vs. Emerald City 2008
First, I'm horrendously indebted to Ron Chan, Paul Tobin, and Colleen Coover for squeezing me into Fort Periscope and then listening to my pull my own string over and over and over and over again. Thanks guys! I registered today for ECCC 2009 so I won't have to do the embarrassing couchsurfing thing next year.
Greeter sales were 46, exactly the same as at Stumptown. CG sales fell, though, to 174. The positive spin is that it's nice to see the relative share of Greeter rising as I figure out how to sell it. I sealed at least five G sales with a new pitch line: "It's like if Harry Potter were making minimum wage."
I met a few folks who'd purchased G's in the past from me and were keen to see the G3 continuance, so that's awesome. I also had one all-table sale. It was a good one, too. The guy was browsing all my offerings very slowly, and this normally indicates that I've got a nonbuying reader on my hands. Just as I was about to quote my price list at him-that's my usual move-along prompt-he asked softly, "How much for everything?"
Also had a goddamn near-stampede when three guys who'd picked up Restrooms and Matrimony at ECCC2007 heard the corner of my pitch and rushed over to grab up the rest of the set. That was unbelievable. It was like Altamont, though nobody died. LESSON: I'm starting to get a reputation, so a big, flashy, prominent presence will really help to move product. I had no flaming loo this time out, due to the space crunch.
Starwatching: sold a Matrimony and a Pirates to Gigi Edgley at the very end. I gladly would've comped her, but that didn't come through the usual vocal paralysis I get when I try to tell a Farscape actor how much I loved their show. When she had a bit of trouble locating the final dollar for me, and I was struggling to tell her that she didn't need to pay, her handler immediately swooped in and donated one. Nice perk, that.
Didn't see JMS, Jamie Bamber, Wil Wheaton, or any of the other celebs around. Bummer; I wanted to show JMS how I totally ripped the G3 cliffhanger from a Babylon 5 episode.
I did see synabetic and I yelled "STEVEN SAUNDERS" at him in my best theater voice, but he was being squired around by geekmachine and her sweetie (whose LJ handle I am not certain of) and he did not hear. Steve, I've got product for you! Send me your snail address and I'll set you up!
Moneywise, the ECCC gross was about 70% of the Stumptown gross. Since there were 4x as many people at ECCC than at Stumptown, this needs to be thought about:
1) The competition for the fan dollar was super intense. There are huge names at the show, limited edition prints, sketches to be had, stacks and stacks of collectable toys.... Especially early on Saturday, people were unwilling to commit money before seeing everything. I gave at least 100 business cards to people who were shortlisting stuff on a first pass through the floor.
2) spanambula and I were working the same table. Typically I get my own space and he sets up with Periscope, and we double our footprint. This time we were both in with the Scopers. At a con where we couldn't possibly pitch to everyone, a double presence would've helped immensely.
3) ECCC has a much less indie crowd, more a Spiderman and Batman kind of crowd. People were there to see their faves, not shop for new things from weird locals. Especially early on Saturday, the congoers would racewalk down the aisles with their eyes fixed at the level of the name placards that the con had taped to the front of the tables, looking for famous folks. Lesson: put funny jokes down there.
4) The limited frontage of my Saturday table made it difficult for folks to browse, so I couldn't pitch to as many people as I usually do. Plus, normally I lay all my CGs out flat so people can look at them without picking them up. Some people are reluctant to pick stuff up at a con; that's a tiny step towards committing to buy it. Having browsables out is a great way to get people over that hump. Only problem is that browsables consume an enormous amount of table space.
I had a full table for my stuff on Sunday and sales increased slightly from Saturday even though the Sunday crowd was at most half of the Saturday one. LESSON: register early, goddammit. Which I did today.
By APE, if all goes as planned, my browsables will overwhelm my space, so I'm going to have to build something that'll display browsables above the table -- there was a guy behind us with a very nice PVC pipe framework and curtains that turned his table into a puppet theater. Maybe I'll put something together like that for APE. Jumbo-size laminated CG gags and selected Greeter panels that fit together like a trailer might be the way to go there, with some kind of arcade-game marquee directly overhead. Maybe 12V xmas tree lights too. Call it the Comfort Cathedral or something.
So the spring con season is pretty much over. I'll be down in Olympia next month for the Oly comics fest, but I don't have to reprint or do anything new for that show, so it'll be very chill. I need a tiny vacation from comics. Not a long one, tho -- the G4 script needs to be finished, and from the sound of it I'll have three new projects debuting at APE -- G4, plus another Comfort Guide, plus a minicomic that spanambula and I have been talking about for awhile.
Speaking of artists -- thanks so much to spanambula, porkshanks and Kat the Greeter Artist for working on my stuff. I really really really love selling comics at conventions, and without you guys none of this would've happened at all.
Greeter sales were 46, exactly the same as at Stumptown. CG sales fell, though, to 174. The positive spin is that it's nice to see the relative share of Greeter rising as I figure out how to sell it. I sealed at least five G sales with a new pitch line: "It's like if Harry Potter were making minimum wage."
I met a few folks who'd purchased G's in the past from me and were keen to see the G3 continuance, so that's awesome. I also had one all-table sale. It was a good one, too. The guy was browsing all my offerings very slowly, and this normally indicates that I've got a nonbuying reader on my hands. Just as I was about to quote my price list at him-that's my usual move-along prompt-he asked softly, "How much for everything?"
Also had a goddamn near-stampede when three guys who'd picked up Restrooms and Matrimony at ECCC2007 heard the corner of my pitch and rushed over to grab up the rest of the set. That was unbelievable. It was like Altamont, though nobody died. LESSON: I'm starting to get a reputation, so a big, flashy, prominent presence will really help to move product. I had no flaming loo this time out, due to the space crunch.
Starwatching: sold a Matrimony and a Pirates to Gigi Edgley at the very end. I gladly would've comped her, but that didn't come through the usual vocal paralysis I get when I try to tell a Farscape actor how much I loved their show. When she had a bit of trouble locating the final dollar for me, and I was struggling to tell her that she didn't need to pay, her handler immediately swooped in and donated one. Nice perk, that.
Didn't see JMS, Jamie Bamber, Wil Wheaton, or any of the other celebs around. Bummer; I wanted to show JMS how I totally ripped the G3 cliffhanger from a Babylon 5 episode.
I did see synabetic and I yelled "STEVEN SAUNDERS" at him in my best theater voice, but he was being squired around by geekmachine and her sweetie (whose LJ handle I am not certain of) and he did not hear. Steve, I've got product for you! Send me your snail address and I'll set you up!
Moneywise, the ECCC gross was about 70% of the Stumptown gross. Since there were 4x as many people at ECCC than at Stumptown, this needs to be thought about:
1) The competition for the fan dollar was super intense. There are huge names at the show, limited edition prints, sketches to be had, stacks and stacks of collectable toys.... Especially early on Saturday, people were unwilling to commit money before seeing everything. I gave at least 100 business cards to people who were shortlisting stuff on a first pass through the floor.
2) spanambula and I were working the same table. Typically I get my own space and he sets up with Periscope, and we double our footprint. This time we were both in with the Scopers. At a con where we couldn't possibly pitch to everyone, a double presence would've helped immensely.
3) ECCC has a much less indie crowd, more a Spiderman and Batman kind of crowd. People were there to see their faves, not shop for new things from weird locals. Especially early on Saturday, the congoers would racewalk down the aisles with their eyes fixed at the level of the name placards that the con had taped to the front of the tables, looking for famous folks. Lesson: put funny jokes down there.
4) The limited frontage of my Saturday table made it difficult for folks to browse, so I couldn't pitch to as many people as I usually do. Plus, normally I lay all my CGs out flat so people can look at them without picking them up. Some people are reluctant to pick stuff up at a con; that's a tiny step towards committing to buy it. Having browsables out is a great way to get people over that hump. Only problem is that browsables consume an enormous amount of table space.
I had a full table for my stuff on Sunday and sales increased slightly from Saturday even though the Sunday crowd was at most half of the Saturday one. LESSON: register early, goddammit. Which I did today.
By APE, if all goes as planned, my browsables will overwhelm my space, so I'm going to have to build something that'll display browsables above the table -- there was a guy behind us with a very nice PVC pipe framework and curtains that turned his table into a puppet theater. Maybe I'll put something together like that for APE. Jumbo-size laminated CG gags and selected Greeter panels that fit together like a trailer might be the way to go there, with some kind of arcade-game marquee directly overhead. Maybe 12V xmas tree lights too. Call it the Comfort Cathedral or something.
So the spring con season is pretty much over. I'll be down in Olympia next month for the Oly comics fest, but I don't have to reprint or do anything new for that show, so it'll be very chill. I need a tiny vacation from comics. Not a long one, tho -- the G4 script needs to be finished, and from the sound of it I'll have three new projects debuting at APE -- G4, plus another Comfort Guide, plus a minicomic that spanambula and I have been talking about for awhile.
Speaking of artists -- thanks so much to spanambula, porkshanks and Kat the Greeter Artist for working on my stuff. I really really really love selling comics at conventions, and without you guys none of this would've happened at all.