Yes, it has been another looooong while since my last blog, but I’ve been busy with both art, comics, and life issues. It took a reminder from a fan at Wondercon (who I first met in 2019), to help guide me back to both my email newsletter, and this column. Also with being recently unemployed in February, I found more time in-between job-searching to work on my penultimate issue of Cosmic Force, and set-up in-store comic shop signings during the week, which I will explain in more detail with two conventions I will be exhibiting at:
First: Wondercon 2023: This event’s second year back since returning from its two-year Co-vid absence back in April 2022, proves that you can’t predict customer behavior, no matter how much you try. Coming into the show a few weeks ago, I had a sense that my placement at the front of Small Press would have more consistent traffic that the back rows, which turned out to be true. However, I also participated in a convention vendor “Swag Hunt,” which gave attendees the opportunity to visit several artist booths throughout the show floor, have their playing cards checked by each artist/creator, and given a free prize (I gave out custom postcard magnets featuring the Damn Tourists outside of Wondercon). I was next to another artist friend who also participated in the game, which guaranteed traffic to my booth whenever people stopped by his. This is where the customer behavior predictions come in: My prediction was that people coming by my table would not necessarily sample or purchase books while I check my booth off their cards, but that passers-by would be intrigued by the people already at my booth and also stop by to browse my books and possibly make a purchase. This turned out to be false, as many players were focused on the game and not what was on my table (which is understandable since it is a new concept for the show). This behavior changed a little bit on Sunday the last day, with some book sampling and even a sale. Two different strategies I made at my table in terms of book sales: #1: Pushing book bundle deals for my comics such as a 2 for $10 deal for purchasing Damn Tourists issues 1 and 2, which run for $8.00 each. My main reasoning for this was that the first two issues take place in the same setting (Hawaii), making both books serve as a jumping-off point into the rest of the series instead of just the debut issue. #2: Re-introducing my sci-fi Cosmic Force series to this show only. Ever since returning to conventions last year, I decided to focus on promoting and selling just Damn Tourists, which had proven to sell much better going back to 2019 and 2020 shows (especially me selling out of all copies at Amazing Comic Con Aloha in Hawaii back in February 2020). In order to do that, I needed to end Cosmic Force (currently at six issues) in eight issues. Since the writing and illustration of the final two books would take another year or so to complete, I decided to take limited trade paperback copies to the show (CF Volume one: Issues 1-4, CF Volume Two: Issues 5 and 6, and a five-part Character prequel book called CF: The Before Times). I also did a bundle deal, charging $40 for purchasing all three trades, which run from $10-$20. In addition, I had a second retractable banner made that better advertised my company name, real name, and creative title at the top of the banner, bathed in my signature orange look. While sales were lower for me than last year, I still stayed at my sales threshold from Wondercon 2017, which made me satisfied with the show overall, and staying in Small Press, which historically doesn’t get as much traffic as Artist Alley with SP at the back hall of the show. However, the small traffic that comes by tend to make large purchases, and are more comfortable with the area not being shoulder-to-shoulder, as an area can get too crowded to the point that people don’t want to stop at tables. I’ve been in Wondercon Small Press since they first moved to Anaheim back in 2012, and while the area started getting low traffic once it was moved away from AA in 2017, I’ve always ended up doing well in SP overall, and MUCH better than other two-and three day Southern California shows. Who’s to say that I would do better in Artist Alley? Who knows? I could end up doing worse.
Second: CARTER COMICS’ FOUR APRIL APPEARANCES: Originally, my 2023 convention circuit was going to start slow, with one convention each month from January to April. Then the January show in Pasadena conflicted with a trip I was taking to visit a friend so I rolled over my table payment to the next year. February took me to Simi Valley Toy and Comic Fest (which I had done once before back in February 2020). March was all about the big show Wondercon of course, and April was just set to be about my fourth appearance at Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con. Then three fantastic opportunities popped up: The Comic Arts Professional Society organization that I belong to, sent an application link to be a vendor at Ana-Con, a small library convention in Anaheim happening in the middle of April. Then a cold email to The Comic Bug shop in Culver City to ask about doing an in-store signing was answered with a date, hours, and location confirmation to happen a few days before Ana-Con. Finally, I successfully rescheduled a shop signing at Hi De Ho Comics in Santa Monica a week after Ana-Con that was originally set for late February, but was cancelled due to me having to report for Jury Duty. So in preparation, I restocked quickly on the issues of Damn Tourists that I sold at Wondercon. It will be interesting to see just how many sales are made before I head out to Vegas at the end of the month. I have done Ana-Con before, which brings in alot of families for a small free event (for attendees and vendors), but I had a mix of my Damn Tourists and Cosmic Force books, so I didn’t have a clear idea on what folks were interested in. This time, I’ll just take the Tourist books, which will hopefully go over well with parents despite the name (Realistically in 2023, Damn is a pretty tame curse word, though I can jokingly call it ‘Darn Tourists for that day). In terms of the shop signings, I have done two of them back in 2015 in Culver City and Hollywood. Both of the upcoming signings are on Wednesday afternoons, which tend to get the most shop traffic for new book releases, with that same traffic being mostly people working in the area, rather than living nearby. I was confirmed of this for Hi De Ho Comics, but I’m not sure if that’s also the case for Culver City. I’ll email them about that as the event gets closer.
So, I think that’s more than enough going on for the month of April. While it was good to have all that rain and snow to help out with the California drought, hopefully we can have a bit of a break from that for awhile with all the driving to events that I’ll be doing in the next few weeks (and especially the 5-hour drive to Vegas and back). I promise to be back here next month to discuss the results of all these shows, as well as mention news for any upcoming events for May. Until then!