🎪 ARE CONVENTIONS GETTING STALE?

This week on the Indie Author Showcase, we're revisiting the convention discussion from our last episode, correcting a few mistakes, and asking an important question:

Are conventions struggling because of the economy, or are audiences getting tired of seeing the same vendors selling the same products year after year?

First, a correction!

Last week, I suggested that L.A. Comic-Con had significantly reduced its size. Turns out, I was WRONG! L.A. Comic-Con will be using all three halls of the convention center, just as it did last year.

Thanks to everyone who spoke up and corrected me! That's exactly the kind of discussion I want this podcast to encourage.

But the larger question remains: How can conventions keep attracting customers when so many vendors return with the same merchandise every year?

We discuss:

🎟️ Why convention attendance doesn't always translate into sales.

📚 The challenge of selling the same books to the same audience year after year.

🎨 Why vendors need fresh products and new customers.

🔄 Whether rotating vendors could help keep conventions interesting.

🏢 Why expanding a convention isn't always the answer, especially when poor traffic flow leaves vendors isolated from the crowds.

And why a successful convention doesn't necessarily mean every vendor will have a successful weekend!

Then it's time for this week's indie book showcase!

👻🚀 GO STATION — ENTITY I ENTERTAINMENT

What happens when you combine science fiction, supernatural horror, and a crew of criminals who can't entirely trust one another?

You get Go Station!

A group of outlaws fleeing the authorities takes refuge at an abandoned space station on a desolate planet. But something terrible happened there, and the station isn't nearly as empty as it first appears.

With mutated horrors lurking in the darkness, the crew must fight to survive while their already questionable loyalties begin to unravel.

Think Event Horizon meets Dead Space, with a little Pitch Black thrown into the mix!

What worked for me?

✅ Genre mashup! A great combination of science fiction and supernatural horror.

✅ Strong interpersonal dynamics! Criminals don't always make the most trustworthy teammates, especially when survival is on the line.

✅ Distinctive characters! Unique visual designs and personalities make the cast easy to identify and follow.

✅ Dark, menacing artwork! The illustrations establish an atmosphere of dread while keeping the action clear.

My biggest complaint?

I wanted MORE!

The story could have benefited from additional room for its characters and relationships to develop. In fact, I could have happily read another 50% of this graphic novel!

If you love sci-fi horror, haunted space stations, and morally questionable characters fighting for survival, Go Station is worth checking out!

💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION!

Are conventions becoming too repetitive? Would rotating vendors help bring fresh merchandise and new audiences to these events?

And what's your favorite sci-fi horror story? Event Horizon? Dead Space? Alien? Something else?

Let me know in the comments!

📚 ABOUT THE INDIE AUTHOR SHOWCASE

Hosted by multi-award-winning indie author Chad Robert Morgan, the Indie Author Showcase is the podcast by indie authors, for indie authors!

We discuss independent publishing, the challenges of being an indie author, storytelling, and showcase books and graphic novels you might otherwise never discover.

👍 LIKE if you enjoy discovering independent authors and artists.

🔔 SUBSCRIBE for more indie book showcases and discussions about writing and publishing.

📢 SHARE this episode with an indie author, comic creator, or sci-fi horror fan!

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📚 **Are conventions still worth it for indie authors?**

This week on the **Indie Author Showcase**, we're talking about the changing economics of selling books at conventions and the challenges facing independent authors!

👹 **THIS WEEK'S INDIE BOOK SHOWCASE: STRANGE DAYS**

This week's featured book is **Strange Days by Fred Wiehe**, a supernatural horror novel about a man whose body has been stolen by an evil entity from another dimension. Frank Talbot is trapped outside our physical reality while a monster wearing his body goes on a murderous rampage through San Francisco. His only hope? Joining his spirit with that of a critically injured police officer. But sharing one body between two souls comes with complications, especially when their memories, personalities, and emotions begin fighting for control.

October is Filipino American History Month, so this week on The Indie Author Showcase, we’re celebrating with a look at Filipino stories, mythology, monsters, and folklore.

After seeing Forgotten Island, Chad takes a look at some books, movies, graphic novels, and series that can introduce you to the mythology and culture of the Philippines—from manananggals and tikbalangs to ancient gods and modern supernatural adventures. Along the way, we talk Trese, Herbert de Leon’s Tala, Mask of Haliya, and Chad’s own The Baby-Eater and The Last Rite: Short Bites Vol. 1 – Bloodlines. IAS_S3_e28 IAS_S3_e28

Then, how did the first-ever Sinister Book Fair go? Chad reports back from Sacramento with the good, the not-so-good, how much the event actually cost versus what it brought in, and whether he’d make the trip again. Plus, he survived his first author panel. IAS_S3_e28

🧛 THIS WEEK’S SHOWCASE: Tempted by a Vampire by Susan Griscom

Maggie thinks she has everything figured out after moving to San Francisco—new job, new apartment, new life. Then she meets Kian, the sexy lead singer of a nightclub house band who happens to have one fairly significant complication:

He’s a vampire.

It’s paranormal romance with vampires, rock stars, supernatural secrets, danger, and plenty of spice. Chad describes it as essentially “Twilight, but for adults. And better.”

And most importantly...

THE VAMPIRES DON’T SPARKLE. 🧛 IAS_S3_e28

Finally, Chad shares a more personal story about recovering an autographed copy of Peter Clines’ Paradox Bound that he originally gave his father while his dad was battling lymphoma—and why that particular book now has a permanent place in his collection. IAS_S3_e28

The Indie Author Showcase — the podcast by indie authors, for indie authors.

Selling books at conventions sounds simple: set up a table, stack up your books, and wait for readers to arrive.

Yeah…not quite.

This week on The Indie Author Showcase, Chad shares what he’s learned from years of selling books at conventions like Monsterpalooza, WonderCon, Creep I.E., and other events. From choosing the right convention for your genre and keeping booth costs under control to getting people to actually STOP at your table, perfecting your elevator pitch, and turning a sale into a long-term reader, we dig into the lessons learned from behind the author booth.

Then it’s time for this week’s showcase: Generic Fantasy Story by David Osterman, a former writer for The Onion.

Nate, Sam, and Charlie are three decidedly unheroic teenagers who find refuge from the real world in fantasy role-playing games—until they accidentally find themselves transported into an ACTUAL fantasy world.

Dragons. Wizards. Prophecies. Quests. Horrible deaths.

And three guys who know exactly how these stories are supposed to work.

What follows is a fantasy adventure that plays with the tropes, clichés, and expectations of the genre while still delivering a surprisingly substantial fantasy quest underneath the comedy.

Does Generic Fantasy Story successfully balance a legitimate fantasy adventure with satire? Chad breaks down what worked, what could have been tightened, and why this one produced more than a few laughs.

Plus, Chad is heading to Sacramento for the Sinister Book Fair on September 27, so there will be no episode next week. The Indie Author Showcase returns in two weeks!

The Indie Author Showcase — the podcast by indie authors, for indie authors.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gave us two wildly unconventional episodes in the same season: one turned the Enterprise crew into puppets, while another dropped them into a full-blown soap opera. Both essentially play with an alternate reality where the events can ultimately be undone—but one worked for me, and the other absolutely didn’t.

This week on Indie Author Showcase, I break down the three big reasons I think the soap opera episode succeeds where the puppet episode fails: the premise, the stakes, and—most importantly—the lasting impact on the characters. It’s also a useful lesson for writers about how to make dream sequences and alternate realities actually matter to an audience.

Then, a change of pace for the Showcase. After having to DNF this week’s planned indie book, I take a look at ElevenLabs Reader, an AI text-to-speech app I’ve been using to turn ebooks and other documents into something I can listen to on the road. How good is it? Can it compete with a professionally narrated audiobook? And is the subscription price worth it?

Plus: why AI narration still struggles with pronunciation, inflection, sarcasm, and performance—and why I don’t think human audiobook narrators need to start looking for another job just yet.

Indie Author Showcase — the podcast by indie authors, for indie authors.

This week on the Indie Author Showcase, we’re talking about one of storytelling’s most dangerous tropes:

“It was all a dream.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds recently went all-in on puppets—and that wasn’t necessarily the problem. Star Trek has done weird before. The problem was revealing that none of it actually happened.

So what makes a dream episode work? Why do some dream stories have real stakes while others leave the audience wondering why they just wasted an hour? We look at examples from Star Trek: The Next Generation and break down how the Strange New Worlds puppet episode could have kept the insanity while making the dream actually matter.

Then it’s time for this week’s indie book showcase:

📚 Otto Normal’s Monsterton: The Disappearance of White Pine Beach by Danielle Michaelson, illustrated by Simon Estrada.

Eleven-year-old Otto Normal and his mother have moved to the mysterious island of Monsterton. There’s just one problem:

They’re not monsters.

Otto and his misfit monster friends set out in search of the legendary White Pine Beach—a mysterious beach rumored to change locations. But when one of their own disappears, their adventure becomes something much darker.

The book delivers a beautifully illustrated world, memorable characters, rich lore, and an A-plot that really works. But does its nonlinear storytelling, extensive use of flashbacks, and late introduction of supporting characters hurt the pacing?

We get into what worked, what didn’t, and why character development matters when you expect your audience to care about what happens to someone.

And yes: there’s a reason nobody cries over a redshirt.

Plus, I explain why I disappeared for a week—and why I came back earlier than expected.

What do you think? Can the “it was all a dream” trope ever work as a surprise ending?

Let me know in the comments!

Indie Author Showcase — the podcast by indie authors, for indie authors.

What happens to writers and artists when AI can generate books, images, and videos in seconds?

This week on The Indie Author Showcase, Chad takes another look at the AI debate—but this time, the question isn't whether AI is ethical or environmentally sustainable. It's how human creators continue to compete in a world flooded with AI-generated content.

From photography changing painting to CGI transforming animation, new technology has challenged artists before. Art didn't disappear. It evolved. Could AI force writers and artists to do the same? Chad explores why originality, creative intent, and creating something AI hasn't seen before may become increasingly important for indie creators.

Then it's time for this week's showcase: To Dye For by Greta Boris, a supernatural murder mystery featuring Imogene, a hairstylist whose unusual connection to the dead pulls her into an investigation involving a suspicious death—and possibly a serial killer.

Quirky characters, murder, humor, a reluctant heroine, and just enough supernatural weirdness make this one of Chad's favorite reads of the year so far—and an early contender for Indie Author Showcase Book of the Year.

The AI debate continues.

After the response to last week's interview with Jennifer Milne, Chad Robert Morgan tackles some of the biggest questions facing authors today:

• Should authors use AI-generated book covers?
• Where should the line be drawn between AI-assisted and AI-created work?
• Can readers trust a book with an AI cover?
• Are AI data centers really worse for the environment than streaming services?

Then it's time for this week's featured indie book:

🧟 All Dead by T. W. Brown

If you're a fan of The Walking Dead, George A. Romero, or gritty, character-driven zombie apocalypse fiction, T. W. Brown delivers a brutal and uncompromising apocalypse told through multiple interconnected storylines. Chad discusses what makes the series stand out, the unique narrative structure, and the few elements that didn't quite work for him.

Featured Book 📖 All Dead by T. W. Brown

The Indie Author Showcase is a podcast by indie authors, for indie authors, featuring honest book reviews, author interviews, publishing discussions, and tips for readers and writers alike.

If you enjoy the show, please like, subscribe, and share. Every subscription helps support independent creators and the indie author community.

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