fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2958 ]

[ SECRET POST #2958 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2958 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 054 secrets from Secret Submission Post #423.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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Honestly, I find most conventions WAY overstimulating and exhausting. I can only table at about three or four a year, and I haven't been to a con as an ATTENDEE in years.

I kinda wish I had more stamina for conventions, since a lot of them are really cool, but most of them are just way too big, loud, and shiny for me. I burn out in half an hour. Tiny little zine fairs and craft fairs seem to be my limit.

--Rogan

I agree, tabling at conventions can be super exhausting. I have friends who are constantly going to cons and I don't understand how they do it. You need to know about it months to a year ahead of time, the costs of a table, travel costs, merchandise costs... and a hell of a lot more things I need to do before I even get to the convention that take up time.

Then you are there anywhere from 2-4 days. Talking to people all day (which exhausts me since I'm a natural introvert) and not eating much because there's no official break time for people with tables.

Like I always have a blast running a table and I prefer it to being just an attendee, but it is DAMN exhausting.

Oh lord, yeah, I know/knew some folks who conned all the time. I don't know what they're made of.

I manage to get by because I am very picky about how I pick my cons. For instance, this year, the only two I know for certain I'll do is a small comics con that I've done well at four four years running, and where the tables are very cheap. (They've also given me a free table in the past because it was a weirdly shaped, weirdly positioned one that nobody wanted, only for it to turn out everyone know associates me with that table.) The other is a DID con, which also has a free table because I'm a speaker. It'll still cost a wad, on account of being far away, but I'll be the only comics guy there and have been meaning to travel there a while.

I also only do two-day cons, AT MOST. I prefer one. The DID con is going to be intense, because it'll be for THREE. That way, I can recuperate afterward.

And I ALWAYS pack a lunch and snacks for every day I'm there. No way am I flubbing my meal plan because of a con. I need that energy!

--Rogan

I've never been to a one day convention but then I don't always do small conventions because I never know if they'll be worth it. I would love to do more small cons but my problem is I know I need to make sales to make up the costs, and I'm more likely to do that at larger conventions that are multiple day (I still haven't done HUGE conventions but those are the ones you need to book well in advance so I haven't gotten the chance yet.)

Are there and cons you would recommend?

And haha I always have food or a friend who will get me some, but I still end up often not eating because I'm busy talking to people. It often takes me forever to eat because every time I take a bite, someone comes around.

Hmm, depends, what you selling?

I'm in kinda a weird position in most comic cons because I have a niche genre: educational mental health comics. So big cons are actually BAD for me, because nobody comes to SDCC to buy a comic about dissociation, you know what I mean? Also, because my comics are educational, I want as many people to get them as possible, so I sell them as CHEAPLY as possible. None of my comics cost more than $5 these days. One day, I hope to have a comic with fancy things like a spine or color, but not for a while.

Even if I were to completely sell out of every comic I can carry, I would not make more than $300. So I focus mostly on axing my overhead and getting into the cheapest cons I can, because if I only have to shell out $20 for a table and it's within walking distance, well then, I can afford to gamble. But I could never afford to go to, say, SPX. I literally COULD NOT make back the cost of going!

This means I often end up at weird little podunk cons purely because I manage to schmooze my way in at the last minute, hitch a ride, or find crashspace that makes it affordable for me to go.

Since I'm recovering from an eating disorder, I'm on a pretty strict meal plan, and have strict hours. Another system member WILL force-feed me if I try and resist. If new people come by, well, I just have to mumble at them through a face full of sandwich.

--Rogan

I mostly sell my artwork and occasionally books, I'm usually sell stuff between the $5 to 20 dollar range, my prices never go too high because I'm usually mainly trying to make back table and travel costs.

I sell fairly well, I have enough of a following that people come to conventions to see me but I haven't done anything significant enough that a convention would invite me for free (well I did get one invite once, but it was for a small convention that was rather far from me, and getting into the convention for free wouldn't really have made a difference with all those travel costs.)

I just never know where to go since I'm not hugely into the convention scene, a lot of the stuff I had recommended to me for this year I missed the deadline for, and people ask me if I'm going to cons all the time and I'm just like "I don't know! I'll try!" Plus I never want to go through the exhaustion mentioned earlier if it's not going to be worth it.

I've never been to a convention with super cheap tables though and I'd love to try one, for some reason even our "independent comics" convention here is SUPER expensive on table costs. It sucks.

Ugh, that does suck. At least I have a sort of aesthetic that the zinesters and hipsters can enjoy; zine fairs are the CHEAPEST fairs on earth, I swear. I was at one con where ALL the tables were free, bless 'em.

That was Ephemera Zinefest, which was in Kentucky and I did fantastically at, for such a short tiny con (it was maybe five hours total). MICE is my standby; tables these days cost $50, I think? That's in Boston, a two-day con. I also did SPACE in Columbus, OH. That was $50 for a two-day table, and even though I had to cough up for bus fare and a hostel room, I made all that back, so totally worth it.

Those have been my big successes so far.

It helps that I know a lot of comics creators in Boston, so I am pretty well hooked in to the New England comics con scene, and can pretty quickly get involved. (And take tables from last-minute cancels, ohoho!)

Since you're doing art and stuff, you might see it worthwhile to do more general geek cons--if you're in New England, Conbust might be worth checking out, or Paint and Pixel or MECAF.

--Rogan

Remember that I live in a tiny country XD We only have two anime conventions a year (with about 2500 attendees), and they're only one day long.
The longest convention is I think 4-5 days, but nobody actually gets hotels or anything because like I said, tiny country, and that one is more catch-all fantasy/sci-fi (with one anime day). Then there's I think one or two other small conventions throughout the year for fantasy and sci-fi.
All the cons are very small, and you really know the people after a time or two. I mean I already know who's competing in the cosplay competition, and I'd know my chances of winning were I to compete XD
It's so small that usually if you pick something even a little bit obscure you can be the only person in that cosplay in the entire convention.

I usually lecture at cons these days. This way I get free entry, but not a lot of work. Before that I used to make musicals, though, and THAT was utterly exhausting (never got any sleep at all the night before, running on fumes, and I didn't even see anything but backstage at the con, nor have energy for anything else. but it was fun)

Ah shit, I'm sorry, I foolishly assumed you were in the US too, or the EU. Dumb of me. Yeah wow, that's a totally different con environment, and really interesting! The small anime cons you describe sound pretty analagous to MICE's one-day time, far as numbers go. But I imagine if that's ALL there is, it'd be tough if your fandom's obscure. I'm not sure if there are any little craft fairs; if so, it might be worth trying.

Oh man, I'd ASSUME musicals would give you no time to breathe. I knew some theatre majors, they never seemed to sleep or eat.

--Rogan

s'ok, people tend to assume US/EU for most international spaces. I don't really bother hiding my country anymore, though.

Anime merch would never find much audience at a craft fair, and tbh most comics wouldn't either. Geekdom of that sort is pretty niche, so if you want attention you need to go to where the niche people are hanging out. You can sell decently, but probably not enough to make a real living off of, unless you manage to branch out.

Ours were all volunteer musicals... we did three anime parodies, worked on the third one for a year and a half (you can actually see it online, with subs). It was a great time, and I learned a lot, and nowadays I have no idea how I ever had the time for it XD
Imagine making a musical with a whole bunch of volunteer teenagers... with irritable parents... making them come to rehearsals for that thing they volunteered for because they wanted to do it...

Still, I feel stupid for making that mistake, when a click on your profile could've easily let me know for sure.

Yeah, where I was living, hipsters who frequented craft fairs also liked buying geek stuff, because there was a lot of overlap. It never worked for me, personally, but other folks I know were into it. (Especially if they were local.)

Wow, that sounds INTENSE. I could never manage something like that; I'd be exhausted within a day!

--Rogan

Do you have a link to the one online?

Here you go :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jUni7tokNs

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