Did you know it’s possible to go out for the day, and have it result in an invitation to be the featured author at a major convention? It happened to me…but it’s not as easy as it sounds.

Last summer, I released a mermaid book series. When I discovered that a group of professional mermaids I knew from social media were going to be a few hours away, performing at a Renaissance Fair, I decided to take the day to drive down to meet them in person.

Before the weekend, I made sure to reach out to them to let them know I would be coming to the event with my book, and that I’d have my camera for photos and video, as well as do some live broadcasting for my fans, if that was okay with them.

While there, I was as helpful as possible to them, doing photos, videos, and several live broadcasts, which they then had access to after I left. We stayed in touch and I invited them to appear in a week-long live broadcast series I was doing for my mermaid books. And, at the end of it, they invited me to be their featured author at Mer Magic Con, which took place this past February!

At the convention, I was able to speak on a panel, have full access behind the scenes, where I got exclusive footage to show my fans, made great business connections, did a book signing, and even had the opportunity to interview the man who created many of the Disney characters I grew up loving.

I turned a one-day trip to a Renaissance Faire into an ongoing relationship with a group of fabulous people, and an appearance at a major east coast mermaid event that boasted hundreds of attendees, received major world-wide news coverage, and landed me enough business connections to keep me busy for a very long time.

Finding a niche event to attend that was connected to my books helped me advance my writing career in so many ways, and this isn’t the only time I’ve done it. I’ve also made sure to attend niche-specific events to go with several of my other activities as well, and all of those have yielded some incredible opportunities for me, from mermaids at a Renaissance Faire, to a steampunk festival, to a candy factory tour.

I keep getting asked back to do more presentations and speaking engagements related to my books simply because I took an interest in showing my fans a brand that had similar vibes to something in one of my stories, and you can do it too! Look for opportunities to let your fans experience something through you, and make friends with the business and brands you meet along the way.

K.M. Robinson is a young adult author and professional social media strategist who has been interviewed by Facebook for her innovative work in the field of social media marketing and messenger bots. She’s also represented the USA in a major live broadcast for World Social Media Day, as well as sponsored for her work in marketing through live broadcasting.