I’ve been meaning to write up this blog talking about my first experience having a booth at a comic convention. Time slips by pretty quick but finally here’s my thoughts and some cool things that happened.
This was my first public appearance as a comic book creator and the first time I sold print editions of issue #1 and issue #2 of THE GRAVEYARD GANG!
On Saturday, day 1 of the Con, I was a bit nervous finding the venue, since it was originally to be held in the Hynes Auditorium (right across from where I work, which was postponed due to the Boston Bombing) and now I had to find The Seaport World Trade Center on the other end of Boston. But finding it and cheap parking worked out perfectly. Setting up went well too, my ‘vision’ for my booth worked perfectly. I had a vertical back banner on a retractable stand (get one they’re awesome!), front banner which I attached with tape, black table cloth, two table standup which showed the covers of the 2 issues I had for sale, my comics, t-shirts, business cards, post cards, and bookmarks. I was selling issue #1 which was 24 full color pages for $5.00 and issue #2 which was 28 full color pages for $6.00 but if customers bought both they got them for $10.00. My t-shirts I was selling for $20.00. Kudos to my wife for handling the printing of all my signs and items!
I did something different than what most artists/creators do at Cons. While most stay behind their table (usually sitting/drawing, not a thing wrong with that) me, along with my two daughters, stood in front of my table, greeting people as they walked by, offering freebies – business cards, postcards, and bookmarks (tip: the bookmarks seemed most popular by far!). Now me and my comic are unknown to most people, so it was interesting to see who gravitated towards my booth, who asked about it, and who actually bought my comic book.
My first comic sale was to a little girl named Olivia, who attended the Con with her father Nick. They hailed from Milford, MA and he had actually been looking for me since he read about me in the local paper article that was published way back in March (this was in buildup for the Con’s original date in April).
This sale was followed by others and I found that my biggest demographic was families with children, followed by girls/women. Boys/men from 13-30 were not interested, I’m guessing because of the lack of sex and violence (HA!). All in all I sold 47 copies (more #1s than #2s) and 1 t-shirt. I was so grateful to all who bought my merchandise, I hope to hear from them again!
Another big deal that happened during the Con was I got my comic to be sold in some local comic book shops! Jay, owner of Rubber Chicken Comics in Bellingham, MA came by and offered to sell my comics at his store, which was awesome, thanks Jay! I also talked with Bob, owner of Comicazi in Somerville, MA and he’s now selling my comic in his store, thanks Bob! Mike, owner of Modern Myths in Northampton, MA will have The Graveyard Gang on his shelves soon, thanks Mike! I’ll be doing a signing there as well this Saturday Sept. 14th as part of their weekend anniversary celebration! More news on my comic in comic shops coming soon!
Here’s some random thoughts/happenings:
– I got interviewed live for an upcoming podcast, I’ll let you know when it’s available for listening!
– Speaking of podcasts, Matthew who runs the website First Comic News gave me and my comic are shout out on his Boston Comic Con podcast which you can listen to here http://www.firstcomicsnews.com/?p=79089 Thanks Matthew!
– A guy did buy my comic because he was looking for something light and fun!
– More than one person thought my comic was already a cartoon show and one kind woman made a ‘prediction’ that it would one day be a cartoon on TV! Fingers are crossed!!
– A big ‘thank you’ to Jim and all the folks who ran the Con, they were helpful and patient with all my questions! A great experience, I look forward to next year’s Con!
Well that’s my wrap-up of my first Con experience, I want to thank everyone who stopped by to say ‘hi’ and I hope to see and hear from you again soon!
That’s so good to hear that your first con went so well. I love your table set up. Mine is constantly changing with each show as I learn more and more.
I love the idea of getting out from behind the table and talking to people. Did that bother other artists around you?
Thanks Kevin! One guy sitting next to me called it ‘odd’ but I think it got more people to stop and look