate. We’ll never be a “large” convention, and we’ll stay as affordable as I can possibly make it.
I’ve sent out feedback forms to our Featured Authors, and I’m loving the feedback I’ve gotten from them so far. They certainly are a creative bunch, and I’m happy that a lot of their comments are right in line with things I’m hoping to accomplish with next year’s shindig. I posted the link to the reader feedback form in our Facebook Coastal Magic Convention Authors & Attendees group, but I’m going to add it here, as well, in case you missed it.
http://goo.gl/forms/kpwlZsm86l
If you were there, I’d love to hear your thoughts!! Also… there’s a post (here) on the Coastal Magic FB page for people to post their album links (from FB, Photobucket, IG, whatever…) if you’d like to share. If you have a “wrap up” post you’d like to share, you can post the links below, I’d love to read them!! (And I’ll be adding some to our media page, as well!!)
Thanks, one last time, to everyone to joined us. I’m excited to see you all again next year!!
*ps – by next year, I mean Feb 4-7, FYI — and I know it’s Super Bowl weekend, I’m making plans for that!*
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Hi there! What an amazing event!!! I am a new Urban Fantasy/PNR author. My book, Unhidden, is doing quite well and has ranked at the top of Amazon’s Dark Fantasy list for several weeks. I would LOVE to be a signing author at this event next year. Is there a way I can sign up, or a place I can express my interest for consideration? Thank you very much! Dina Givenwww.DinaGiven.com
From: Coastal Magic To: dinagiven@yahoo.com Sent: Friday, February 20, 2015 5:45 PM Subject: [New post] Two Weeks Later… One More Wrap Up & Feedback Request #yiv0077270033 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv0077270033 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv0077270033 a.yiv0077270033primaryactionlink:link, #yiv0077270033 a.yiv0077270033primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv0077270033 a.yiv0077270033primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv0077270033 a.yiv0077270033primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv0077270033 WordPress.com | coastalmagic posted: “It’s been a couple of weeks since Coastal Magic 2015 happened. I’ve said my many thank yous to the authors, bloggers, and readers for an AWESOME weekend. Now, I’d like to share a few thoughts, and a few pictures, from my viewpoint as a fangirl, rather tha” | |