Author update!

Hi Guys,


With it being a new week, and with so many authors getting on board for the Discover Festival of late, I thought it'd be a good idea to update our list so you can see the full array of talent taking part! With more great names still to follow, Discover is already looking like an event not to be missed!


So here goes, with websites for more info attached as well...


Peter F Hamilton
http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/
Graham Masterton
http://www.grahammasterton.co.uk/
Jon Courtenay Grimwood
http://www.j-cg.co.uk/ 


Mark Chadbourn
http://www.markchadbourn.net/
Adam Christopher
http://www.adamchristopher.co.uk/
A J Dalton
http://metaphysicalfantasy.wordpress.com/a-j-dalton/
Andrew Hook
http://www.andrew-hook.com/
Benedict Jacka
http://benedictjacka.co.uk/
Kim Lakin-Smith
http://www.kimlakin-smith.com/
Paul Magrs
http://paulmagrs.com/
George Mann
http://georgemann.wordpress.com/
Gary McMahon
http://www.garymcmahon.com/
Lou Morgan
http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/
Stan Nicholls
http://stannicholls.com/
Gareth L Powell
http://www.garethlpowell.com/
Gavin Smith
http://www.gollancz.co.uk/gavin-g-smith/
Gav Thorpe
http://mechanicalhamster.wordpress.com/
Freda Warrington
http://www.fredawarrington.com/
Ian Whates
http://www.ianwhates.com/
Conrad Williams
https://conradwilliams.wordpress.com/


More news to follow this week, and it'll all be up here on the Discover Festival blog!


Cheers


Alex

My favourite... Part One

In a bid to find out more about our writers for the Discover Festival, I thought it'd be a good idea to ask them about 'a few of their favourite things'! And to kick off the series, I'm going to share with you a few of my own favourites. We'll have a host of authors' faves in the coming weeks.

MY FAVOURITE - Alex Davis

FAVOURITE BOOK:

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, hands down. For me there's always been something magical about this book that cuts through my natural resistance to anything 'heartwarming'. It's a book I always turn to whenever I need a bit of a pick-me-up.

FAVOURITE AUTHOR:

I was tempted to get for Bradbury again, but in the end I'm going to plump for JG Ballard. Whether you want to call Ballard 'genre' is a bigger question than I could answer here, but books like Crash and The Atrocity Exhibition for me offer something as horrific as any horror book out there. I also love the fascination and surrealness Ballard can draw from small concepts, which is in evidence in other favourites like High Rise and Concrete Island.

FAVOURITE GENRE FIL M:

Event Horizon. I've always loved 'space horror', and for me Event Horizon is the last word in the subgenre. Sam Neill is fantastically deranged, and some of the imagery and ideas are brilliant. I think the blend of SF and horror in the film works unbelievably well. I'd also give an honourable mention to Session 9 – for pure atmosphere it's fantastic.

FAVOURITE NON-GENRE FILM:

Requiem for a Dream. The cinematography and delivery is unusual and interesting throughout, and the spiral downwards of all the characters in the story is wonderfully depicted. It's not a cheery one, by any means, but well worth a watch. My honourable mention goes to the equally bleak Buried.

FAVOURITE TV SHOW:

I'm a big TV comedy viewer – I watch more comedy than I do drama, especially if it's animated. As such I weighed up Family Guy, South Park and Aqua Teen Hunger Force before eventually plumping for Archer. The spoof misadventures of this wannabe James Bond is loaded with jokes ranging from the cutting and intelligent to the crass and low-brow, which creates a great set of laughs each episode.

FAVOURITE BAND:

For me it has to be Opeth – again not a terribly well-known band, but a metal group with a strong cult following. Their epic soundscapes have been inspiring my writing for years, and there is great musical ability on display throughout in a genre not always renowned for its artistry. One minute angry and the next moving, they've been a firm favourite of mine since college.

FAVOURITE GAME:

Unfortunately I'm still a Football Manager addict, although I decided that 2007 was the ultimate version, so I'm still playing on that these days. In my current career I'm actually considered a world class manager for the first time, so that tells you about all you need to know about my skills. Still, I keep trying.

What goes into a great event? Part 4 - PROGRAMMING

What makes a great event? Part 4 – Programming

So with a suitable idea, budget and venue, we have the essential grounding for any event. The next step is to ensure that you have the right authors to take part in things. It's not always an easy thing to do, and again you have to make sure that the authors match the type of event you are running. First question on that is genre – are they writing in the sort of field that your event is in? Sometimes this isn't obvious, so it's worth considering this one carefully. The other issue is the scale of the event – if you have a capacity of 200, you wouldn't be thinking about getting Stephen King or JK Rowling along, as the likely expense of them attending would outweight the income for your event. On the other hand, if you have a capacity in the thousands, then suddenly those types of names become a lot more of a possibility.

For any event you are looking for your top names to draw audience to your event. Even better if you happen to be an existing fan of their work, but what you are largely looking at for an author is profile. Is this someone with a significant readership, someone who people want to hear speak, someone that people will pay their hard cash to come and see? Of course, the flipside of this is that these kind of authors are the ones who are constantly in demand, so the best advice I could give would be to get in touch with either them or their publishers nice and early. Plenty of advance notice is vital if you want to have a big-name author at the top of your bill. The author – and certainly their publishers – will probably want to know how many people will be attending the event, and what sort of thing will be expected of them. Audience expectations can be tricky to guess, but again it's always best to be realistic and not give crazy targets.

The other question is which approach to take on programming – schedule first and then authors, or authors first and then schedule? Every author brings something different to the table, as well as having their own established fan bases who will be delighted to see them at your event. It's easy to get carried away programming stacks of authors, but sometimes you find yourself having little for them to do at the event. As such, in a lot of case, I try and think of panels and workshop ideas ready so that I can try and match authors to those openings in the schedule. One of the first things I do is try and map out what rooms I have, what can go in each room and what panels or items might take place at any given moment. As such, all of your authors get to make a really worthwhile contribution to the event and as such get more out of being there.

That's all I'll say on programming – the next two parts will focus on marketing, with one half looking at traditional 'paper' marketing and the other zooming in on online marketing.

What goes into a great event? Part 3 - THE VENUE

What goes into a great event ? Part 3 – The Venue

For me, this is the third and final thing you have to make sure of before you really commit to any event. By this point, we have a great idea and we have a functioning budget that meets our aims. But if we don't have anywhere to host the event at all, then we still don't have an event. So finding a venue – and particularly the right venue – makes a huge difference.

What are you looking for in a venue? Again, part of the equation is financial, and if the hire rates or indeed the ticket split they are offering work for you. Sometimes it's tempting to go somewhere spectacular and pay over your budget, but you have to match your audience expectation to the venue. Walking into a 1000-seater might make a great impression at first, but when there are 50 people sat in there, it's going to look pretty poor on the whole!

So first off, aim for somewhere with the right capacity. Then it's looking at the location of the venue – obviously city centre tends to be ideal, but often you have to pay through the nose to be right in town. If you're starting to look on the outskirts, then you have to consider how people are going to get there. Are there good travel links locally? Is it a venue that is known to regional audiences? These are the sorts of little factors that can make a big difference to an event.

Once you decide you like the location of the venue, it's time for a meeting, or a visit. If you want to run something at a venue, you'll typically be dealing with the programming manager in the first instance, who will be used to the sort of thing you're talking about. The types of things you are looking at for the visit are:

What sorts of spaces can we use for the event?

How can they be laid out, and how do you want them laid out?

Is there a common mingling space (often known as 'the bar')?

Can they provide any staff support?

Are they able to offer any marketing support?

Does their remit – and audience – fit the sort of event?

I think probably above all these comes 'the vibe' – do you get a good feel off the venue, and do the staff seem keen on what you're proposing? If a venue is willing to really support and throw their weight behind an event, that can make the world of difference.

Once you have the venue in place, then comes the programming – which will be the focus of the next blog in this series.

Discover Festival Raffle

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to pass on a bit of news about our raffle - for those of you who've never been to one of my events in the past, the raffle is a live draw and at Discover Festival will be taking place on the Saturday night. It's always a highlight, not only as an entertaining item in itself but also as the chance to win some superb prizes. There are going to be A LOT more of those announced a bit nearer the time, but the very first details are now up at http://www.discoverfestival.co.uk/#/raffle/4559444501

Tickets for the raffle are £1 a strip, and you can expect a whole host of signed and limited edition books to be up for grabs, so be sure to catch it if you're heading down to Discover Festival!

More info to follow over the weekend anyway!

Thanks a lot

Alex

Competition time!

Hi Guys,

Just to let you all know I'm launching a competition on Twitter, with two tickets to the Discover Festival at Snibston Discover Museum to give away. I'm not always going to be this generous, so the best bet is to make the most of it!

If you're already following @Discover2012 on Twitter, then you'll be able to see it in my twitter feed, and if you're not following us, just search for the hashtag #Discover2012. The competition will be closing to entries Friday 12pm, so don't miss out on your chance to enter!

More to follow this week, including some more author announcements and the next part of my WHAT MAKES A GREAT EVENT series.

Thanks a lot!

Alex

Third Guest of Honour confirmed for Discover!

Hi Guys,

Big news for today on the Discover Festival, as we've now confirmed our third Guest of Honour for the event as JON COURTENAY GRIMWOOD. Jon is an acclaimed author of both science-fiction and fantasy, and twice a winner of the the BSFA award for best novel for Felaheen and End of the World Blues. The first book in the Assassini series, The Fallen Blade, has been accruing great reviews, with the second part The Outcast Blade due to hit shelves in May. Jon has also written extensively on genre fiction in publications including The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph and The Independent.

It's great to welcome Jon on board for Discover Festival, and he joins PETER F HAMILTON and GRAHAM MASTERTON as Guests of Honour for the weekend. So be sure not to miss out on seeing these three fantastic authors, as well as a host more talent at the event!

More info on all three Guests of Honour can be found at http://www.discoverfestival.co.uk/#/guests-speakers/4558409491

Thanks a lot!

Alex

What goes into a great event? Part 2 - THE BUDGET

What goes into a great event? Part 2 – The Budget

Well, it may not scream 'exciting', but a working budget is an absolutely key part of any event. This for me is what always comes after the idea – and frankly, if the budget doesn't work, then it means that the idea is best left alone.

There are a whole host of scenarios for your budget, the ultimate of which is that you have some public funding from somewhere designed to splash on your event. That's always a joy, because then you can push the boat out and spend the money making the event as strong as possible. Scenario number two, which also ain't bad, is that you only need to break even, and again this often leaves a bit of money to spend on something 'extra' for the event. However the usual question when looking at the budget is – will it make a profit?

Of course, that's a difficult question to answer in the definite, as there are all sorts of factors that go into how many people but a ticket and how your other income streams get on. So for me, one of the vital things in any budget is to aim LOW. If 200 people at your event represents a huge success, budget on 100 so you know that the budget works if the event does OK. Equally if you want 2000 for a rousing success, budget on 1000. Also be sure to look at your other income streams and keep those realistic. The reason why most budgets don't work out is that they are too optimistic, but if you temper this with reality – and caution – then your event has a much better chance of success.

The other vital factor with any budget is to keep it UP TO DATE! Another great way to overspend and risk not making a profit is to lose track of what has gone where. A regular weekly update, or indeed just adding in some new figures as and when they come in, can be a huge help to your event's success. The difficulty is that once money is committed to something it is very tricky to go back on it, and probably as tricky to cut from other places. So if your budget is realistic, and you keep it current, there's no reason that your event can't be a success in the financial sense.

But obviously it isn't all about finances, and there is an awful lot more goes into a great event. So next time around we'll be looking at step 3 – the venue.

Discover Festival 2012 - the line-up so far

Hi Guys,


Hope this Monday afternoon finds everyone well!


Just wanted to post the latest attendee list for Discover Festival - I'm delighted with how this is taking shape so far, and it looks like there will be plenty more exciting names to follow. I've also attached a weblink for each author if you wanted to find out more about them....


GUESTS OF HONOUR:
Peter F Hamilton
http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/
Graham Masterton
http://www.grahammasterton.co.uk/


Mark Chadbourn
http://www.markchadbourn.net/
Adam Christopher
http://www.adamchristopher.co.uk/
Kim Lakin-Smith
http://www.kimlakin-smith.com/
Paul Magrs
http://paulmagrs.com/
George Mann
http://georgemann.wordpress.com/
Lou Morgan
http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/
Gareth L Powell
http://www.garethlpowell.com/
Gavin Smith
http://www.gollancz.co.uk/gavin-g-smith/
Gav Thorpe
http://mechanicalhamster.wordpress.com/
Freda Warrington
http://www.fredawarrington.com/


We'll be updating author again in the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled here for all the latest! I'll also be putting up part two of my 'What Makes a Great Event' series later this week.


Thanks a lot!


Alex

What goes into a great event? Part 1 - THE IDEA

I've been working on literature events, and in particular genre events, for a number of years now and over this time I've become more and more inquisitive about what it is that makes a great writing and literature event. So over this short series, I'm going to be wandering through my hazy recollections of all my organising and co-ordination down the years and considering just what goes into making an event indifferent, good or great.

THE IDEA

It might sound a bit obvious, but if you don't have a good idea for an event, then you can't have a good event. The thing is, you could judge the merit of an idea in many different ways. First off, it might be something with great artistic value that stretches the horizons of its audience. Second of all, it could be something that has great appeal and draws a great crowd, but may not necessarily achieve the same artistic quality. Do you judge an idea by its originality, and its willingness to try something different, or is an idea even better for following something that is tried and true, something with a history of success?

To be honest, I've tried all of the above types of event, all to varying degrees of success. The main difficulty is that, very often, the idea looks and feels great when you come up with it. The first buzz of excitement when the event concept pops into your head is hard to beat, for me only topped by seeing an event actually take place. However these fantasies have to be tempered with reality, and it's only in developing the idea that you can start to get a true sense of its quality. I always consider this the phase where an idea becomes a vision, and it goes from a rather nebulous concept to something that you can first picture in your mind's eye.

I think the key thing behind the success of any idea is how much the person with the concept is willing to put behind it. Anything can be a success, in its own relative terms, if the co-ordinator is happy to put in the hours, has a level of skill and expertise befitting the event, has the passion and belief to communicate the event clearly to an audience and can retain that enthusiasm even when they are answering emails at 1am just to make this thing happen.

If you don't believe in your idea, then why would anyone else buy into it and come along? That's a hard question to ask at the start, but if you don't utterly believe in what you are doing, then maybe that's one idea that should be left alone.

Part 2 will be looking at the budget for an event – not the most glamorous part of running an event, but one that has to underpin everything to do with the activity.

Welcome to Discover!

So a new blog for 2012, this one all about the new Discover Festival, which takes place in May this year. Just to introduce what will be happening on these pages, I'll be offering a host of news about the event as well as some thoughts and opinions on a host of different matters genre-related. The aim is to post something once every two days, so we'll see how that goes.

So the best place to start would surely be with what the event is all about - Discover Festival takes place over the weekend of 18th-20th May, and runs at Snibston Discovery Museum at Coalville, Leicestershire. For anyone who hasn't been, it's a great venue with a really modern-looking frontage and Museum, accompanied by the old-fashioned Century Theatre at the back. The theatre is purportedly haunted (including one ghostly audience member who has a permanent reservation on his seat) and the whole place has a fantastic vibe and atmosphere about it. If you wanted to check out more, you can do so at http://www.centurytheatre.co.uk/ and http://www.leics.gov.uk/index/leisure_tourism/museums/snibston. The area itself has quite a history, so well worth taking a look around the website.

So that's where and when, but what is it? Well, it's an exciting and fresh event which will be drawing together a host of writing talent in the fields of science-fiction, fantasy and horror, and we'll be presenting a mixture of panels, workshops, readings, Q+As and much more over the weekend. If you've never been to this type of event, Discover will be a welcoming and friendly way to explore genre fiction. If you're a hardcore convention or events-goer, you'll know the sort of thing to expect and there will be plenty to keep you entertained over the whole weekend.

Our first two Guests of Honour, both of whom I am really excited to be welcoming along, are best-selling SF author PETER F HAMILTON and legendary horror and thriller author GRAHAM MASTERTON. Both fantastic names from the field, I'm sure you'll agree, and well worth seeing in action. We're not stopping there, of course - we should be confirming more Guests of Honour in the near future, as well as announcing a host more authors taking part as time goes on. There's bound to be something for everyone at the event, given how the line-up is shaping up so far.

So there you go - a quick intro to what Discover is all about, and if you want to find out more you can drop by our website at www.discoverfestival.co.uk. And of course, if you have any questions, so feel free to drop me a line at discoverevent@hotmail.co.uk

Be back soon for another blog update...

Thanks a lot

Alex