Un-Conventional: Mysterious Galaxy on Tour
Sometimes it seems our store calendar is completely convention-driven – even with all of our exciting in-store events, conventions loom large in the workload and mindshare of the staff. Given that without Comic-Con International the business probably wouldn’t exist, that’s probably appropriate. (See Without Whom)
Mysterious Galaxy participates in an assortment of conventions, genre and otherwise, hoping to achieve different goals, but really for one universal reason: community. It’s all a part of our have books, will travel, philosophy. Sometimes we are serving our regular customer base, or looking to expand it, at annual events like San Diego’s ConDor and Conjecture SF conventions or Men of Mystery, or traveling conventions like World Fantasy or Bouchercon. Other times we are supporting authors whose works we carry on our shelves, but at venues with a broader emphasis, like Comic-Con International or the steampunk-focused Gaslight Gathering. We also support authors of all genres at writers’ conventions like the Southern California Writers Conference, in both its San Diego and Newport Beach venues. And we have been exhibitors at the fabulous Los Angeles Times Festival of Books every year except for its inaugural one. We generally don’t travel far outside of southern California, although exhibiting at genre conferences and the Tucson Festival of Books for a few years helped Maryelizabeth with her transition to her Arizona office.
Selling at conventions can be very focused – readers hear an author speak and want that author’s particular work, and only that work, which we are supportive of, because selling books is our purpose for exhibiting. But they can also present a great opportunity for hand-selling, which we love, in-store or out (sometimes even in other bookstores, because we just can’t help ourselves). We look forward to donning our Eat Sleep Read t-shirts and badgeholders and interacting with readers outside our store walls throughout the year. Some of our favorite customer interactions begin with “You recommended something to me here last year and I loved it. What do you have for me this year?”
Follow LARB for great booksellers like Mysterious Galaxy wherever you go!
Read about our Naked Bookseller Program here.