Today I am happy to host my first Euro Pride Con Blog tour post featuring my co organizer Marc!
Marc tells the story how we met for the first time and how Euro Pride Con came to exist π
So this is us at the UK Meet 2014 π
Hi guys,
It’s my great pleasure to be Dani’s guest on the wonderful Love Bytes Reviews blog today to talk about how Euro Pride Con came to be.
It all began with attending the UK GLBTQ Meet in Bristol, UK last June. I had never attended any convention and I don’t think I ever even imagined just flying to a different country, booking a hotel and tickets to meet my online friends. It was so out of my budget that I did not let myself even consider it. That was until one of my friends brought me into temptation and dad telling me I could use some of their extra miles, when I was sad about not being able to attend the event.
Suddenly, everything changed. There was a possibility for me to attend and I just had to take it and I did. Suddenly I was on a plane into the unknown, having bought tickets to the meet, the train and a hotel reservation I couldn’t really afford. I just couldn’t NOT do it, as I didn’t think the circumstances would be that good again. In my mind, I knew it would be a one-time deal. But I would make the most of it and never forget it.
At the convention, I met my roomie Dani Elle Maas for the first time, got the chance to meet my wonderful co-owner (Rainbow Gold Reviews) Tanja and met so many wonderful authors like the amazing Anna Martin. I had planned to chat with everyone there, but that idea soon proved impossible. However I made many amazing connections, went to incredibly interesting panels and got to officially represent my blog and my brand-new business cards before the blog had even turned one.
The thing I really hadn’t expected was how much this experience meant to me. My family and friends have been amazing when I came out and haven’t treated me any differently. My mom and boyfriend get along great and he has been invited to my grandma’s 80th birthday and has been a part of our family Christmas for the last few years. We will celebrate 4 years in April and he has been fully accepted as my ‘mate’.
But boy, was I surprised how different it felt to not only be among people who accepted me how I was, but to be among like-minded people. Not just those fellow attendees, who were gay as well or part of the LGBTQ spectrum. The fellow readers and the authors and all those fans of LGBT Fiction. The people who accepted me directly, without a question. Hugged me, talked to me about books, series, other authors, the genre as a whole, hot guys, whatever. Who picked up our online friendship in real life as if nothing had changed about our friendship by meeting face-to-face. I had expected it to be awkward to step out of the relative anonymity of the internet, but it wasn’t. Race, gender, sexual orientation, age, weight, size, β¦ all these things we are daily judged by were just seen as small aspects of the whole person. I was 23 years old back then and no one treated me like a kid, who didn’t know shit and I just felt so incredibly welcomed and safe.
No one questioned when I drooled over (incredibly nice, sexy and almost naked) waiters at the gala dinner, I got to go to my first gay club with friends who encouraged me to go a bit out of myself (with a bit of liquid courage) and dance and have fun. I learned so much, laughed so much, had wonderful conversations and deepened many friendships. I bought so many books that I almost cracked my back carrying them and had hand luggage twice as heavy as my main luggage that I finally got to weight no more than the maximum after several tries. I made memories I will never forget and that have and will shape my life and the path I choose.Β The convention changed my life… and yet I told people I would probably not be able to afford coming back. The ‘free’ flight was a one time thing and I strongly over-extended my budget. I was so sad we didn’t have an event like this in Germany or anywhere I could easily travel to by bus or train.
Only a few hours later though, I knew I would be back next year by any measures neccesary. It just was an experience worth making sacrifices for.
So, when I chatted to R.J. Scott after the convention and she told me many authors regretted that there was no convention like this on the European mainland, where they had increasing sales for their books and translated books, it made ‘click’ in my head.
The interest was there to have a convention at my back door. It just needed a madman to take control of a project like that and make it happen. I sure as hell didn’t want to sit around and wait for someone else to maybe do it someday and sadly watch everyone else have fun. I talked things through with R.J. and her support for the idea and for me was worth so much and gave me the courage to assemble a team. Make it real, make it happen.
I was a 23 year old student with a brand-new blog, very limited experience, but a lot of wonderful and supportive author and reader friends in the genre and often worked closely with different publishers on my blog. Dani Elle Maas, my former UK Meet room-mate and fellow blog owner (Love Bytes Reviews) agreed to help me, as did Anna Martin, an author in the genre and Isa Brandt, a reader of the genre. Together we had exactly zero experience with organizing an LGBT Fiction convention, but we made that up by enthusiasm and determination. We also had different perspectives and experiences, but found common ground that would make the finalized event appeal to everyone interested in LGBT Fiction.
Having the convention inΒ Munich was obviously a home game for me. I was able to meet with LGBT organizations, look at the hotel rooms and event rooms and negotiate face-to-face, meet with gay magazine editors and make sure every attendee would have things like a map of Munich with all LGBT shops, restaurants, bars and clubs written in and the event would draw local LGBT Fiction fans or those in Munich for Pride Week. We will have a place in the official Munich Pride Parade on Saturday and an alternate program of readings, Q&As and opportunities to meet with different publishers for those not interested in attending and we have the opportunity to set up public readings and Q&A as part of the official Munich Pride Week schedule, for those who will arrive early. We will also get an early warning before the VERY popular ‘City Hall Clubbing’ tickets are for pre-sale, so we can score some of those for interested attendees, who want to go out to Munich’s historical city hall that will be turned into a gay club for all people under the rainbow and supporters for one night. Being able to work closely with the local LGBT organizations will give Euro Pride Con some unique qualities and I hope everyone will have fun and learn a lot π
So, even though we are putting many, many hours into organizing it all and promoting our wonderful attendees and sponsors to signing a 17,000 Euro contract with the hotel in hopes that the LGBT Fiction community wants and needs a growing presence on the European mainland, I can honestly say that it’s all worth it. It may have been a risk to start big right at the beginning, without any previous years that would make it easier for people to KNOW we can do it. However, we are receiving an overwhelming support from the LGBT community, from readers who are finally able to meet some of their favorite authors, to local European and international publishers who support us with money and prizes and really want to connect with our attendees personally, to authors who come from many different countries in Europe and the world to talk with us about the stories and the genre we all love and to meet their fans, friends and publishers face-to-face. Even those not able to personally attend have supported us by becoming a sponsor, donating prizes and/or telling all their friends and readers about us or giving us or our attendees the opportunity to be featured on their blogs.
We may never have done anything like this before, but this close-knit community has embraced us and our idea for this non-profit get-together for LGBT fiction fans and put their FAITH in us. This privilege is very special to us and we are putting heart and soul and many hours into proving that trust was well-placed every day.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and thank you for every comment, share, mention, tweet, Euro Pride Con registration, Sponsorship, blog feature, raffle prize, donation and for every word of support. We are quite humbled.
Marc Fleischhauer
Marc is a 24 year old student in Munich, Germany who came out as gay when he was 20 and will soon celebrate 4 years in his committed, monogamous relationship with his boyfriend and loves living with him. Discovering M/M Romance and LGBT Fiction gave him the courage to go look for his own HEA and made him be honest about his own wants and needs to be happy. After helping to launch Prism Book Alliance, he branched out to start his own LGBT Review Blog Rainbow Gold Reviews. He has a very short, but hopefully emotional short story published in the Love & Hope Charity Anthology as Aaron Silver and is working on several M/M stories under the pen name Marc Green. He is one of the organizers of the Euro Pride Con and runs several Facebook Groups to help authors and bloggers to promote their posts and readers to find Free Book, Sales and Giveaways.
Contact Links:
Facebook Account: https://www.facebook.com/marc.fleischhauer.14
Goodreads Account: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/19769750-marc
EURO PRIDE CON
Email: europridecon@gmail.com
Website: http://europridecon.weebly.com
Euro Pride Con FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/europridecon
RAINBOW GOLD REVIEWS
Email: rainbowgoldreviews@gmail.com
Website: http://rainbowgoldreviews.wordpress.com
Rainbow Gold Review FB Page:Β https://www.facebook.com/rainbowgoldreviews
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LGBT_Reviews
Add our handle @LGBT_Reviews to any LGBT (Fiction) tweet, and we will likely retweet
FACEBOOK GROUPS
Guess The Quote: Test Your M/M Knowledge : https://www.facebook.com/groups/616732311713584/
M/M and LGBT Giveaways: (only Giveaways and Sales) https://www.facebook.com/groups/217759815082686/
M/M and LGBT Book Events: (General Promo allowed)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/rainbowgoldreviews/
New LGBT Releases Promo Group: (only Recent, New and Upcoming Releases)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LGBTreleases/
AUTHOR Pages
Aaron Silver: (LGBT YA) https://www.facebook.com/AaronSilverAuthor
Marc Green: (M/M) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marc-Green-Author/728990137184807
Among all commenters of this tour, we will randomly draw one winner for a $25 voucher to a book retailer of their choice π
Tour shedule
March 1st : Intoduction on Love Bytes
March 2nd: Helena StoneΒ (Author) on Rainbow Gold Reviews.
March 3th: Susan Mac Nicol (Author) on The Novel Approach.
March 4th: Antonio Rodriguez (Gay Erotic Photographer and Author) on Rainbow Gold Reviews.
March 5th: Morticia Knight (Author) on The Novel Approach.
March 6th: Monika De Giorgi (AuthorΒ and Reviewer) on Rainbow Gold Reviews.
March 7th: Kaje Harper (Author) on Rainbow Gold Reviews.
March 8th: Marc Fleischhauer (Euro Pride Con Organizer and LGBT Blog Owner) on Love Bytes.
This was just so wonderful to read and it has made up my mind to go to the UK meet. I realise that all tickets for Bristol have been sold, my fault, I ummmm and arhhhhed about going by myself, not knowing anyone, would anyone talk to me? What happens if I go to one of the social functions and I stand there like a wall-flower? I’m sure you get the picture, but now after reading this, I will go to next year’s one and book my ticket on release day to make sure I get one. Thank you, you are an inspiration.
I’m so glad you will give it a try. I really do think you will love it. It is such a warm and accepting atmosphere and the panels were super fun and interesting π We would of course very much love to see you at Euro Pride Con as well and make sure you’d have a great time <3
I know fying to another country is not quite as convenient as being able to go to a convention in the UK for you, but we do still have tickets for 2015, a great line-up of authors and publishers and I hope you will consider visiting Germany π
In any case, I'm glad I was able to inspire you to take this step. <3
Thank you for taking the time to let me know!
Sorry I haven’t got back before, been on holiday and only returned at the weekend. Germany is too a big a step for me at the moment, not knowing anyone and a strange country? I’m not that brave. But I will attend the UK meet next year. Thank you.
Wow! Thank you Marc for the wonderful post about yourself and how you and Dani setup this Con! Amazing!
I’m glad you enjoyed the post! I will host Dani on Rainbow Gold Reviews soon for an interview about her experiences with organizing Euro Pride Con and attending UK Meet. Since I saw her last June, she has attended GRL – I’m so jealous… π
Thanks Jen π
I enjoyed your post and Mark I think it is a wonderful idea to have a con in Germany I sure it will be a great success.
Thank you, Shirley. We hope that it will be and things are looking very good. It is great that this idea was met with such a positive reception.
I’m so happy for you, and I know it’s going to be an amazing event!
Thanks. I can barely wait for July <3
Great post Marc! I’m so looking forward to attending this event! π
Thank you. We really appreciate that you will do the Munich and NYC conventions back-to-back, just to be able to be a part of our inaugural convention. I’m very excited about July and it is wonderful to have you there!
I think it is awesome you are joining us Morticia!!
Great post Marc! Glad to hear your first time there you were so welcomed and felt so comfortable. I hope this year goes as well or better than the previous =)
Thank you! I certainly hope so as well. With Euro Pride Con and UK Meet coming up for me, I think it will be a special year.I’m sure I’ll get to meet even more wonderful people there.
What a wonderful post! I very much enjoyed your letter. Good Luck with Euro Pride Con!
Thanks so much π <3
Kudos to you for having the initiative to get this event started (especially being so young and a student) and to the other organizers for their input and support for your idea.
Thank you! It was a scary thing, but I’m really glad I did it. It is great that we have such a supportive community that fosters ideas instead of snuffing them out. π I’m glad you enjoyed the post!
Oh, I want to go even more now, but I am in the same position you were last year, plus I am already going to UKMeet. I will see you there. Marc, you are an inspiration for organising this event when others your age are still struggling to organise themselves. I doubt I would have been able to get something like this off the ground at 23. I wouldn’t have known where to start. I am so looking forward to meeting and so many other inspirational writers, readers and reviewers at UKMeet, and maybe I will be able to afford to come over to your neck of the woods next year (There will be a next year, because when you have done it once it becomes a firm tradition).
Good luck and I will be looking out for pictures.
I can’t wait to do this, to join in the EuroPride con in July. It’s the perfect chance to let myself enjoy something I’ve been wanting to do for the last 20 years – visit Europe again. The convention, the people, the books and the city at Pride – I’m really excited about every aspect of it. See you there!!
Great post. Marc is awesome!