With a little help from my friends: Book Fairs and Conventions

OAFCon was a big bag of wicked this weekend for a number of reasons, but chief among them were:

A community of old school comic collectors that were packed with some stellar stories.
The delightfully eccentric illustrator canvasing the vendor hall while pulling his briefcase behind him on a dolly, packed with some pretty great art.
OAFCon lined up 99% of the Oklahoma Comic Creators in attendance all together, so we got to chat about pop culture, conventions and stick figure Bacchanalia while also reaching a crowd we would normally never see.

This motivated me to dedicate this week's blog to encouraging small presses and creators to reward their community's support by volunteering time for local events. Since I started in this game five years ago, I've been organizing some sort of book fair with the help of other artists and authors. Though this is time-intensive and difficult to pull off successfully, the benefits justify the work in ways that aren't always easy to recognize.

First off, I wouldn't necessarily suggest everyone start a book fair. I'll dedicate a future blog on what I've learned about this process, but I will say that there is a great need for smaller, one day fairs for local artists and authors BUT organization and promotion is difficult and expensive. Instead, you should start off with another larger event, learn what they do and then apply it to your own future events. If you enjoy the process, look into running an event of your own, but START SMALL.

David Doub from Dusk Comics is a good example of how this process can turn a newbie into a seasoned convention pro. He works with the massive convention A-Kon and eventually tapped into their drawing power to produce the side event, Mini A-Kon, which gives other small presses a free opportunity to promote to the public. He is now a super savvy networker because he's seen the industry from both sides. Other creators have organized group events like Drink and Draws and charity events. Scott Sackett organized the Oklahoma Comic Creators and Equinox Comics have donated their time sketching to raise money for charity.

These types of events might distract from your central mission of creating and selling your art, it might suck away time and money, but I still see this aspect as the mark of any legitimate professional creator or press because:

The reason everyone moves to Chicago, LA, New York, Austin and all the other cultural hubs is because there is an existing community with ties to the industry. But why move when you can create that community where you live, and these events are a great way to start centralizing all the talent in your area into one group that can then start helping each other advance their careers.  So much more is possible when knowledge and contacts are pooled rather than existing in individual bubbles. You will be amazed by how much opportunity is really out there, if only you create a way for people to find you.
The conventions you need to exist to reach the general public need fresh blood to continue to grow. You can't always assume someone else will step up instead of you.
As a volunteer, you will see how these conventions work, how best to approach them and gain access to contacts from other conventions you might have never known otherwise.
There are probably a bunch of industry veterans, both past and present, in your area. You just don't know about the, but getting out from behind your booth and reaching out to the creative community will get you in touch with these veterans who can then help you refine your approach to the industry and hopefully raise the eyebrows of larger presses.
It is a moral imperative. If you feed off the scene, there comes a time when you must give back, otherwise the scene cannot survive. It is exhausting, it is not always rewarding, but the benefits will impact your career in ways that you cannot predict. There is always plenty of money to go around, so what is good for one of you is good for all of you as long as the effort has been put in to foster a genuine sense of community.