Clare C. Marshall's Blog, page 8

Anime North 2018 Post Mortem

My last of 3 shows in 30 days, complete! Now I can relax….sort of! More like, now I have a month to catch up on all the client work I’ve been juggling, plus work on my next book (Darkness In Her Reach). I finally feel like I’m returning to some kind of (relative) normal. Is this what May is going to be like for me, forever?

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.
General Impressions

I’ve been on the waitlist for Anime North for a year and a half and I was offered a table in the merchandise section a couple of months before the convention. Now, I’d much prefer to be in artist alley, but I took the expensive booth just to get my foot in the door. I hadn’t done a Toronto show yet, and I’d like to do more Ontario shows in general, just to continue spreading the brand across the country. I’ve done well in Calgary, I’ve done well in Nova Scotia (where I’m from) and now I need to bulk up Central Canada.

But May was a crazy month. Since late March, I’ve been working non-stop, including most weekends, juggling all my client work and my Faery Ink Press work too: getting The Emerald Cloth ready for release and doing three big shows in a month with only a week and a half of “rest” (aka, work) in between, PLUS getting a cold—my body can only take so much!

This is the life I chose, though. So I worked, worked, worked, and hopped on a plane to Toronto, a place I haven’t been in eight years, since I graduated Humber College and started my publishing career.

Location

What I imagined and what the show ended up being were two very different experiences. With all the regulations and the rules, I was expecting an experience closer to my craft shows: hands-on staff, fire marshals running around, friendly creative entrepreneurs. Instead, it was closer to my larger comic con experiences (get in, set up, get that show on the road). It was also the VERY FIRST TIME I was asked to verify my identity upon check-in. So…good on you, Anime North.

I was fortunate enough to have HELP for this convention! I rolled up to the building in style with my friend Brianne and her partner, Jake. YAY. There were no table numbers on anything, nor did I receive a map, so I had to ask exactly where my spot was. Set up, otherwise, was painless and took far less time than I expected.

Because I was in the dealer’s area, I had a 10×10 space with pipe and drape. And a table that had NO space on either side to enter or exit. So, like in Edmonton, I had to CRAWL beneath my table to get in and out. I basically only brought dresses with me to this convention, so that was also fun.

Display

Nothing new here! Basically just copying what I’ve done for the past few cons.

I’ve seen people sharing my links around in response to those looking for unique ways to display their products! I will say, I’ve had this nesting wooden box set for a year now, and it’s taken quite a beating. The new shelving set my sister made has different paint that doesn’t scrape as easily, but still, you put wood in a suitcase and give it a tumble, and it will eventually break. The good thing about it is it’s relatively durable, in that it can hold the weight of my books, and they’re lightweight—when they’re empty, I can lift them easily. Remember that I put all of this in my suitcase!

We’ll be rolling out a smaller set of boxes for the next few conventions, which I think is better for book display.

Sales

I exceeded my minimum target for the con, though I was hoping to sell more! As I predicted, most of my sales were for single first books. The Violet Fox and Stars In Her Eyes were nearly neck-and-neck, but The Violet Fox beat out Stars In Her Eyes this time—in fact, it sold out! Fortunately it was within the last few hours, but still, I probably could have brought 10 more and sold them all. I even sold far more Violet Fox bundle sets. I expected more sales of the Sparkstone Saga, just for the artwork, which was admired by many, but I think the fantasy just beats out the science fiction with this crowd. The Violet Fox is really selling well, I need to remember to always bring way more than I expect so that I stop selling out!

Also, FYI, apparently DreamPayments is shutting down effective early July – that’s the news that’s been flying around the Facebook groups, in any case. Very glad I didn’t jump ship from Moneris a year ago!

“I’m out of money”

A familiar chorus that I’ve heard before—mostly, from Otafest. I haven’t done enough anime shows to know if this is a theme specific to anime, but so far, it seems that way. I had a woman at the end of the day who really wanted a copy of The Violet Fox but told me apologetically three times that she’d already exceeded her budget. I was pretty cranky for reasons I’ll get into below, so all I said was, “Okay.” My usual quip is, “I take credit and debit.” But I was really tired and very “over” anyone’s excuses. Either they want it then or they don’t. People give excuses to alleviate social anxiety, but I wasn’t interested in saying “That’s okay” a thousand times over to assuage guilt.

Neighbours

I’m usually pretty lucky with neighbours. They’re either quiet, or we become friendly with each other. And you have to in this business—you’re about to spend three or four days, sometimes 12 hours a day, with them.

After I set up, I noticed my neighbour had waifu pillowcases hanging like a backdrop behind cartons of comics. The chest areas were covered with pieces of paper. I thought, “Okay, interesting, I kind of wish that wasn’t there, but my display is pretty great and that’s all that matters.”

It wasn’t until later that I realized he didn’t just have waifu pillowcases, but erotic comics and collections, organized in white cartons—and that that was his business.

Hmm, I thought. Everything is covered, and it IS an anime show—you wouldn’t see this at a Fan Expo convention, at least not so blatantly advertised—so it shouldn’t be a problem. Sellers with adult content have a lot of rules to follow, and it seemed from our initial conversation that he was following them. After all, people who buy erotic content are generally decisive. They go there, they pick out what they want, they complete the transaction, and then they leave—usually discreetly.

During my conversation with the seller, a direct middle-aged man, he said, “We’re pretty loud. If we’re too loud, just tell us and we’ll quiet down.”

In my mind, I was thinking, we all have to talk loud just to be heard over the din, but I politely said sure, no problem.

Then the con started—and I began to hear what he meant by loud. He started carnival barking, “Step right up, get your smut!” and “We have hentai, we have yaori!” and “Ladies, you need some men in your life!” (yeah…..that was unfortunately one of his lines) and various other things. After about five minutes of this, I looked at him and said, “Yes, that’s pretty loud.”

“I warned you,” he said, shrugging. “We have to sell.”

“Do you know what I sell?” I said, pointing to my banner that clearly read, “Young Adult Fiction Publisher.”

“Uh…romance?” he guessed.

“It’s teen fiction,” I said. “Young adult means teens. Adults buy it too, they have the buying power, but there’s going to be kids here.”

He got the idea and quieted it down after that. There was always a crowd around his table—no carnival barking necessary to sell what he’s peddling! And to be fair, whenever the teens from my table started eying his wares, he told them they needed ID and chased them away.

He also said that he would help me move if I didn’t want to be next to him. There was a vacant spot across from me, inviting me to switch. I considered it thoughtfully as I made my sales on Friday.

Ultimately though? It didn’t matter. I sold exactly what I expected on Friday—maybe even a little more—and so I decided I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of moving. My display was attractive enough. His waifu pillow cases might draw the eye and earn some giggles, but the attendees were genuinely interested in my wares too. I was in a good spot and I wouldn’t give it up.

Saturday went fine. My sales were strong (even though I wanted to sell more Sparkstone Sagas!) and I got along with the neighbours. Things were looking up. I could do this.

On Sunday though, the energy changed. No matter how much caffeine I drank, it only fogged my brain and filled my bladder. It’s not an exaggeration to say that my soul was tired. Doing these shows takes tremendous energy—energy I have in abundance. But this weekend, whether it was because of the number of shows I’ve done in the last month, or the constant sexualisation of women for capitalistic consumption, or all the client work I have to do, or all of the above, I felt defeated.

At some point, the neighbour struck up a conversation with me—he invited his customers to haggle with him, which was part of his sales strategy that I was admiring.

“Sometimes you have to challenge them a little,” he said to me.

I don’t disagree with the sentiment. “Sure,” I said.

He continued, and made a strange comparison: he likened being an aggressive salesman to dating a man who is confident and desirable versus dating a man who begs all the time and is weak.

I didn’t think this conversation was appropriate. I really didn’t know what to say. After two days of straight stimuli bombardment, I was beyond tired. “They buy or they don’t,” is all I could think of.

“Yes, but,” he said, “you prefer the guy who challenges you a little, right?”

I mulled over this, because again I was struck dumb. What did he just say to me? Why did that make me feel so weird? Only a few minutes later did my brain really decipher the words: by making an assumption about who I’m attracted to and trying to discuss it, he was crossing a professional boundary. This was not a conversation that I wanted to have. It made me feel sexualized and uncomfortable. Remember: my fellow table neighbours are my co-workers. If this were in an office space, that interaction would be inappropriate too. After all–my preferences are no one’s business, certainly not his.

Later, a cosplayer had an interaction with the neighbour—I witnessed many cringe-worthy interactions over the weekend—but this one in particular left a sour taste in the cosplayer’s mouth, for they walked away, muttering under their breath, “I would never buy my porn from that [bleeping] misogynist anyway.”

And then I was like: Holy mackerel. You are totally right. He has been inappropriate to me, to a lot of people, all weekend, and I have put up with it to be “nice” at the cost of my well-being. And you know what? Just because he was polite to me, just because we had some pleasant conversations, that doesn’t excuse his other behaviour. This isn’t the Sims. A relationship isn’t a point system in a thermometer, where good behaviour = increase and negative, inappropriate behaviour = decrease.

Things slowed down considerably towards the end. When it was time to pack up, I began my routine: piling books, readying them for the inventory process. The neighbour then struck up a conversation with me by asking, “Can you be arrested in Canada for calling someone by the wrong pronoun?”

It spiralled from there, everyone. It went from a discussion about pronouns to, well, about where you would expect, with him saying such gems as, “Well if that’s true, then I can say I’m six-five and Chinese!” and “Well looking like you do right now, of course I’m going to assume you’re a woman!”

I was really upset. All I wanted to do was leave. One thing was clear now that I couldn’t deny: he was inappropriate, and I had to report him.

He left, and I finished packing, and I steeled my nerve and marched to the vendor check-in table, which was within view of my table. I wasn’t even sure what to say when I went over there. Am I going to sound dumb? What am I complaining about exactly? Is me feeling uncomfortable “enough” to complain about?

It was enough, though. My feelings matter, because I am a human being, and that in itself has inherent value.

Despite my trepidation, the words came to me as I spoke to the staff there—one of them was a woman who placed the vendors. As soon as she said, “I completely understand. I’ve been dealing with men speaking over me all weekend,” I felt so much better. Granted, there was “nothing she could do” because the convention was over and he was gone, and “had I come earlier, maybe something could have been done” (what though? I’m not going to risk his anger when I’m in the middle of doing my job and potentially lose my own nerve), except “ensure I’m not next to him next time”—I couldn’t help but think, what about the NEXT person who finds him distasteful? Why are we dealing with band-aid solutions instead of more decisive surgery?

Speaking up about it did soothe my frustration, but writing about it again has me angry. Even waiting a week and coming back to this does nothing to ease the wound. Even a MONTH later, writing THIS sentence, editing this post, my stomach is in knots. Sam and I recorded a Calgary Expo Post Mortem a month ago and I’ve finally released it for the podcast, and going back through it, I even hear stories from my own mouth about how I was treated that make me cringe.

Since I have decided to chronicle my experiences as a creative entrepreneur selling her own works in this environment, I guess it’s inevitable that I’d end up writing an account of harassment and bigotry. But just because something is inevitable, doesn’t mean it’s ignorable. Writing about negative or traumatic experiences is tough because I didn’t want to be perceived as using them to sell books. But I’ve also come to realize that NOT writing about them is obscuring the full truth of my experience. This business of making things and handselling them is HARD, everyone. Sometimes I feel like an eroded island as ships pass in the night. This is not the first time I’ve had to deal with harassment – last year at Calgary Expo, I had to deal with an even worse harassment incident that I recently spoke about on the podcast. I decided to write about this one because it’s the first time I’ve had a bad neighbour experience on this level, but also as a reminder to my future self: This is your workplace, your feelings have value, and therefore it is okay to speak up if you feel uncomfortable.

Good Friends!

I was very lucky to be able to stay with my friend Brianne and her partner, Jake!

They were incredibly hospitable—Brianne even made me LUNCHES! I don’t think I’ve ever eaten as much as I did in Toronto. I’m very used to foraging for food, even at home, eating a little when I feel hungry, but I enjoyed so much good food when I was in Toronto! I was ready to hibernate afterward.

Also, check out this 10pm ice cream – peanut butter cups in vanilla and chocolate ice cream sprinkled with Reece’s Pieces and dark chocolate!! Now, normally I try to avoid eating after 8 or 9pm because of my weird digestion, but I could not pass up this ice cream opportunity.

The day after the convention, we strolled around downtown Toronto, went to many craft stores and even the Harry Potter store! It was nice to talk business and creativity with Brianne—she’s seriously talented, everyone. Click through and look at her paintings. And yes – those are her PAINTINGS.

I really appreciate that they not only allowed me to stay but also for all their help during the weekend!! Thank you so much!!! YAY!

Will I Go Back?

Yes, I think so. I exceeded my Ottawa numbers (just barely), though I paid for an expensive spot just for the privilege of attending (and being harassed). So next year I might see about getting a much cheaper (and more appropriate) spot. What I love about anime shows is the devoted fan base—I didn’t get to do Otafest this year, yet I had SO MANY people who’d seen me at Otafest come up to me at Calgary Expo and buy.

Time to rest up and prepare for my very first show in Montreal!

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.

Ottawa Comiccon 2018 Post Mortem

Once again, I squeezed all my client work into about ten days before departing for Ottawa. I’ve never been busier. I am really looking forward to some down time in June (if that happens – who knows!). I’m juggling a lot of balls right now. On top of that, the con crud got to me. I think I’ve been resisting it since Calgary Expo. Doing a lot of cons in close proximity really takes a toll on your health. So right now, I’m just plowing through work and organizing everything for Anime North. It never, ever stops.

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.
General Impressions

My second time in Ottawa! And overall, a much less stressful visit, compared to last year. I got off the plane, made my way to the EY Centre, dropped off my heavy bags and picked up my badges, did a partial set-up, and then ubered to my cousin’s place. We had a nice Thai dinner and caught up, and then I settled in with my two new best friends, this sibling duo known as Gower & Bip.

Unfortunately I was not here just to see kitties, I was here to sell books, which I did very well, with my cousins’ help! YAY!

Display

Nothing ground-breaking here, but I am filling the shelves, just like I did at Calgary Expo, which creates an attractive look. Putting the eBook sign front and centre helps make those sweet, sweet bundle sales.

My new postcard catalogues arrived in Calgary the day after I arrived in Ottawa, so I wisely packed business cards for my takeaways. This worked fine—I didn’t display them, but gave them to those who asked. I’m looking forward to having my pretty postcards on the table again next week!

Sales

Friday was steady, Saturday was extremely busy, and Sunday was about double Friday.Stars In Her Eyes had more individual, one-off sales. I found that readers who spend less than 10 minutes at my table, who were just looking for a new book to read, and weren’t necessarily my target audience, chose Stars In Her Eyes as an entry point to my catalogue, just because it looked or sounded interesting enough.

I also had more people returning, asking for Darkness In Her Reach! I know, I know, I’m working on it! SOON?!

The Violet Fox sold some individually, but mostly in my Any 2 for $30 bundle. This works as a great upsell across the board—for those wishing to try both book ones, for people picking up the sequels, and for those just wishing to sample my offerings. I also had more people than usual willing to pay the All for 7 price ($105).

I employed a relaxed sales strategy—engaging those who did the double take, luring the shy onlookers in with a no-pressure invitation to browse, and conversing with the attendees with my natural friendly attitude.

Moneris reader still going strong! I’m wondering what its lifespan is—I hope it doesn’t conk out during a show, knock on wood!

Badge Scanning

So Ottawa had a new system this year. Each badge was individually barcoded, and each time you entered and exited the building, you were scanned.

Now, this system seems fine in theory—it allows them to account for vendor whereabouts in case of emergency. But in practice—it’s hard to enforce. Not every staff member was diligent about scanning me in or out during the day. One who caught me coming back in, scanned me, realized I hadn’t scanned out, just shrugged his shoulders. One person told my cousin, who’d went out for five minutes and wanted back in without previously being scanned, that “next time” she’d better hunt down a staff member if there wasn’t one near the exit if she wanted in and out.

I don’t mind cons making rules that enforce safety or improve the show. But it’s not our jump to hunt down staff members when they’re not there or not doing their jobs. We have to get back to our table so we can do our jobs. So if you have a system, it has to be enforced evenly across the board—or not at all.

Stock Prep and Selling Out

I shipped a couple of boxes ahead to my cousins (which arrived a day before the event – phew!) and then loaded up my suitcases with the rest (it’s cheaper to check 50lb bags on the airplane than it is to send 50lbs through Canada Post).

I carefully considered my stock for this show. Generally, I go back through my spreadsheet to the previous year’s show, and pack that amount, plus extra, depending on new releases and even how I did at a show two weeks to a month prior. A good rule of thumb is previous year’s stock plus 20% extra – you have to fill the table, after all.

I ended up selling out of The Violet Fox and I was down to two copies of Stars In Her Eyes. Within also sold out by Sunday, but I only brought five copies of that. Most people bought that in one of my bundle deals.

I was overly optimistic that people would buy more series bundles, so that’s why my selection was fairly balanced – instead, I should have brought far more book ones. Granted, I didn’t sell out until Sunday afternoon, so that’s not as bad as selling out on Saturday! But I probably lost out on at least $50 by not having enough copies of The Violet Fox. No joke, a woman returned to the table, ready to buy The Violet Fox, and the very last copy rested in the hands of a guy who had approached three minutes before, ready to buy right there and then. Sorry!

So, now I know for Anime North – send way more book ones!

It’s a guessing game, but you take the guessing out of it little by little by keeping track of your sales and looking for trends. Risk is the name of the game, too. Do I spend an extra $30 in shipping to send an extra box there, just in case? It might contain an extra $350 in books, but what if I don’t even make the $900 I’ve already spent making this happen? Often with shows, because you’re paying all this money up front, months in advance (sometimes weeks), you feel like you’re bleeding out. But then the shows come, and you get bandaged up and injected with adrenaline, and you feel more powerful than before. Then of course, the cycle starts again.

On top of that, there’s also your product display to consider. The more you sell, the less you have on your table, and then less appealing the display to the customer. Granted, this isn’t always the case. I was astonished at my mail-order sales in Ottawa last year. I had six books, a tablecloth, and a smile.

Then with shows like Ottawa, or anything where I’m travelling, the question is not only, how do I make a profit here, but how do I grow the show each year? As I’ve discussed with Justin Currie and Greg Chomichuk before, it takes a couple of years to gauge the show – three years, is the number we’ve settled on. Three years of data will give you enough to work with. Of course, this is assuming you have new things each year and you’re upgrading your brand and display accordingly. Three years is enough to gauge what your return customer rate is. Doing a show and thinking “that wasn’t worth my time” isn’t constructive – you have to ask yourself, “what did I do wrong, and how can I improve for next year?” That’s the only way you can get more data, discover the problem (be it your display, your products, your brand) and fix it.

I made more than I did the previous year, but the previous year I had special circumstances. So while this is the second year I’ve done it, it’s sort of like the first year. I did about what I expected to do, perhaps a little less, but only because I expected more bundle sales than single-book sales.

Going Forward

I’m starting to tangibly see the effects of continuing to show up. I had a number of people returning for sequels. I have people telling me they’ve heard of me.

Also, I’ve done three shows this year—soon to be four—and I’ve already sold 40% of what I did last year. I am due for a serious look at my numbers and a rethink on my print runs because just a month ago I was drowning in boxes, and now I’m back to just regular piles. My decision to only to big shows seems to be paying off. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.

Good People!

I was neighbours with Jailbird Comics, run by Dustin, who moonlights as a comic artist and has an original comic called H.E.L.L. about a jail for demons. It was so nice to chat with him during the down time!

On my other side, there was Celeste, who makes INCREDIBLE MASKS. It attracted a lot of attention over the weekend, and she even let me try on the elephant! LOOK HOW PRETTY!!

Thank you everyone who stopped and chatted with me!

Calgary Expo 2018 Post Mortem

Wow, another Calgary Expo, done and dusted. Just in time for the beginning of spring. It’s nice to celebrate the end of the long winter with one of my biggest shows of the year! I left feeling extremely inspired—and just a little stressed!—about the work I have to do in the next few months to get to the next level.

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.
General Impressions

I was having one of my more stressful weeks. Not only is it tax time (yikes!) but I have a lot of work coming in to the point where I really want to invest in cloning technology. More and more, I’m having to put freelance work on hold so that I can take four to five days just to do a convention—because even if a show is three days, sometimes I have to travel to get there, and I need a day after the con to decompress so my brain and body doesn’t explode from overwork.

Overall, this was a great show, and this year, I wasn’t alone. Kate’s table was right around the corner, Sam was down the aisle, my other friends were in the building, and I easily made friends with my table neighbours. Unlike last year where I was surrounded by creators who were dissimilar to me (but still awesome!) this year, I was in close contact with my friends, which improved my disposition immensely.

Location

This year, unless you specifically bought a vendor booth (~$800+), the show placed all the artists in the Big Four building. The Big Four is traditionally seen as the less-trafficked building so this made some artists upset. Overall, though, the people I talked to seemed pleased with the change, though take that with a grain of salt—I didn’t talk to every single artist!

I downgraded my large booth from last year to a small press booth. I made slightly less in 2017 than I did in 2016 (when I was in the small press section)–not hugely significant, but enough that I realized that doubling my booth size doesn’t mean I double my sales. Once you know where you’re going to land, sales-wise, it’s best to minimize expenses as much as possible. Since I only have to pay for a table at this con (as opposed to travel and hotel!) I want to maximize my profit! Your location in the con DOES matter—but I’m starting to realize that it won’t make or break me at this stage in my business, because I’m gathering a strong band of returning customers who will seek me out on the convention floor.

So I was placed in the small press section in the Big Four, in a row of books! Which if you’ve been following along, you’ll know there are pros and cons to putting all the book people together. A lot of cons, mostly—you really have to bring your A-game if you want to compete.

Display

I’d forgotten that I hadn’t had my boxies for Calgary Expo yet! I’m finally getting the hang of how to use them properly. Still have to figure out how to affix lights to them, maybe. People really responded to the full bookshelves—and as usual, I put everything on the table. I resorted to wrapping cardboard boxes again to add height for my third box—I think this helped boost sales later for the Sparkstone Saga.

Because I was on the corner, I placed my good banner on the side to capture side traffic. I can’t really say if this made any kind of difference in sales, but it did make more room behind me, and the tiger always draws people’s eye.

I haven’t created new postcards for 2018 yet, so I was giving out business cards instead. Which was fine, but not as good as my postcard catalogues. I’ll have to finish my new ones and get them printed before I go to Ottawa.

I did, however, remember to order bags before this event! Purple and blue, woohoo. I’m glad, because it rained on Sunday and I didn’t want people to get their books wet.

Sales

I had my best Calgary Expo yet! Not by much, but by enough that it was exciting. I made just under my sales at the Festival of Crafts. I think this is due to a number of factors:

a) Nicer display

b) The Emerald Cloth is finally here!

c) I was surrounded by my friends, which made me happy, which makes me sell more

d) General build-up from previous customers and fans.

The Violet Fox Series far out-performed the Sparkstone Saga this year! Not only did I sell many, many single copies of The Emerald Cloth, I sold lots of single Violet Foxes and three-book bundles of the series. As I look back to last year, I see it was the opposite: I sold tons of single copies of Stars In Her Eyes. I’m thinking this is because a) I have a new book out in The Violet Fox Series; b) people expressing more of an interest in fantasy in general and c) my display for the series was perhaps more appealing on the outset.

I even sold out on Saturday of The Emerald Cloth! Clearly I didn’t bring enough with me for the four days. I brought more for Sunday, but I was really surprised the rate people were buying into the series. I only had seven copies of The Violet Fox left!

I had more people than ever returning to my table! This was extremely exciting for me. They had specific requests for what they wanted. This wasn’t just for The Emerald Cloth, either. I had people requesting for Dreams In Her Head and Hunger In Her Bones, and even people wondering when Darkness In Her Reach (Sparkstone Saga #4) would be out. I had been hoping last year to have it out for this convention, but that was probably wishful thinking. It will either be late this year (in time for Christmas shows) or by Calgary Expo 2019. I even had people return to see if I had anything similar to Within!

I employed a relaxed strategy, since my display did a lot of the heavy lifting. You have to wait for that moment when the customer does the long stare at your stuff—then you can engage. Otherwise, I was content to be a smiling face.

A little more than half of my customers opted to pay cash, which was surprising! I had no issues with my Moneris reader, except when one customer accidentally pressed the reset button on the side!

I’ve been looking into getting an iPad and accompanying POS system. That’s the next step! Managing inventory and keeping track of sales is becoming more of a chore not only the more books I publish, but the more I have to reprint—and the more I have to send books away for shows where I’m not physically present. I think I’m a little ways from taking the leap and doubling my monthly cost (~$21), but I’m happy with the Moneris system and I want to continue using it in this aspect of my business. Maybe by this time next year? Right now, I’m cheaping out and letting my sister use Square for the Eastern shows she does without me, but it’s nice to consolidate it all so all the sales info is in one place!

One more thing—a couple of well-meaning guys said to me, “I hope you at least made back your table?” Which came off as patronizing (I don’t think they would have said it that way if I were a man). If I only made back what I spent on my table at this point, something would be seriously wrong, and I wouldn’t be doing this.

Publishing Advice

More people than ever came to my table for advice about writing and publishing. They either wanted to talk about the craft specifically, or they wanted to talk about the business, and how they could do what I do—or they had a friend who was struggling with “what to do next.” And I was happy to share advice and my personal experience!

People only see the end result of publishing—and while you can conceptualize the work it takes to write a book, it’s harder to explain the time and the commitment of continuing to show up. Many of the people in my row had two or three books. Really, that’s just the beginning of the journey. They’re just starting to have enough stock to make conventions worth the investment.

There’s no secret to doing well at these things. You have to continue to show up each year with new product, better than before. That’s it in a nutshell. If you don’t have anything new—or especially, if you don’t have the new product that your audience WANTS—say goodbye to those sweet, sweet fan dollars. If you didn’t show up—okay, well, you’re missing out on that crucial exposure people need to know who you are. And if you show up, but you’re not doing anything to combat apathy or you haven’t broken down that Barrier to Buy, then you’re not going to see the sales dollars you expect.

That last point is especially important for people starting out. Remember: it’s not their fault that they’re not buying. It’s usually not the con’s fault either. More often than not, it’s you. Your covers aren’t appealing, your brand is not cohesive, your display isn’t powerful enough, or maybe you yourself aren’t showing up appropriately. Sure—location is extremely important. But if you don’t check all those other boxes first, you’re not even going to see a baseline of sales.

To discern what you need to improve, you have to have more data. Meaning, you have to do more shows. Your location is always going to be different—hell, every CITY has a slightly different vibe! But people’s reactions to you should always be the same or similar—unless you make a significant change in your product and how you show up with it.

Also, I need to point out: I’ve been publishing since 2011, doing cons since 2013. What you see in these pictures is eight years of work, but two and a half years of reflection, change, and serious commitment. You’re not going to roll out of bed one day with the sales numbers I have, especially if you only have 1-3 books and the beginnings of a brand. Just like I’m not going to roll out of bed with the sales numbers of someone with double my brand power and three times as many books.

Having three times as many books comes with its own set of logistics and problems. Even right now, I’m in a weird stage of growth where I don’t physically have enough storage space for my product, but I need to be printing probably double what I am currently to match the rate I’m going through runs. Not to mention, I’m paying thousands of dollars upfront for printing. It’s kind of fun to look back at a few years ago, when I was doing print on demand only, ordering 20-30 at a time, and now I’m ordering a minimum of 300 from Canadian printers and hoping that will get me through.

Each year I’ve sold more books than the previous year, made a bit more money overall—but I am approaching a point where I need to evaluate my con strategy. Doing them has grown my business SO MUCH. Not just Faery Ink Press, but my freelance work has exploded as a result. Which also means I’m squeezing all my client work in between travelling and con time (thank you clients for being so patient with me). Probably by the end of the year, I’ll have to reflect where I want my business to go, and adjust course accordingly—but all course changes require calculated leaps.

And yes, yes, I should do panelling, I’ll do it next year!

Good People

Spent time with my artist friends at the Pin Bar on 17th (thanks Panel One for throwing a party!) and met some new people as well! My table neighbours were Low Five Productions, a collection of comic artists & writers. Thanks Jazz, Jose, Ethan, James, and probably other guys whose names I can’t think of at the top of my head for being great neighbours!!

Also, got to chatting with Stephen, aka S. K. Aetherphoxx – another author in the row. His books are real pretty! Looking forward to reading his first one.

Make It! Calgary Spring 2018 Post Mortem

This is my first show of 2018. It’s supposed to be spring, but no, it’s still winter here in Calgary. We had a snowstorm over the weekend so it was miserably cold. I’ve been busy with parent visiting, getting the Emerald Cloth ready, and juggling client work that it’s hard to believe it’s April already. Today, the day I’m publishing this post, is probably the first “normal” work day I’ve had in at least two weeks.

Also, the Emerald Cloth IS HERE! I wasn’t sure if it would come this early, in time for this show—but I’m glad it did…at 8:45am on Thursday. Yes, yes, Mr. Fedex, it is not a mistake, I DID order 24 boxes to a residential address. Don’t mind me, my still-wet shower hair is just freezing from having to go outside to help unload. Looks so pretty though! YAY.

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.
General Impressions

Make It is a new-ish craft show company with spring and holiday shows in Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. I think I found out about them during my bouts of searching for shows. They have a youthful, energetic brand, so while I wasn’t 100% sure if my products would be conducive to this market, I was willing to experiment and applied. Compared to the other craft market I did at Christmas, they had fewer rules and regulations to stress about—just show up with your product, be cool, and have fun seemed to be the atmosphere.

Load-in was fairly straightforward, though I didn’t really like that vendors had a specific check-in time assigned to them according to your booth number—especially when check-in is Thursday afternoon. I came early on the train, carrying a twelve-pound box of freshly minted Emerald Cloths, just to do check-in, before meeting Dave so we could unload the car he’d taken to work, packed with my stuff. Check-in consisted of getting my button and dropping off my heavy box. I had to ask security to show me where it was in the Big Four—I didn’t realize there were so many different rooms/sections. To top it off, there were TWO other shows happening on the grounds that weekend: a baby and tot show (which helped attendance at Make It, I believe) and I kid you not, a cannabis & hemp show.

The button was my badge for the weekend, declaring my status as a Makie. The loading dock closed pretty early too (6pm), though I think they convinced the Stampede to keep it open a bit longer. Some of us have to work! And travel across the city to get to the Stampede grounds! Seriously, the logistics of packing your product, loading the car, getting to the event, and unloading is a whole separate post.

The “I’m a Makie” button that designated me a vendor was very cute, but if you didn’t have it upon arrival each day—tough luck. You’d have to wait in a line-up (or possibly outside?) with the attendees. Remember when I said it was freezing cold? Yeah. Even though I had my button on Sunday, they almost didn’t let me in the front entrance for unknown reasons (something about another entrance…but why would I walk around in the FREEZING COLD when there is a perfectly good door and I have a perfectly good button and I got in this way twice already?).

On a positive note: So. Many. Female. Entrepreneurs! It was really inspiring to be surrounded by women my age selling products THEY created! This is exactly the atmosphere I wanted to live in and I was pleased to be part of the show.

Location

I bought and paid for a 6×6 draped aisle space with storage. I was placed three aisles from the entrance. Upon looking at the map, I was like, great, this seems fine. But people didn’t quite trek the way I thought, so it was a little while before they got to me. This wasn’t a problem for this show—I was the only book vendor, so no direct competition. I also had corner visibility!

Display

In my mind, I didn’t put 6×6 and SMALL together. I was hoping to do something similar to Calgary Expo last year with a second table displaying the Sparkstone Saga. When we arrived, I saw just how small 6×6 is. So we used my 5ft table I bought at Canadian Tire and that worked just fine. Display-wise, things were a little tight—it’s better to have a little space to allow the colours to breathe—but I got everything on there! The banner was just a little too long and with my stand-up tiger banner, part of it became hidden. I can’t not have the big tiger though—that’s a big attraction!

Also, I did a small run of Withins – so that’s back on the table! I had people asking for it and when I ran the numbers, I realized that I really missed having it on the table, despite its eternal awkward placement. It quietly sells more than I think. I have to write another horror/thriller type book so it has a friend!

LOOK THERE ARE THREE VIOLET FOXIES NOW!

On the second day, I turned around my display so I had a secret shelf to store stacks, my phone, and my drinks.

It was a cozy set up. I think next time, I’ll play with the design a bit more. I find 10×10 too big for me at this time, so 6×6 is a nice baby step up from a regular artist alley sized space.

Sales

Most people paid via credit card or debit. Again, no trouble with the Moneris. I noticed most people have the new Square tap device, and many people were having tethering issues. I’ll probably get a Square tap reader as backup, but nothing is scarier than having your technology backfire during a pivotal customer interaction! I noticed some of the customers at nearby booths didn’t want to tap, or didn’t have tap-enabled cards—another reason why I really like my Moneris reader.

The Sparkstone Saga outsold The Violet Fox Series both on individual books and bundle deals. I believe this is because the audience skewed younger at this event, and since the covers for Sparkstone Saga are illustrated and the font is bigger, parents believed those books to be more suitable for their 10 to 12-year-old. In reality, both series are equally appropriate.

This was my first show with The Emerald Cloth! Now I have equally priced series bundles (3 for $45). I’ve introduced a new 2 for $30 deal, mostly to entice people to buy both book ones, which I think will go over well at Calgary Expo.

I didn’t meet my minimum target sales goal for this show. The 6×6 booth was expensive so profits were slim. Since Friday went from 11am-9pm, I had my worst dollar-per-hour ratio EVER. It really, really did not have to be that long. It was so dead. Vendercon was happening in spades. Average dollars per day, I was doing slightly better than C4 and less than Regina. This was taken on Friday at around 6:30pm:

I was hoping to create another Calgary Expo for myself, but now I’m wondering if I’ve cannibalized my sales for Calgary Expo. I’ll have to see in a few weeks! At the very least, I exposed my brand to fresh eyes—meaning they might buy at the Christmas craft shows.

Unusual Questions

With a different crowd comes different questions! I got the standard gambit—what age are these for, can I buy them in Chapters, etc. But also these:

“What’s the difference between science fiction and fantasy?” Got this at least four times. A real sign that I’m far outside my regular crowd, where that knowledge is a given.

“Do you have a writing degree?” As if that qualifies you to write and sell your work! No less than three people asked me this. The customer is just looking for social proof that the books are good—so while the question catches me off-guard at first, I try not to let it ruffle my feathers.

For the record, I have a journalism degree from King’s and a publishing certificate from Humber College, and I’ve been working freelance full-time with many independent authors, publishing companies, and other businesses for nearly a decade. This experience gives me a leg-up, for sure—but having a university degree in writing doesn’t give you the discipline to write, publish, and sell your work on a consistent basis, as well as build a strong brand that speaks to your audience. There’s no institution you can pay that can give you that kind of experience.

“Is this for girls or boys?” I dunno, does your grandson like fast-paced science fiction set in Canada with a contemplative edge? Or a tension-filled fantasy that makes the protagonist question right and wrong, good and evil, duty and love? I never say my books are “for” girls or boys—just because my protagonists are usually female doesn’t mean guys won’t enjoy them.

“Did you write all these books?” This isn’t an unusual question per se, but it’s increasingly common now that I have SEVEN BOOKS on the table. This question always makes me think of a story Sam told me once, about ChiZine Publications. Some people asked Brett and Sandra, the publishers, while they were selling at a convention, if they wrote all the books on their table. To which Sandra sarcastically replied, “Yes, I wrote all 40-70+ titles you see, and published them under different names.”

These people are just surprised that I have “this many” books, and usually issue congratulations, and express their awe at my imagination while simultaneously downplaying their own creativity (You must have an imagination, everyone does. Are you a robot???). This whole exchange is never not a little weird to me – and a symptom of that mystique that surrounds authors and the publishing industry. Many people believe that becoming an author is something that happens TO you, instead of you working hard at it. Maybe it’s also because I’m young? I’m creating new products a few times a year, just like any other creative entrepreneur. Yes, it’s a lot of work, for sure! I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m just doing what I’d be doing anyway. You could do it too, with the right resources, knowledge, and time!

“Do you have that book that was nominated for the Governor General’s Award?” Since I did not write that book, no.

Oh, and for those keeping track…yet again, someone came to the table, and even after I carefully explained, “this side is a science fiction series, this side is my fantasy series,” they asked, “Oh, so this isn’t tarot?”

????

“No. It is not tarot.”

“It looks like it could be!”

There are four places on the table that clearly state “YOUNG ADULT FICTION.” And also me, telling you, it is not tarot.

The Crowd

I had a new category of potential customer at this show that I’m going to call the engaged browser. This person may or may not be in my target demographic and they’ve stopped at my booth. They’ve got their hands in their pockets, and they’re just staring. For a LONG time. That’s my cue to engage. So I do. But they’re not interested in engaging directly with the product, or with me, really. They’ve stopped because they’ve either a) become engaged by the covers (“No thank you, I don’t wish to read the back, I just love the artwork, it’s great.”) or b) they are amazed and/or inspired that I have written seven books. Sometimes they don’t realize that I’m the author (I think it’s time I had an “author” pin to make that obvious).

This is a symptom of a different problem I’m having. My books are brightly coloured and engaging. When you put them together, it can be a hypnotic vortex. It’s a lot to take in when you’re a passerby taking in information. When I’m in a small space, my products are forced together—less white space means it becomes a jumble of colour and words and my smiling face also trying to get your attention. It means I attract literally everyone—which I don’t necessarily want.

It really means I need a different configuration that makes better use of white space, in addition to my other display must-haves and practices.

Oh, and because I have no other place for it:

A mother walked by with two children, one of them done up with a pink cat-ears headband, pink and black outfit, and little tutu. She stopped briefly, looked at my Sparkstone Saga books with wide eyes, and exclaimed, “TOO SCARY!”

“Come back in a few years,” I told her.

Good People

One of the best parts of doing shows is meeting your fellow vendors! I was next to The Fibre Ark, who make adorable felt creations, and Laughing Sparrow, who makes pretty jewellery! I was across from Mountain Naturals Soap, Ebony & Ivory, the Devi Arts Collective, and Munchkin & Sprouts. I really enjoyed all the business and market chats we had!

Will I go back?

I haven’t decided yet. I think doing a Make It Holiday show would be more worth my time, but they’re oddly timed for me this year and I’ve already arranged many of my October/November shows, so I’d have to see. Doing a December show seems like taking a big risk. We could have a snow storm at any time!

See you all in a couple of weeks at Calgary Comic Expo!

Festival of Crafts 2017 Post Mortem

The Festival of Crafts is a large, four-day, juried artisan show located in the BMO in Calgary. I was lucky enough to get into the show and I’m happy to report that I ended the year on the high note – best sales of the year!

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.
General Impressions

This is a next-level show. I’ve had my eye on it for about a year and a half. I remember last December, Sam and I sitting in my home in Nova Scotia, she was finishing edits on her book and I was pouring over the convention schedule. As soon as the application went up, I applied.

The booth was expensive (Calgary Expo prices for the same size–around $800) and there were no smaller spaces to inhabit unless I was classified as an “emerging artist” (less than five years experience in your field). With my application, I had to send high quality images of all my products (thank goodness for Dave and his fancy camera!) as well as a personal letter about my artistic process and my past achievements in my field. I had to send those in the MAIL on a CD to Ottawa with a $200 deposit on the space. I was so thrilled when I was accepted…but then also very stressed!

They sent me multiple documents filled with regulations and rules–so much more than a comic convention–that I had to read over. I had to get exhibitor insurance, but that’s good for the year, and I’m probably at that point where it’s a responsible idea. I had to submit the names of the people working my booth so they could print them on the badges. No names, no badges. I also had a heavy workload in the days leading up to the show–after all, I was losing Thursday and Friday to the booth, not just a weekend or a Friday evening. I ended doing most of my display arranging on Thursday morning before opening.

Display

Compared to all the other vendors, my display wasn’t super great. But it also allowed me to see what it could be, and where I still have to innovate. I was looking for a kick in the butt in this department and I’m glad I got it.

I don’t have enough product to effectively use a 10 x 10 space. Honestly, I don’t need one, though as I approach 10-20 books, that will change. Plus, with books, being front-facing is extremely important to catch those introvert sales.

I will have to re-think my display for 10 x 10, and that means having more shelving, flooring, and lighting. That’s a fairly large investment – and a pain to transport and keep. Essentially I’d be building an entire mini store. If I were to do all this, I’d also like to have a stool, not a chair, so I can actually sit down at times and still be seen!

Walking around on Friday morning gave me some perspective on my own product as well. The covers are visually attractive–they draw the eye and often suck people into a vortex, even if they’re not book people. I think I can afford to have more “white space” in my display to allow the books to breathe.

So, all in all, I have a lot to think about for 2018! Which is exciting. I’m ready to take this to the next level. Display 2.0 that Jessie made for me will also play into that (as soon as we figure out how to get it here–it is HUGE!).

Sales

The traffic pattern was similar to the Expo Holiday Market: droves of people in the morning, then trickles in the afternoon. Most of the attendees were elderly women and mothers with young children. By the end of the day, be it 9pm or 6pm, it was mostly vendercon.

I had people recognize me from various conventions and events! I hit and exceeded my minimum sales goal, but I also expected more. If I’d had a middle grade series or a picture book, I probably would have made double. I’ve been thinking about doing a middle grade series for a long time now, so I may have to slot that in within the next two years. I also had a lot of people asking about Within (it’s on the eBook sign and my postcards). If I’d had that book, I probably would’ve made extra bank as well.

I sold way more individual copies of Stars In Her Eyes than The Violet Fox, however, I sold far, far more Violet Fox sets than Sparkstone Sagas. Since I have the reprints for The Violet Fox now, I’ve dropped the price, since they are non-French-Flap versions now! Still, the bundle price for The Violet Fox and The Silver Spear is $30. Next year that’ll raise to $45 when I have The Emerald Cloth out. I also have less than twenty copies of The Silver Spear print run left – so I’ll have to reprint in the new year. My storage situation is pretty limited so my print runs have been tame (around 300-500), but if I continue doing a lot of larger shows, I’ll have to increase the size of my runs. That means a bigger upfront cost, but a lower unit price.

A little more than half of my customers used credit and debit. I actually had some trouble with my Moneris at this show, but I think it was because I hadn’t restarted my phone in a while, and the bluetooth “forgot” it was connecting to the machine. Once I rebooted everything, it was fine, but it was a terrifying moment! I heard some other people having trouble with the new Square tap device–apparently you really have to make sure it’s properly tethered to your phone! All in all, I’m happy with my Moneris machine–it takes literally every form of payment (including American Express and Apple Pay)–and other than the small technical hiccups I’ve had, I’m satisfied with their service. It is still $20.95 a month, regardless if I’m doing a show. But since I only have two months (January and February) where I’m not doing shows, that’s not really a huge cost to pay for a lot of convenience the rest of the year.

Fewer than normal people returned after a sales conversation–this could be due to the fact that it’s not the kind of show you’d necessarily be spending a ton of time at, like a comic con, where you want to get your $25 worth of simply getting in the door.

Overall, this convention beat out Calgary Expo’s numbers for first place in 2017 show sales!

Long…Long…Hours

The weekday hours were extremely long: 10am – 9pm. I understand why: they want to catch the morning crowd, but allow families and working people to come in the evening. It just makes for a very long day when you’re all by yourself! Not to mention, many of these vendors are regulars, meaning they do every single Signatures Christmas show–and Festival of Crafts is the last show for many of them. Imagine being on the road for two months doing Christmas shows! Apparently one of the attendees complained to the show runner that she was tired of hearing all the vendors say how tired they were. SIGH! I can see how that would be annoying, but the days are LONG!

Good People!

As many of you regular readers know, I love talking to other creative entrepreneurs! It was so inspiring to see so many creative entrepreneurs not just selling their wares, but showing up with beautiful displays and products I’ve never seen or heard of before. Every single vendor was so nice and welcoming to little ol me!

I was across from Moose Creek, a family business that hand-makes and sells wraps and ponchos. They’ve been in business for at least twenty years, doing shows across the country, and they also do well in the wholesale market as well. I had many chats with Carol and her son Mike throughout the weekend. They’ve just finished up eight weeks of shows!

I also got to know Hayley from Zig Zag Creations, Bonnie from Rayna Dog Collars (Carrie Fisher purchased from her last year!) and Leonie from Maple & Oak Designs. Leonie had the CUTEST display, complete with dresser, clothing rack, draping, and flooring, it was like stepping into a little bedroom! Bonnie was so nice – I loved the clean look of her collars on her shelves. Hayley was really fun; there was so much to look at in her booth with her lip-chap holders, her cute little slip-on ties, and so many other useful little products for parents with elementary school children.

Thanks to all my friends who came and visited me in my booth!!!

Calgary Expo Holiday Market 2017 Post Mortem

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.
General Impressions

Faery Ink Press participated in the Expo Holiday show last year, but I did not! Jessica Corra-Larter did the show for me while I did Christmas at the Coliseum.

So this was my first year doing this show in person. I went in with really high expectations, and had an okay show.

Display

For this show, I renewed my space as a vendor, even though I was considering downgrading to an artist alley spot. That meant I got a 10×10 space, which I really don’t need! However, my location within the show was closer to the entrance, and I was one of the first authors you could find.

I don’t have many Christmas decorations. The items I used at the New Brunswick show last year, I raided my parents’ storage attic for. I went through Dave’s parents’ storage room, and found a light-up Christmas tree. I think the other Christmas decorations exist in a pocket dimension, as they usually appear sometime at the beginning of December. Within the next few years, I’m sure Dave and I will accrue more Christmas bric-a-brac that I can co-opt for holiday shows.

I had limited stock for this convention. I’m currently reprinting The Violet Fox AND Dreams In Her Head, and neither of the reprints showed up in time for this show. That was fine, since they’ll be here for Festival of Crafts (hopefully!), and I figured I had just enough to do this show. With the eight-foot table, however, the display seemed a little lackluster with only “just enough” product.

I created a small book spiral/castle display, but once again I underestimated the number of books I have to feed the spiral to make it truly impressive. Also, building it isn’t easy either, as it’s slightly different each time! I also had people straighten the spiral while they were browsing, which I had to fix. The downside of book spirals is that they can be hard on the books themselves – so maybe small spirals are the way to go.

Sales

I made about $80 less than last year, but otherwise I’m not unsatisfied with my sales. It was a decent Sunday, and per-day, the sales weren’t terrible. It pretty much lined up with conservative expectations for a 2-day con. It’s hard to attribute the cause of the decrease–fellow vendors have complained about the decline in business. It could be the economy. Could be that people are tapped out. It could be that I have the same number of books as last year (removed Within, added Hunger In Her Bones). It could be a lot of things. The only way to combat that is to focus on pleasing my existing audience. At least a dozen people asked me if I had The Emerald Cloth ready yet. April, in April! Just think if I would have had that book – I probably would have met my exceedingly high sales goal. Like I said in my Edmonton Expo post – I need to ramp up my output to keep up with demand.

Every convention crowd is different. There were a lot of families, which makes sense, since it’s a Christmas market. I also had a few returning customers say they saw me first at Otafest. People told me they’ve heard of my books, that they saw a Facebook promo I did earlier this year. They stopped by, had a chat, and some of them bought! Others approached me because they recognized me from other conventions, and they were finally ready to hear about my work.

On Saturday, there was a rush at the beginning, which faded around 3pm. It was dead by 4pm. It closed at 6pm. Even during the rush of people, there was an overwhelming feeling of overstimulation and chillness. People weren’t really interested in interacting. They were worried I was going to pounce on them and sell them something they didn’t want. Which is the last thing I want to do. Also, one cannot “try” to be genuine – you either are or you aren’t. People can sense when you’ve turned them into dollar signs.

These images were taken around 4:30pm on Saturday.

I struggled here – I am naturally friendly, and the best way to sell a book to a new customer is to have a meaningful interaction. It’s really important to respect the potential customer’s wishes, and try to perceive what they need. So I tried to maintain a healthy distance, scaled back on my assertive approach, and trusted my instincts when it came to people’s gaze. If they looked, looked away, and looked back – then I could interact. If their attire suggested they might be book lovers, then I could interact. If they looked for two seconds, and continued on – then they absorbed my brand and decided it wasn’t for them, and it was okay to let them go.

That’s hard, because that begins the downward spiral of: “I should have pushed harder with her, she would have at least taken a card, maybe she would have come back.” No, no, no. If the sale didn’t happen, you have to accept that, and move on to the next opportunity. Maybe they’ll return next time. Maybe they wouldn’t have bought anyway–maybe they were caught in the orbit of the pretty white tiger. You can’t dwell on that stuff, because it’s a distraction. You can only learn and do better next time.

I sold a lot of Stars In Her Eyes. It could be because of the book spiral, but it also could be that I changed up my pitch slightly. Jessie told me at Hal-Con that people responded really well to a simplified plot explanation, one that’s less than ten seconds. The pitch I’d been using (X-Men with aliens in Northern Alberta) is good, but it’s not enough for most people. I also led with the fact that the series is set in a fictional Alberta town.

Sparkstone Saga sets and Violet Fox sets sold about the same. Most people who bought The Violet Fox also bought The Silver Spear, as usual. Nearly 70% of people opted to pay with their card, and more than half of those people paid with debit.

Good People

Greg and Justin invited me to a ramen supper on Saturday night. Dinners, suppers, and drinks are the funnest part of conventions. There were at least six of us marching from the BMO to a ramen place downtown. I get easily turned around, so I have no idea where it was. As usual I was engrossed in a conversation, this time with Justin, about our past and current convention “expansion” strategy. The ramen, though, was so, so good. I haven’t really had it that many times, but for days afterward it was all I craved.

In publishing, it’s the parties, the dinners where deals are often made–but to clarify that, it’s the after-convention stuff where relationships are made. Knowing that there are other people like me, who do what I do, who have the same problems as I do, or have solutions to my problems because they’ve been-there-done-that–it’s a comfort to my solitary, working self.

I became better acquainted with Alexander Finbow, the director at Renegade Arts. I also really enjoyed swapping stories with Shae Proulx – it was nice to hear another woman’s perspective on selling your own work.

I wished I could have gone to the James Joyce afterwards for more drinks, but I was exhausted and in a food coma, and the train ride is at least 30 minutes back from downtown.

On the way to the train, I made two new friends. Can you spot them both?

I was also next to Geeky Soaps, a husband and wife team making geeky themed soaps and bath bombs. I particularly enjoyed their pitch about the Sorting Hat bath bombs that, as it dissolves, reveals your house colour. I was also across from a woman selling Sweetlegs. Both of these booths drew a lot of browsers and helped my visibility as well.

“There sure are a lot of authors here this year!”

Yes, I noticed the up-tick in authors selling at their own tables as well. Suzy Vadori, Adam Dreece, Katie Barron, Vince Seim, and at least one other person were selling paperback novels. I had a couple of comments about the number of local authors. More authors are starting to notice that conventions are a potentially viable market for speculative fiction. And it makes sense for everyone to participate in this market – it’s Christmas, it’s Calgary, and there’s potential for serious dollars here.

With conventions becoming more expensive each year, however, who knows how long this market will remain viable for books. Like I mentioned in my Edmonton Expo write-up, the bigger brands can weather the storm. If you don’t have enough new stuff for returning customers, if you’re unbranded, if your product/brand isn’t attractive enough–that’s where you run into trouble.

The Weird

Every once and a while, I’ll get someone approach the table and emphatically let me in on their secret belief in faeries. This time it wasn’t even a customer, it was a maintenance worker at the end of the day. As far as odd interactions go, these ones are at the fun end of the spectrum. Mostly I am surprised at people’s willingness to tell me, a stranger, their faery theories!

Will I Go Back?

I think so – there’s really no reason for me NOT to do this show again, especially since I live here. The spot I had was “reasonable” for the price, but I think I’d try to downgrade to artist alley, just to reduce expenses. The show is still young, after all, even though it’s run by a reputable company with a built-in audience. I’d love to do Christmas at the Coliseum again – and next year I’m probably going to make use of my sister so we can hit as many holiday shows as possible. Aw yeah, proxy selling!

Just ONE more show for the year – then I’m done – at least, until I start up again in March 2018!

C4 Winnipeg Post Mortem 2017

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.
General Impressions

I’ve had a lukewarm relationship with C4 since I’ve started doing conventions. Wherever I go, I can predict what I’ll make, taking into account all the various factors. This convention is the exception to the rule. I can guess, but I never know for sure, because the formulas just don’t work for this one.

Sam and I arrived downtown at the RBC Convention Centre, after stuffing her 1984 Firebird full of boxes, banners, a flat screen TV, and a large portable battery. And so began the annoying part of the weekend: parking and loading.

(So sporty)

If Hell is a place, it is perpetually loading and unloading in preparation for an event that never comes.

The convention centre itself is actually two buildings: the north (older) and the south (new). They are connected by a skywalk (or as we say in Calgary, +15s [pronounced: Plus Fifteens]) There are two underground parking lots: one on the north side, and one on the south, and are they connected? No siree. Did we park in the south, knowing that that’s where we were going to be, only to be told that we HAD to load in the north side in the service elevator, even though we were just two people with a wee dolly and some boxes, and walk all the way across the hall multiple times? Yes. Yes that is what we had to do. Did we have to pay for parking in two different lots? Oh yes.

Also when we arrived, we went to where artist registration was the previous year (where it was supposed to be), only to be told to go up to the convention floor, where we would be issued our passes. Okay. We followed those directions, and “checked in.” We were told by volunteer staff that they were NOT issuing passes until Friday morning, and we could just come and go as we pleased.

So essentially, anyone who had that knowledge on Thursday could have made their way into this public building, went up the elevator, and had their pick of all the vendors’ stuff without verification. Event staff obsessively checked wristbands on every other day, except this very important one, when apparently there were no wristbands to give.

We ended up loading in, going to Wal-Mart for extra supplies, going to back to the convention centre to drop those things off, and going home for the night, leaving set up until morning, hoping our stuff was still there.

It was: everything was fine. Thank goodness.

Speaking of the wristbands: I had mixed feelings about them. Usually conventions give you lanyards or at the very least, pinned nametags. It acts as a security measure, but also identifies you as a vendor to customers. C4 issued dollar-store level sparkly wristbands, as if we were at a theme park, to vendors and customers. I heard that weekend pass customers had the SAME wristbands as vendors—very confusing. We were essentially forced to wear this wristband for three days straight (Scott Henderson had his fall off—I had the opposite problem, I could barely get it off at the end!). Even though the lanyard obscures your outfit and makes wearing necklaces problematic, at least I can be identified.

Location

Sam and I purchased an artist alley endcap back in January for $737.50, split between us. That was the early bird pricing: an artist alley endcap happens at this convention when you buy three artist alley tables together. It’s cheaper than an actual booth in the vendor section.

Our space last year had a decent location: we got some good traffic, but we wondered if we could do better. After the mixed success Chadwick and I had last year, Sam and I decided to team up with a more expensive space, reasoning that we’d have better placement.

Then, the organizers decided it would be a good idea to put all the writers together in one section. I have mixed feelings about that practice. In theory, the reasoning is sound: book people stick together! The customer gets to go right to author alley and buy all the books! However, it also creates more immediate competition between booksellers, especially those selling similar products. You have to be the best you can be in your row if you want to compete for customer dollars.

Originally, Sam and I were bringing up the rear of this double-row of authors/graphic novelists. We were not pleased with this arrangement: too much empty space, with celebrities a thousand miles away on one side and across from the photo ops (Delorian, etc). Basically you’d have 1/3 of your booth actually being effective. Getting a good location at a con is rolling the dice a lot of the time. But after paying nearly $800 upfront ten months ago, it was like being slapped in the face. We asked to be moved, but we were not accommodated.

Eventually, Sam complained on social media on a thread of other disgruntled artists, which caught the attention of Violet Paille. The two had an exchange that began in public and ended in private, resulting in us being moved to the other side of the row, which was a better spot—the end cap should have been there in the first place. Unfortunately, this resulted in the reshuffling of our good friend Chadwick Ginther, in a move that felt vindictive (“Chadwick can be across from the Delorian. Someone has to be” were her public words on Facebook). She’s not wrong that “someone” has to be across from the Delorian, I suppose, though tables were rearranged so they faced away from it. We didn’t want Chadwick to be punished, so Sam replied via email that we didn’t have to be moved–but we were moved anyway.

I think it ended up being okay for everyone in the end (all artists reported mediocre sales/engagement), but it was unfortunate that we had to cause a stir just to be acknowledged, and we felt terrible that we put Chadwick in a bad place because we expressed our feelings publicly. He should not have been publicly punished for what could have been resolved privately between us and the con organizer.

Display

We didn’t have pipe and drape (that was not included in booth cost – it was extra – very unusual for large cons). We had three tables: one in the front, and two on the sides. And virtually no way into our space, unless we wanted to walk halfway down the aisle and through the back of everyone else’s displays, which would inevitably be impossible once everyone’s banners and chairs were set up. We didn’t want to deal with that.

So, we changed things.

We took our leftmost table and put it behind us, and set up our banners on top, and draped some boxes to create a place for Sam’s prints. This created a barrier between us and the other artists, but it was also a feature piece that headlined the whole row. We set up a shorter table to the left – you know, so we could actually get in and out without crawling under the table in our dresses. We lost a tiny bit of table real estate, but since the only thing across from us were the celebrities (a thousand zillion feet away), we maximized our corners and key traffic points, beaming content into everyone’s eyes.

I’m always a little nervous when placed by the celebrities. Regardless of the gulf between the artist tables and the celebrity signing spots, it means that my traffic is guaranteed to come in large waves. I found sales were brisk when one of the celebrities (usually John Rhys-Davis) was signing.

Sam set up her flat screen TV, powered by a portable battery (electricity was extra – not unusual at conventions), so she could do live art. The plan was to leave it running all day and play a looping slideshow promoting the both of us when she wasn’t doing art. This worked for a little while, but as we found out after the show, the kind of battery she had was more for jump-starting cars and less for powering TVs. It attracted a lot of attention, but she probably wouldn’t do it again in that way because bringing an entire TV and a battery isn’t that feasible for every single convention. She found that because she wasn’t actively selling while doing her art, people felt more comfortable engaging with her, resulting in a couple of sales.

Sam also created free colouring sheets and gave them away to all the children (and anyone else) who expressed interest. We had a corner of the booth dedicated to colouring. I wasn’t sure how this would turn out but we actually had a couple of people hang out and colour!

The two of us build mini book towers for our books, in spiral fashion (you cannot escape an Uzumaki reference Sam, we cannot, we belong to the spiral now). This works when you have a lot of stock! I think it looked all right, and I’ll play with this set up at my Christmas shows when I can put even more stock on the table. The disadvantage of this set up is the more you sell, the smaller the towers get, and perhaps the less inclined the customer is to disturb the display, to handle the project.

My poor display boxes are starting to get chipped and damaged. This is the second time they’ve been in a suitcase. Hopefully I’ll have my butterfly display for my Christmas shows.

This is probably one of the nicest displays I’ve had in a while! You know who also thought our display was great? John Rhys-Davis! He appeared before Sam while I was getting coffee, and told her that our display was lovely, and wished us a successful weekend. He was so nice!!

SAM AND I RARELY TAKE PICTURES TOGETHER BECAUSE WE ARE VERY BUSY DOING A BUSINESS!

Sales

I did okay. Better than last year, but still not up to par with what I would expect from a convention this size.

The margins in the publishing business are razor thin. Sometimes I offer discounts, but honestly, even though I’m cutting out the middle man by going direct to customer, it’s not like I’m rolling in the dough. Even when I am rolling in the dough, there are a lot of expenses that are hard to cut down on (shipping, table cost, travel cost, not to mention the cost of actually making the product).

The Violet Fox and Stars In Her Eyes were neck and neck, once again. I sold more Violet Fox bundles because of the price point. I had people return for The Silver Spear and Hunger In Her Bones, more than I expected, which was awesome. Some eBook sales, but mostly print books – I also didn’t have my eBook sign with me so I possibly would have gotten more bites if I’d had it.

Together, Sam and I were able to make some money. If I had been alone, I would not have the display power to fill the space and it wouldn’t have worked out. But when they passed around the earlybird renewal, asking for $300 minimum for an artist alley space (which would increase over the next 12 months), we noped out of that.

Cool People

When you go to a con, it’s not just about the experience behind the table, but who you meet and what you do with them. So glad that I got to hang out with all my Winnipeg friends: Chadwick Ginther, Scott Henderson, Hope Nicholson, Greg Chomichuk, Justin Currie, Nyco Rudolph, and James Gillespie especially!

On Saturday night, despite Sam’s migraine, we went out to supper with Nyco and Scott and one of Sam’s old friends, and then all of us went to a studio party at Greg and Justin’s. We couldn’t stay for super long, but I had a great time chatting with James and Andrew Wheeler (graphic novelist from Chapterhouse).

Back at the con, Sam and I were across from Chasing Artwork (Justin Currie). He always does a good business, and it was a treat to get to look at his art for three straight days! Earlier this week after the con, Sam and I returned to Justin and Greg’s studio to record their new podcast, and we also talked about Very Special Secret Business!

Also, THANK YOU to so many people who returned to buy my new books! I had way more people than expected buying book twos and book threes. I think when Winnipeg likes you, they LOVE you. Yay!

Also: there were a LOT of Adventure Zone cosplays at this convention! I counted EIGHT people! I usually see at least one or two.

“I’m just looking”

I’m used to engaging with potential customers, whether that’s saying “hello” to everyone who passes by, or with a book-related opening line, “Do you like to read?” At this convention, people were on the defensive. More than half the time, they did not want to interact with me unless they initiated the conversation. Even saying “Hello, how are you?” elicited a “I’m just looking!” defense. My instinct is to reply, “I’m just saying hello.”

My selling style is not what I would call aggressive. I am assertive in that I will acknowledge your presence and attempt an interaction purely to see what kind of person you are. If you are a book person, I might attempt to engage you with my product. If you are a shy person, I’ll let you tell me what you’re comfortable with. If you come at me with high energy, I’m going to respond on that level too. I let my customer dictate who they are. But it’s hard to tell who they are if I don’t get a taste—hence, me saying hello to you. By Sunday, I had to relax a lot of my natural friendliness and allow them to initiate the conversations just so I wouldn’t scare people away.

Because I got a lot of “I’m just looking” immediately, that tells me that there are a) a lot of people actively selling at this convention and they’re tired out b) they have a tight budget and don’t want to be pressured into a purchase. I got the sense that it’s the latter. It cost $35 per adult to go on Saturday alone, which seems pricey just to get in the door. That doesn’t include parking, any food purchases, or celebrity autographs. That’s literally just for the experience of walking around the convention centre. I saw many families there—I don’t know if there was a family pass, but I can see how a family of four on a Saturday (children under 12 got in free, but if you’re 13-17, it could cost you $26) could spend $200 in one day if they just wanted to get there, have food, and get a celebrity autograph, without engaging the vendors.

Weird Interactions

There were an inordinate amount of security guards at this event. Maybe it’s just because we were by the guests, but we had at least two security guards loitering around our table earlier in the convention, standing off to the side of our table, as if they were guarding both Chasing Artwork and us from…danger? It was a little unsettling and not good for business. I would have been more fine with this if one of them didn’t try to chat me up while he was working.

This con has its share of odd interactions. You often can’t escape because you’re stuck behind the table. It’s one thing to be engaged by someone who has a mental disability, but it’s another to be engaged by someone who knowingly takes up your time by talking about themselves and doesn’t buy anything.

Will I go back?

Nope. Unless it comes under new management – even so, I’ll have to give it a few years before I’d trust them with my money and time again.

The convention ended at 5pm on Sunday. Yet word went around that it was open until 6pm. Even though the website and the programs said 5pm, and people were already filtering out by 4:15pm. There was even an announcement near 5pm that told the vendors that it was open until 6pm. What? Five minutes later, another announcement, telling attendees to finish up their purchases. Then, another announcement saying that dollies were not allowed on the floor until 6pm. Uh, why? Sam and I looked at each other and were like, we are getting out of here, by any means necessary.

Sam retrieved the dolly from the Firebird and brought it back to the convention floor. On her back to the booth, she was told by a volunteer that dollies were not allowed on the floor.

She picked it up so the wheels weren’t dragging and continued walking.

A volunteer also came around, apparently, and told Justin Currie that his little suitcase was blocking the giant aisle with a ton of empty space. Right.

It took us probably an hour and three trips featuring extravagant balancing acts to load everything out. Everyone seemed to be using the large freight elevator. It was just very frustrating note to end on. Normally we would end C4 by going to Eastern Indian Company with all our artist friends, but almost everyone was too tired or frustrated. Sam and I got take out Indian and commiserated.

This convention is a hard nut to crack. It’s in an expensive venue downtown. I have to travel there. I have to ship books. It’s one of those things where it passes all of my litmus tests for cons: it’s been in existence for many years, it has at least 20,000 people or so, there are celebrity guests. Yet, when you go there, it doesn’t conform to my expectations, sales wise.

I gave C4 a solid two years, but there are other shows I can do at the end of October instead that won’t break the bank. If I lived in Winnipeg, I might be able to justify the cost, and spend the money to build up those return customers. But it probably would be easier and cheaper for me to just find a retailer or fellow vendor to carry a couple of copies at C4 next year.

That is, if the convention exists at all. There were signs of decay at this convention: badly photocopied programs. Bad communication. Volunteers who appeared listless—and maybe too young. There seemed to be no difference between a volunteer who was on duty and one who was off-duty, other than what was denoted on their lanyard (THEY got lanyards!). I started thinking, I hope I don’t get sexually harassed this weekend because these volunteers don’t inspire confidence or appear trained to handle that situation. That made me extremely nervous.

It’s not just about lanyards, or untrained volunteers, or badly photocopied programs. If you can’t deliver on the promised experience, people are going to be upset and they won’t return.

I’m honestly just very over this convention – it’s an excuse for me to visit Sam and everyone else. If C4 can’t resolve its issues, if it doesn’t get bought by Fan Expo or Wizards of the Coast, there are plenty of other shows dedicated to creating a community who could fill the vacuum:

Prairie Comics Festival – organized by a committee that includes Sam as well as Hope Nicholson. It’s not only free to attend, but the tables are free for the artists.

FanQuest just started last year – just met the organizer Dan the other day, and he seems dedicated to putting on a good show. I’ll be watching that show with interest.

Ai-Kon – The anime convention here apparently has a dedicated community.

Well, just TWO MORE SHOWS TO GO this year! Calgary Holiday Expo and the Festival of Crafts Show, also in Calgary.

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.

WWC 2017 Post Mortem

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.
General Impressions

Sam was with me all week leading up to this convention!

When the first day of the convention rolled around (Friday), I was already tired. Tired of the thought of having to participate in the local publishing scene for the fifth time. Tired of knowing that I had to spend three days just to earn what I could earn in one day at another event…or less.

It is hard not to be infected by a sense of hope when you enter the vendor’s room, when everyone is setting up for the weekend. Maybe this one will be different, I start thinking, as I arrange my books and my boxes. Maybe if I have a couple of drinks later, I shake off the nagging feeling that I could be doing a thousand other things instead of this.

From the tone I’ve struck here, you might think that this is not a good festival. You’re wrong. It’s perfectly fine…but after five years of doing the same thing over and over, I see through the cracks and I’m left feeling bitter.

Display

This year I faced the right wall, as I did in a previous year. It’s not a terrible spot – better than the back of the room. People complimented my boxes. Every time I use them, however, I see the wear and tear, because of the kind of paint she used. I can’t wait until I get my new display from Jessie, which has a non-stick paint.

Something I’ve noticed about my boxes is I can’t effectively monitor the display from behind my table. Every once and a while I have to ensure that the books are upright and not out of place, and that there are enough book ones.

The only issue with the table arrangements were the tight quarters in the back and between the tables themselves. It was pretty difficult to get in and out without rattling the display next to me, or my own display! It’s one way to get friendly with your neighbour, that’s for sure.

One of the things I like about WWC is I get to see people. I live a pretty solitary life these days, so exercising my social muscles and talking about creative projects is fun. I ended up taking quite a few meetings at my table, because many of my clients are local or visiting creative types. I was happy to have them sit with me since about 90% of the time, it was a quiet room.

Sales

A couple of people asked me if I do better at WWC than at say, Calgary Expo. The answer is absolutely not. The big expos and the Christmas shows–that’s where I make major money (as long as I keep my expenses manageable, of course). In fact, WWC is one of my lowest earning shows, especially if you look at per-day sales.

To give you some insight: I make the same amount of money each year at WWC. Generally I have a new book out, so people will buy what’s new. The newcomers to WWC buy the first books in my series. Sometimes old-timers will buy if they haven’t before. I only made slightly more money this year because I didn’t run my usual sales on the Friday.

Next to me, the Mythhawkers bookstore seemed to be doing quite well, though admittedly I’m a little concerned about the expenses of their business model (travelling to conventions and lugging all that product is expensive – add staffing, your Moneris fees, accommodation, food!) since from what I gleaned, they’re only doing the small book-related shows. If they were the only bookseller in the room, however, I wouldn’t bet against them.

I kind of wish IFWA’s shared author table and Owl’s Nest/Mythhawkers would work out a deal. Each year the shared author table sprawls ever larger as more people take to self-publishing, and now with Mythhawkers in the mix, the competition between booksellers seems more intense. If there was one bookseller present that authors could consign with (perhaps even with someone from IFWA who acted as intermediary?), no one would have to take shifts at the table, the bookseller could build vertical with their display, and the extra space could be used to admit more creators–new blood–into the dealers’ room. Extra work and logistics? Yes. Simple? No–change is never easy. It just feels like something has to give here.

We had a party!

Sam, Sherry, and I booked a suite in the hotel, and wow, it was great. A highlight of the weekend was touring the entire space. It had TWO bathrooms–and there was a JET TUB!

Also, Sam and I had liberal use of the robes in the closet.

SUCH A FLATTERING PICTURE

We set up a little sales table. The intention of the party was not to facilitate sales – it was more of a meet and greet. We got quite a few people that I’d met over the weekend, people I’d never met before, which was great. We had a couple of sales and Sherry did really well!

We actually ended up kicking people out at after midnight, which is probably just as well, but we stayed up chatting until at least 1:30am. My mind was buzzing with ideas so I helped myself to the jet tub for a while to quiet my thoughts.

It was my 29th birthday!

It was a very low-key day. I woke up in the Delta suite hotel room after about 4 hours of sleep, got dressed, and the two of us hurried down to a breakfast meeting with a client. Then Sam went off to some panels, and I opened the table for business.

Sam rejoined me later after our various panels for another quiet day of sales. As we sat together, she gave me a precious gift–her honest advice. I have often been vocal about my desire to “eventually” become a traditional publishing house. There is a voice in the back of head that responds to this each time, saying, “Well, why aren’t you doing that?” (Multiple reasons: lack of traditional distribution, cost, risk, etc). She gave voice to another subconscious concern: the two of us work hard to help realize other people’s dreams, so why would I take my Faery Ink Press, something uniquely mine, and open that up to others? Why would run myself ragged just for the hope of making a profit in an industry that has such a high cost, emotionally and financially, by burdening myself with the responsibility of other authors? Isn’t it enough to put the work in to realize my own art instead?

It’s easy to dismiss or be defensive when someone gives us advice–we all think we know best, that we’re the exception to the rule. With Sam, I don’t dismiss her advice lightly, because she speaks from experience. She managed ChiZine Publications for a while and I know how hard she worked. Neither of us are romanced by the idea of being in publishing for the love of books and reading.

My drive to form the Faery Ink Press brand came out of the desire to something that will outlast me–and I think that’s the underlying motive to becoming a future traditional publisher. There will become a time when I’ll have to fully own that Faery Ink Press will only publish my works OR commit to being a traditional publisher. I can’t walk the “maybe” line forever. For now, I will continue to innovate in my field and build my audience.

It’s not enough anymore

When I first started vending, and specifically at WWC, I wanted to fly my flag high to show the readers that I’m here to stay for life–that I’m “legitimate.”

I’m long over that insecurity–and yes, that’s what it is. I don’t have to go to a writing conference to prove I’m a writer, or a publisher, or to prove…anything. Guess what–you don’t either. Seeking external validation is not the answer. Don’t buy a table and flaunt your wares solely because you want to prove you’re a player in the market. Do it because you have something of value to offer. I know I have value and I have a lot of confidence in my products and my business. It’s that confidence that allows me to try new things, learn from failures, and let go of FOMO.

WWC is a good convention. For the most part, it’s well organized, and it attracts many creative people with ambitions and dreams. I read a lot of other write-ups about the festival from first and second-time attendees. They’re getting a lot out of the experience, and that’s awesome. In a way, I’m envious. I had to take the beginning steps of my writing journey alone–friends and writing colleagues didn’t come until later in the game. It’s taken me a long time to meet people who are similar and feel similarly to me. At first, I was happy to be surrounded by a community of writers. Then I sought out creators who made a living with their art. That intersection excited me more.

I see the potential in all the writers that attend and I see how some can do better–including myself. But that’s just it: one can’t just be better, it’s a journey to get there.

And as Marshall Goldsmith says: “What got you here won’t get you there.”

I’ve reached a saturation point. I’ve done the same convention for five years and achieved the same results each time. With the festival the way it is, I can’t get much more out of it, financially or from a knowledge perspective. I’d consider giving a presentation, but it’s hard to justify spending time on something I won’t be compensated for. I know, it’s a cringe-worthy sentence. But my time is valuable. I also don’t relish the thought of spending another birthday weekend behind the table, or giving myself away for free.

It’s time to try something else to get somewhere else. The best way to advance is to thoughtfully experiment within your field to see what works and what doesn’t.

Randy has mentioned that he has no intention to grow past 750-800 people, nor does he seem interested in changing the 100% volunteer model (I thought that the guests were paid, at least. Nope – travel, accommodations, and some food are covered though). While I understand why on a logistics level, I can’t help but feel that’s a sign that the convention isn’t going to have a real shakeup.

The lack of desire to change, grow, take risks, and experiment bothers me. Since the festival is unlikely to grow, it’s hard for me to justify participating.

Am I Going Back Next Year?

No, I don’t think so. Or, if I did, it wouldn’t be in the same capacity.

I recommend this convention wherever I go, no matter what province I’m in, because it helps facilitate a community. It’s a good place for beginning writers, for people starting to figure it out. My advice to the first and second-time attendees is:

• Think critically about the advice you receive. Be willing to accept it–but also take a hard look at who is giving it. Who are they, and what reasons might they have for saying what they do?

• Publishing a book isn’t the be-all end-all – neither is winning an award. Publishing is just one stop in the long road to building a meaningful brand that will have a positive impact on people. Be humble and willing to learn.

• If you’re going to pitch a publisher in the designated time slot, don’t make it a performance. Just be straight and honest. It will not help your chances (that’s from Sam, and yes, some people treated the pitch the publisher sessions like Dragon’s Den).

• No one is going to care more about your book than you do.

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.

Drumheller Dinosaur and Comic Expo Post Mortem

A big name for a small event – I present to you my experience in Drumheller, Alberta.

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.
General Impressions

This was my second trip to Drumheller since I started living in Alberta. I didn’t realize that Drumheller was as large as it is, or as quaint. We had the privilege of driving into the Badlands during a sunset and the Alberta fall colours–yellows and oranges only, hard pressed to find reds–were in full force.

It was a two-day event–Friday evening and all-day Saturday. And when I say all day, I mean, all day: 9am to 8pm. Usually you only see hours like that at Christmas markets! Unfortunately I couldn’t attend Friday, as I had no vehicle or anyone to take me. It was Saturday or nothing. So Dave agreed to take me for Saturday, and I booked us a nice B&B, the Heartwood Inn, just minutes from the event.

Like I mentioned in my podcast, I usually wait until a show is about three years old before I attend. But since Kalon Sykes, the young guy who seemingly masterminded the entire show (he had a team of volunteers as well), kept emailing me about it and eventually asked me to be a guest, I figured I’d give it a go. For such a small event, it’s hard to make that distinction between guest and regular vendor. For me, it meant I got a free table, I did two hours of paneling, and I got access to a little green room with free coffee and treats (full of gluten, unfortunately–that’s okay, Dave brought me lunch).

Location

The event was held in the Badlands Community Facility, next to the largest T-Rex in the world. Specifically, it was located within the gymnasium. Above us was a running track and an open fitness room.

Had I arrived the day before, I would have been able to choose my spot, but since I got there Friday late evening, I was given a place near the back of the gym. Unfortunately, the way the tables were arranged, I was part of a wide curve that led to a lot of open space between me and the customer. Honestly, for such a small event, it probably didn’t matter that much, but it is a barrier to overcome when you’re selling. I would have appreciated a little more signage to let the customers know who the artist guests were–otherwise, nothing distinguished me and the other guests from the vendors.

Everyone was friendly and helpful. Two young guys helped me load in my stuff. This is a small thing, and I feel my mother’s genes asserting themselves here, but I would have appreciated it if Kalon would have introduced himself to me properly right out of the gate. He did greet me when I entered the building and approached the desk, though I didn’t know until after that that was Kalon himself. Granted, he seemed quite busy each time I saw him, and he did come and talk to me later when he was handing out surveys. He seemed kind and focussed–I just expected him to be a little more assertive. I hope he wasn’t intimidated by me. If you’re in charge, and especially if it’s a small event, I appreciate a firm handshake and a hello so I know who I’m dealing with.

Display

The tables were pretty small, 6ft or so, so I adapted my display slightly. Like I talked about in my Edmonton post, I’ve come to appreciate small spaces because of the opportunity for vertical builds.

I only bring one banner for smaller shows to save on space. I’m about due to create a second vertical banner. I love my tiger banner but I need double the fire power at larger shows. I’d also like to create a foamcore sign, maybe for the table and not necessarily for the floor, that highlights a particular series.

Sales

For only being there one day, I didn’t do too badly. Sold some Violet Fox sets, a Sparkstone Saga set, and some individual book ones. I wasn’t unhappy with my sales: my sales expectations were pretty low all around.

On the event Facebook page, they mentioned that 200 people attended: from a vendor perspective, it was hard to see those numbers. When people gathered for the cosplay contest, that was the most amount of people I saw in one place during the entire event, and there were maybe less than fifty. Granted, I was not there on Friday: I don’t know what Friday looked like. I’m wondering if they counted vendors, guests, and staff in their attendance.

For most of the event, it was what I affectionately call “vendor-con” – vendors walking around, checking out each other’s stuff, discussing the event and all other event experiences. When there are just as many vendors walking around as there are attendees – well, that’s what happened in Red Deer, and they don’t exist anymore. (Though I have been told there is a small Red Deer event in the spring now?).

I met a couple of vendors who said this was their FIRST show. My table neighbours–two young guys creating an interactive video game–said that they were pleased with the fifteen-odd people they saw mingling around on Friday; they thought that was a good number. One of those two guys came out from Vancouver for this. I met other vendors who’d come from Edmonton. It makes me think of my first show – KeyCon! The things I didn’t know then that I know now!

It’s okay to be small

Late afternoon on the Saturday, one of the volunteers tried to Marco-Polo the crowd. For the uninitiated, “Marco, Polo” is the call and response used by the announcer at Calgary, Edmonton, and Saskatoon events. He does it to measure the alertness of the crowd, including the vendors. When the Drumheller volunteer attempted this, she got a very listless response.

Calgary and Edmonton Expo are large, established events in big cities. Drumheller isn’t Calgary. Trying to emulate their events–and their culture–just isn’t going to work: not if you want to distinguish yourself in the long term.

There are SO many pop culture/nerd events out there right now, even here in Canada. If Drumheller wants to continue, it needs to brand itself better and decide what it wants to be. Whether that’s focusing on creators only (be they authors, artists, cosplayers, etc), or leaning into the town’s established brand (dinosaurs), that’s something that the organizers have to sort out. And I will say: the number of detailed cosplays at this event was astounding. There was a contest during the event, but after the winners were announced at around 4pm, everyone seemed to disappear–as if they had only come for that specific part of the day. Playing into the cosplay angle might benefit Drumheller as well.

And for those thinking, “But why can’t it be a mini Calgary Expo?”

That’s kind of like asking me, “But why can’t you be a mini HarperCollins?”

HarperCollins is a multi-national company, publishing hundreds of books a year distributed to many countries, with a whole staff/roster of editors, layout designers, administrators, etc. They publish in multiple genres. They have advertising and marketing budgets. They have many fine authors with large and small platforms.

I am a sole proprietorship that publishes one book a year (maybe two next year!). I have two editors and a list I can count on one hand of people I trust to do design work for me. I publish young adult science fiction and fantasy–occasionally horror–usually with female protagonists. I have a limited budget, limited time, and the woman-power of one.

Read those descriptions again, and ask me why I’m not emulating HarperCollins.

When you’re small, you have to take advantage of the benefits of being small. That is: engaging people on a community level, direct contact with the customers, and doing ONE thing really well. Going deep, not wide, is key to remaining on the playing board when you’re my size. Simply re-sizing a larger company, a larger event, down to one person isn’t enough. It needs to find out what it wants to be, what it can be given its current limitations, and then go from there.

Vul-Con isn’t a shining example of a great event, but my one experience there was just fine, and perhaps a better model of what a small-town nerdy market looks like. Granted, Vulcan is perfectly branded for a Star Trek event and attracts fans from all over the west (last year, people told me they came from Edmonton, Saskatoon, and even from the States!). When I tried to book a hotel for Vul-Con a month in advance, everything was already full. Everything being the TWO motels in the whole town.

Even When Words Collide, with its attendance cap of about 800, is a great example of a specific event run well. It takes an entire community and many volunteer hours to put that together.

Remember when I mentioned Red Deer Expo? They also tried to Marco-Polo the crowd–they even got the same announcer. They made the same mistakes I saw here. Again: they do not exist anymore. My point: look to long-standing SMALL events in Alberta that have endured for years. Emulate them. Don’t copy and paste from the big guys and expect the same results.

Lil Getaway

Dave and I stayed at the Heartwood Inn for two nights. True, I could have just booked one night, but we’ve both had a really busy month–it felt like we didn’t even see each other on some days!

During my travels, I’ve come to appreciate certain luxuries. Booking a hotel in and of itself is a luxury–I enjoy the quiet after a busy day giving myself away to thousands of people. So when I was on the Heartwood website and saw there was a room with a giant soaker tub with jets by the frosted glass window? Yep, that pretty much sold it for me. So relaxing!

The bed was really comfy too! Dave and I both slept well–I like a soft bed. And there were robes!! (Also a big plus!) Unfortunately I didn’t get to partake in breakfast, which I heard was awesome. Breakfast is hard when you can’t eat gluten or cheese.

In any case, it’s the kind of place people who want to own B&Bs fantasize about–aka young me! In my mind, it was always the kind of business I’d do “when I retired” – which of course, will never happen!

Cool People!

I got to hang out with Katie Barron. I’ve met her a few times, and we did have a chat in Edmonton when we were both vending there. She’s a fantasy author with two books, just starting to do the local con circuit. I was happy to get to know her better! Also had a chat with Vince Steim from H3 Trilogy. I’ve talked with him a few times now, but again, it’s much easier in this small setting to have a more in-depth conversation!

My table was next to Michael Hill (Septembryo) and Roberto Duque. They were two great guys with a very positive attitude. I appreciated that, especially given the quiet nature of the con itself. It’s easy for me to stew in my fear of failure when I’m alone. Fortunately I was able to trade con stories with the guys and that kept my spirits high.

I committed to two hours of programming because of my guest status: a panel at 2pm with Katie, Mike, and Roberto about writing, and another panel at 7pm (the last hour of the convention. So late!) with just Katie…also about writing and marketing.

Despite the quiet nature of the vendor’s room, we had about 10 people at our 2pm panel, and five people at the 7pm panel. Not bad! But we probably could have gotten away with just one panel, given the subject matter was similar. It’s tough to create programming–some events rely on the volunteers and panelists to pitch panels while others create programming and assign volunteers to carry it out. Drumheller was the latter.

Also, this was a thing that happened:

They were charging the vendor tables! It was very funny but also a little scary. Fortunately he didn’t knock anything over!

Would I do it again?

It’s getting harder to justify smaller shows–especially if I have to travel outside of Calgary. I’ve had one of my busiest years yet and each weekend event is a weekend that I don’t get to spend recuperating from my busy weekdays and/or it’s time taken away from creating. I’m also shifting away from smaller shows in general in 2018, though if it’s the right show, I wouldn’t rule anything out.

There were whispers around the event that finding the funding to do such an event again would be a struggle. Kalon mentioned that it cost around $30,000 to put the whole show on. It’s hard to see where that money goes when you’re only there for one day, but I don’t doubt that that’s the price tag.

So, I really don’t know. I hope this year was enough of an experience to allow Kalon to improve on a potential future event.

Here is me outside the Heartwood with one of many, many dinosaur friends in the town.

Just THREE MORE EVENTS this year and then I’m done!!

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.

Edmonton Expo 2017 Post Mortem

Where did September go? I don’t think I’ve been busier than I have this past month. It was to be expected however – now that I’m entering the last third of the year (the busiest, and the most profitable, in my case!)

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.
I talk conventions with my BFF on my new podcast, BUSINESS BFFs. Listen here.
General Impressions

This is my third Edmonton Expo, and I’m pleased to report it went well for me!

On Thursday, my friends Finn (half of the Crash & Burn team) and Leif (their roommate and new friend!) picked me up from my place, loaded all my stuff, and we headed up to the northern part of the city. We also picked up Finn’s girlfriend as well. I stayed overnight with them so we could get an extra early start on Friday morning.

THANK YOU LEIF FOR DRIVING US ALL! The car was jammed with stuff–between all my boxes, my banners, the yoga matt, and my display box set–PLUS Finn’s stuff and of course the snacks–there was barely room for four people. I didn’t mind, though. I was grateful. After all our car trips growing up, I’m used to being stuffed into cramped quarters.

We stayed in the Coast Edmonton Plaza in downtown Edmonton, about a ten minute drive from the convention center. It was really nice! I’m so glad Finn booked it. There’s something really special about traveling and rooming with other people who are also creating art and selling it. It meant we could have quiet time in the evening as needed, or we could chat about the day. It just kept me in the game.

Also, THERE WAS A BIDET.

Location

Something to note about the Edmonton Expo centre is that it is LONG. There is only one entrance, and it’s on the other side from where I usually am. You may recall last year I intended to spring for a larger booth to get out of the small press/economy section, which is at the end of the convention. I had a change of heart about this after Calgary Expo this year, and when the opportunity came up, I declined my upgrade. After being in a 10×10 space, I really appreciated my ability to maximize a 6 or 8ft table, as well as keep my expenses down.

I admit at first I was a little dismayed to discover I was one table over from my position last year. I was worried that my sightlines would be diminished. Fortunately, there were further improvements to my row. Instead of having the gaming area across from us, we had a row of regular exhibitor booths. While this did diminish some sightlines, it increased traffic (in my opinion) because there was MORE to see than just…gaming tables. We were also near the mini donuts and other fast food treats, as well as some kind of Minions-themed laser tag? It made a lot of annoying noise throughout the weekend–mostly I only noticed it when I was tired or when the traffic was light.

I’m still on the fence about putting all book-related people together. It benefits those who love books – and I think serving the customer’s needs is the best way to ensure a sale – though it does create more competition for the authors. Mostly. I think I worried about it more last year. This year, I have more powerful displays, more powerful banners–I don’t get lost in the noise. Usually, if I saw someone with Suzy Vadori’s book or Thea van Diepen’s book, there was a high probability that they would also buy mine as well.

I think in the long run, it’s not going to matter much for this convention whether I upgrade to a larger space. If I think about the long con (haha), Edmonton is one of my cornerstone shows. Now that I’ve done it three times, return guests expect me to be in a particular spot, and I want to optimize the space for maximum profits. At most, I think springing for the corner of my row might be enough.

Display

I really appreciated having Leif’s help here! Set-up took under an hour because we managed to tackle the horizontal banner together, and load-in was fairly simple once we separated the Crash and Burn stuff from mine.

I had my boxies as usual and they certainly cut down on set-up time. Jessie has designed me a new display (see below!) and I can’t wait to use it. I like my boxes but they need a better paint job with different paint that doesn’t scuff. I’m still learning how to optimize them. I almost need another set to properly leverage the height.

I brought just enough stock to sell and use for display. By the end of Sunday, it was slim pickings! I only had three Violet Foxes left! I am going to have to reprint before my Christmas shows. Also, I was thankful to have bags this time, because the Expo didn’t provide the large welcome bags that they usually do.

Sales

I had a 4% decrease from last year, so not super significant. I did well last year, and I’m pleased that I didn’t do significantly less given a) the other vendors mixed feelings about the show and b) my location at the end of the show. Most of my sales came around the lunch time hour as people (finally) made it to the end of the convention and grabbed food. On Saturday, I had a second rush during the last hour. Sunday was extremely brisk for most of the day, save the last two hours as people left the convention. This was a relief.

I’d say about 20-30% of my sales were from returning customers–people who bought my stuff last year and returned for something new. I would have had higher sales if I had The Emerald Cloth (cover reveal on October 13!) ready. It’s a reminder that if I’m going to continue to do both Calgary and Edmonton Expo, I need to have a spring and a fall release to capitalize on fans who attend both. Once again, during the quiet hours, I realized that my location–while important–may not matter if I continue to do the show. If I build that return customer base high enough, it may make up for any bad location. With table prices going up and up each year, I have to think long-term.

I will say that I’m glad I have two different series to promote–those who are waiting for The Emerald Cloth can read the Sparkstone Saga. I had equal sales of Stars In Her Eyes and The Violet Fox, but about twice as many bundle sales for The Violet Fox. I found that younger readers tended to prefer the Sparkstone Saga, while the adults who liked to read chose The Violet Fox. A large contribution to that decision is the snappiness of Sparkstone Saga’s back cover as well as the illustrations. Once again, the most picked-up book on the table was Hunger In Her Bones.

At this convention, I regretted my decision not to include Within on the table. I was between two other authors selling zombie/vampire apocalypse books and dystopian thrillers, so I lost some potential horror/thriller customers there. That 4% decrease? Probably would have made up for it with some copies of Within. Then again, it’s hard to have it on the table when nothing else is quite like it–at least for the time being. Sigh – maybe I should bring it back for the Christmas shows? I’ll think about it.

A lot more people than expected had cash, but it ended up being about 50/50 on the cash vs cards. Of those who used cards, slightly more than half opted for debit. This fits with the trend I noticed last year in Edmonton – everyone loves debit! So glad that I can accommodate people in that way.

Cool People!

I had a good chat with Suzy Vadori and Thea van Diepen, both of whom had booths in the rows behind me. I liked getting the chance to know Suzy better, and it was nice to see Thea back from her journey around the world–ready to create more books (yay!).

Matt from Pickering Woodworks also stopped by for a chat! For those keeping track, he was my neighbour at Calgary Expo this year. We talked shop for a while. It was really nice to see him again!

On Friday night, Greg, his friend Dave, and I went to see the new Kingsman movie. It was really fun! But I was so tired afterward. Greg and I had a nice chat. At this things, it’s hard to find the energy sometimes to have a long conversation–but we’ll have plenty of time for that when I’m in Winnipeg next month.

He also made an interesting point – that conventions like these, everyone is taking a hit because of the economy, oversaturation, etc – but if you are well branded, you can weather the storm. I think that’s true: that’s part of the reason I can make these shows worth my while. But I also believe in being flexible. I can’t do all shows every year, especially as I’m approaching ten books!

Will I go back?

I hope to, if I get in! It appears that the Expo company (Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon) are no longer favouring previous vendors as much as they used to. We still get earlier registration, but it’s no guarantee that we’re in anymore.

I think this is a good place to note that while conventions are a cornerstone of my distribution and marketing efforts, I know that they won’t be profitable or worthwhile forever. It’s easy to think, “I’ll do Edmonton Expo until the END OF TIME,” but it’s just not realistic. Every year, the shows get more expensive to do, celebrity guests are harder to pin down, and the fans get oversaturated with content. This show works for me now, as long as I can continue to keep my expenses down and produce enough new work for my returning customers. In this business, you always have to look to the future.

SPECIAL HAL-CON SECTION

Hal-Con 2017 was the SAME weekend as Edmonton, so instead of saying, which one should I do, I said, why not both? So I sent my sister to my regular “home” show. She did very well! Thank you to everyone who helped her out and stopped by to chat with her!

Also, she unveiled new display 2.0! Yes, she designed AND made it. Laser cutting, pew pew pew. It folds up, packs flat, and fits in a large art portfolio case. The shelves are removable. I’ll probably do without the top part because I’m shorter (gotta be able to see my pretty face!). I can also use it in conjunction with my boxes to create unique displays depending on the show and the space. It’ll look really nice on a white tablecloth too!

Yay!

To follow my sales journey and to see how I did at past conventions, click here for the full list of articles.