by john | Jul 4, 2017 | Business of publishing, How to Sell Books, Travel
Hey there! If you’re one of the new people who found me through Chris Fox linking to me, welcome. If you’re looking for more contentious debate, I think this week may disappoint. But if you’re looking to sell more books, particularly by hand at conventions, then hopefully this will help out.
If you’ve been around here any length of time, you’ve probably seen me say that you usually won’t make your money back in the short term doing conventions. They’re part of the long game, rather than a quick ROI project. Conventions are about marketing, brand-building, and networking. Selling books is a side part of the gig. Most of the time. Some cons, like comic cons and the big media cons, are way more about selling stuff, because in a crowd of a couple hundred vendors and 50,000 people, it’s going to be hard to get noticed enough to be “sticky” in someone’s head unless they buy your shit and love it.
So for the purposes of this article, let’s use the term “con” to refer to the small to mid-sized Sci-Fi and Fantasy cons like the one I did last weekend (LibertyCon in Chattanooga, TN) and the one I’m doing next weekend (ConGregate in High Point, NC). These events can have anywhere from a couple hundred people to several thousand, and running a table at one of these cons takes a few more things than you would initially expect. So here are a few tips and “con hacks” that I’ve come up with through the past seven years of doing this.
1) Have some flat swag – Have something to put into people’s hands. Bookmarks, postcards, even a xeroxed one-sheet about your book if you don’t have the money or wherewithal to make anything better. But a lot of people are not going to buy your book at the con, realistically you’ll talk to far more people who won’t buy the book than people who will. So you need to have something to put in their hand so they can remember you when they leave.
2) Have a Sharpie – Especially at bigger cons, you’ll have folks who say “I’ll come back.” If you give them a piece of flat swag, they still might not be able to find you amidst all the chaos. Write your booth number on the back of the bookmark. Look, I didn’t say these tips were rocket science. I just said they were helpful.
3) Carry plastic bags to the con – You intend to sell shit to people. People need a way to carry shit. Plastic bags are cheap if you buy the crappy ones you get at all the dollar stores, or free if you just recycle plastic grocery bags. But I have made more than one sale by beckoning over some poor soul who is barely able to carry the stack of books and crap they’ve bought, and they’re so grateful to have a bag that they listen to my pitch. Admittedly, I’m way more likely to help out somebody with an armload of books than an armload of Funko Pops, but I don’t sell Pops. I sell books, and someone who has already shown a predisposition to buy books that day is my target audience.
4) Flat stock is the devil – Don’t lay your books down so that the shopper has to stand completely over them to see the cover. Invest in some cheap wire folding book stands (sometimes also called plate racks) and stand your shit up! You spent money on the cover to that books, or someone did, so show it off. Standing up your books helps draw in the long-distance browsers, the folks that don’t want to get too close to the table, lest they buy something. Until they see something awesome, and can’t help themselves. if they can’t see your book, you aren’t giving yourself the option to be that something awesome.
5) Witty bookmarks are the absolute jam – I have one piece of marketing material that i can trace to direct sales. For The Black Knight Chronicles, I made a run of bookmarks that say “Suck It, Edward” in big letters at the top. So when I put those in my vampire books, and stand them up, people from across the aisle can see me making fun of Twilight. Frequently they’ll chuckle, then walk all the way over and either pick up the book or ask me what it’s about. Worst case, they want the bookmark. But more than once I’ve had people buy either the Omnibus ($23) or the entire set of Black Knight books ($50) just off seeing the bookmark. H.P. Holo makes bookmarks with a big circle at the top that says stuff like “SPACE PIRATES” or “WIZARDS & MONKEYS” (it doesn’t really say wizards & monkeys) on them. This lets people see what the book is about from a distance, and draw them in. That kind of dual-purpose swag is awesome for drawing people in.
6) Take Credit Cards – I did a comic con this year, in 2017, with a comic artist who didn’t take credit cards. He proclaimed his disdain for a smartphone, why he wouldn’t need one, why he does fine without a Square reader, and why all this newfangled technology was silly and useless. At the end of the one-day con, after he watched me ring up over $200 in credit card sales, compared with his $20 in cash sales, he said to me, “Maybe I need to look into getting one of those.” I understand that it used to be hard to accept credit cards. There was expensive equipment, monthly fees, and all that BS. Square is free. Paypal is free. Yes, they take about 3% of the sale. Last weekend I processed almost $300 in credit card sales, and I only had a sales table for Saturday. Square can have their $9, because I guarantee you that I picked up at least $100 in additional sales by being able to process cards. Added Bonus – money that is spent with you on credit cards usually doesn’t hit your bank until after the con, so it’s not burning a hole in your pocket whenever you walk through the deal room!
7) Make friends with your neighbors – I try really hard to help out the people next to me at cons, whether I know them or not. Selling books is not a competition, and a rising tide really does lift all boats. Getting a book in someone’s hands is awesome, no matter if it’s your book or the book from the guy next to you. Because once people are predisposed to buy books, they will buy a variety of books. So it’s good for everyone when everyone is selling. Being nice to your neighbors also means that you’ll have someone to keep an eye on your shit when you have to go pee. So don’t erect huge displays that fuck the sightlines of people getting to your neighbor. Don’t blare sound music all day through the con (no matter how cool it is), unless of course you’re a band or a musician, then at least try to mix it up so your neighbors don’t have to hear the same song for three days. Bring extra bottled water and share it with your neighbor. Be happy to break a twenty for them if you have more change. Just be nice and friendly, and it’ll work out well for you in the long run.
8) Get a bigger hand truck than you think you need – I had a decent little $50 hand truck from Lowe’s that I used for a couple years. Before that I had a nice little fold-flat hand truck that did me well until I had too many title to carry on that in one trip. At RavenCon, I had the Lowe’s hand truck, which theoretically had a flatbed load rating of 400 lbs, loaded down pretty damn heavily. We hit a pothole in the hotel parking lot, and one of the wheels shattered. A few feet further along, and the overburdened other wheel gave up the ghost. We struggled that shit into the room, set things up, and did the show, but that hand truck was toast. For the next con, Suzy bought me one like this. Mine is a little different, but it can do vertical or horizontal, has 1,000 pounds capacity, and is big enough to carry everything for two authors (at least) in one trip. It’s friggin’ awesome and I wish I’d just spent the $150 on that one the first time.
There’s a million other things, but I’ll leave with just a quick inventory of my “con box,” the big blue tub that I carry around that has no books in it, just the stuff that I feel like I should have with me to do a booth or a table.
- (2) 8′ Black Tablecloths – I use them either to cover the table if one is not provided, or to cover up my crap at the end of the night.
- Falstaff Books Table Runner – this is new, but it’s just a nice little banner that drapes over the table with our logo on it.
- (12) folding wire book stands – I almost always need less than this, but it leaves me one or two to loan out. See point #7
- Package of big zip ties – I have a sign that ties to the back of my book rack. Also useful for hanging my bags and a trash bag.
- plastic bags – I got a box of “t-shirt bags” years ago and they haven’t run out yet.
- Bookmarks – I have a Falstaff Books bookmark, plus one for Bubba, Harker, and Black Knight. On the back of the Falstaff Books bookmark is a link to a free ebook download of a sampler that gives people a taste of everything we publish.
- Stickers – I have stickers for each property that I have bookmarks for. Buy a book, get a sticker.
- deodorant – I forgot it once on a trip. Never again.
- Drugs – I keep a stash of ibuprofen, immodium, and claritin-d in my con box. These treat the three main things that can ruin a con for me, so I try to stay prepared.
- post-it notes & a small legal pad
- pens and a sharpie
- SC Business License – not all states require a state business license to vend at a con. SC does. I just never take the license out of the box, so I always know where it is.
- Business cards and holder
- spare phone battery – it’s one of those little things by Anker that can recharge a phone, iPad, or more importantly, a Square chip reader.
- Square reader, iPhone 7 adaptor, and Chip reader – I know the chip reader is more secure, but more importantly to me, it’s more efficient. The swipe reader takes multiple swipes at least 50% of the time, but the chip reader almost never takes additional time and effort. I hate the fact that the iPhone no longer has a headphone jack, but I didn’t get to design it, so I bought an extra adaptor and put it in the con box.
- (2) Snap light stick – shit happens. Some con spaces have very few windows, or are even underground, like the Charlotte Convention Center. I don’t ever expect to need to have a small chemical light source, but the day I want it will be the day I REALLY want it.
- pocketknife – I don’t leave home without it.
- Leatherman – some jobs are too much for even a pocketknife
That’s what’s in my con box. It goes to every con, and is the most important thing that goes into the truck.
by john | Oct 19, 2016 | Travel, Writing
Hey y’all!
I’m gonna try something new in an effort to tweak my social media and interwebs presence. I’m going to go back to blogging more and Twittering less, and maybe impart some actual information on folks instead of just screaming into the void. To that end, whenever I attend a convention, I’ll put up one of these blog posts with a convention report and analysis or whether or not it was a worthwhile trip financially, and if there are other reasons that will or will not draw me back to a con.
The first victim of this new idea is Fayetteville Comic Con, where I was last weekend. This was the second year for this convention, and by all anecdotal reports, last year was a rousing success. The show went from one day to two this year, and with attendance in the 8,000 range last year, people were looking for 10-12K going into October.
Then Hurricane Matthew hit. If you aren’t local to the Southeast, you might not be aware that Hurricane Matthew hit Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina like a motherfucker. There are parts of eastern NC that still aren’t open, and a friend at the show told me that his uncle still takes a boat to get to his house, and FEMA can’t even move in until the flood waters recede. So while there wasn’t a ton of actual wind and storm damage, the flooding in the eastern part of the state was intense.
Needless to say, I had some concerns leading up to the show. I didn’t know if anyone would show up, or if they did, if they’d have any money to spend. I wasn’t on any panels, which was fine, because I’m not accustomed to being on panels at comic book shows, and I was perfectly happy to sit at my table and sell books all day for two days. I was joined at the booth by Emily Lavin Leverett, one of the co-authors of the new Falstaff Books release Changeling’s Fall, and my co-editor on the Big Bad anthologies. She lives not too far from there, so she came down and promoted her book for a couple of days and sold anthologies. I wanted to get copies of Changeling’s Fall for the con, but weather and timing conspired against us.
So let’s start breaking things down as to good, bad, and ugly –
Good
Attendance – for one thing, it was good that people were there at all. It seemed like the overall numbers were about the same as last year, and 8,000 people is certainly a great number for a very young convention, so there were people to see.
Bad
Revenue – for that many people, a lot of them weren’t spending, and a lot of vendors said they didn’t make anywhere near the money they made last year. This is to be expected in a region that just got hammered with a natural friggin’ disaster! the way I set expectations for what I call “Trade Show Cons,” which is what most comic cons are – big exhibit halls where people are selling stuff all day with maybe a few panels – is fairly simple. In an area that doesn’t have a lot of competition for convention dollars (basically anyplace that isn’t a major metropolitan area) there is probably only one convention of this type each year. That means that once it gets some traction with the local folk, it becomes an event. It’s something people plan for all year long, or at least they keep it in the back of their heads for months in advance. When I attended Heroes Con as my only con each year, I set aside $100-150 to spend at that con. And I expect that most people have a set budget that is their “con money.”
When your fucking house is flooded, that con money becomes “replace my entire home” money. Hell, just being without power for a full day or two is rough – you have to replace every piece of food in your fridge and freezer, and there goes your con money right down the drain.
So there were people, but they weren’t spending like some folks expected. I tempered my expectations to meet the conditions, and for the weekend, I walked away with right about what I expected to see.
Good
Seeing old friends and other writers – Networking is one of the best things about going to conventions, and this time I got to spend time with James Maxey, Chris Kennedy, Kindra Sowder, Jonathan Rosenbaum, and Edd Sowder. I always love hanging out with those guys and getting a chance to swap stories, exchange ideas, and trade information on what is working and what isn’t in our various lines of work.
Bad
Communication – This is a new con, and they’re still ironing some things out, but they’ve got to get better about updating the website and communicating with their guests and vendors. It was hard to get confirmation that I had a space, I didn’t know where my table was until I got there and wandered around looking for it (okay, Emily wandered around looking for it), and I just generally felt like I wasn’t very important to the people running the con. Admittedly, I’m not, but I did pay for the privilege of being there, and getting no communication from the show leading up to the event, not even a “Hey, we’re still happening and here are the road closures leading in to Fayetteville” was a little disconcerting.
Okay
Placement – This con boasted a “Authors Alley,” and I wasn’t part of it. I signed up late, and I needed a whole table, because I have too many titles to share a 6′ table with anyone, so those are the main reasons, but I was never told that I wasn’t going to be in Author’s Alley, which was disappointing. Goes back to the communication thing. It turned out to be a good thing, because the Author’s Alley was more of an Author’s Ghetto, where the writers were stuck out in an unsecured hallway out by the panel rooms, which were sparsely attended. I was in the exhibit hall, on one of the back rows, but I had great traffic all weekend and made decent money. I will happily attend the show again, but that is contingent on me NOT being in Author’s Alley. I want to be somewhere that I can leave my stuff on the table overnight in a secure area, and I want to be where the people are. So what initially appeared to be a negative for me turned out to be a positive for me and a negative for the other authors.
Minor Bonuses
Having a few celebrity guests, like my buddy Santiago Cirilo, was nice in boosting attendance. They had the original Flash Gordon there, and the Skullcrusher dude off Naked & Afraid, so that was kinda neat. It also breaks up the monotony of it being just rows and rows of Pop figurines and comic boxes. I like it when cons bring in a few actors to boost attendance. I wonder exactly how much it does boost attendance, but as long as folks are making their guarantees, I don’t care. As long as the focus of the show remains on the vendors and the fans, and it doesn’t become too much of an autograph hound con, I’m fine with it.
The tables in the vendor area were 8′ tables, which is great. I have a lot of books, and I fill up a 6′ table quick. Having the extra space was super-nice. Loading in wasn’t terrible, even though some of the parking guys were kinda douchey.
Minor Annoyances
The tables were so close together there was no room left to get out between them to go pee or get anything to eat. That’s actually a bigger pain in the ass than you’d expect, because every time somebody has to pee, you end up knocking shit over on either your table or somebody else’s. Cell reception (T-Mobile) wasn’t great, but it held up through the weekend. No power near the booths, but that’s really to be expected in a convention center. The bathrooms could have been cleaner, but that’s not on the con. I would have liked a tablecloth to be provided, or at least to know that it wasn’t. I think my new standard is going to be not to expect a tablecloth at a comic show, and only expect them at programming cons.
Money
That’s what it all boils down to, right? Did I make any money? Will I go back? Well, here are the dirty details.
Let’s look at expenses –
Table Rental – $100 At a lot of cons, I pay for the table. This was one of them.
Hotel – $0 – even with traveling three hours across the state, I had no hotel expense. Thank You, Marriott Rewards points. The Fairfield Inn Fayetteville Cross Creek Mall wasn’t anything glamorous, but the rooms on the third floor have hallways, not just rooms opening to the outside, and the amenities were nice. Little white noise generators in the rooms, and USB charging stations by the bed. Bed sucked, though. Not horrible, but far from great.
Food – $90 (roughly) – I ate really pretty cheaply on this trip. Dinner in the truck on the way out there, then I carried Pop-Tarts and Clif Builder Bars for breakfast and lunch Saturday. Grabbed a slice of pizza, a few pretzels, and a couple sodas in the convention center over two days. Had one nice Mexican dinner with Emily, James, Cheryl, Chris, and Sheellah (I’m sure I butchered that spelling), but overall getting out for less than a hundred bucks in a two day con that involves travel before Day 1 is really good.
Gas – $40 – the truck was EMPTY, so I filled her up. Didn’t use the entire tank, so my guess is about $40 in gas.
Vendor Hall BS – I bought $20 worth of magic cards. Didn’t open anything good. Oh well.
Total Expenses – $250 This was a super-cheap con since I didn’t have a hotel room associated with it.
Gross Sales – $408 – I sold $408 in inventory over the weekend. Figure 50% of that is profit, by the time I buy the books and pay shipping on them. That’s about right overall, given the difference in discounts and pricing, and the royalties I have to pay the writers whose books I sold over the weekend. Net Revenue – $210 (est.)
End Results – $40 loss
Yep, lost money on the con. And it was worth it, because at $40 for a convention, it’s something I can afford in a marketing budget for the year. So this con is definitely worth it, especially next year when I’ll have even more books out for people to pick up, and hopefully there won’t be a devastating natural disaster less than ten days before the convention. If I have to have a room next year, we’ll have to see about either crashing with someone, splitting a room with someone, or staying somewhere on points or super-cheap. Gotta manage expenses, and if I’d paid even $75 per night in a hotel at this one, it wouldn’t have been worth it. That’s why everybody that does this circuit is always scrounging for hotel points and offers, they can really turn a show around for you. The last two comic cons I’ve done, I’ve stayed in hotels on points, so that’s been a huge savings.
The Verdict – I’ll give Fayetteville Comic Con a B+, and will definitely be back next year if at all possible.
If you think this was awesome, feel free to share a link! If you really think it’s awesome, you can go over to my Patreon and sign up! My newest release, Heaven’s Door, is the latest in the Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter series, and is available now on Amazon.
by john | Nov 8, 2015 | Appearances, Business of publishing, Real Life
I’ve had a few people ask me how my Patreon campaign is working out for me, and my response is always pretty much the same. “It’s great. It brings in a little extra money each month, it lets me have more direct contact with some of my biggest fans, and it funds some of my convention travel. I can’t ask for much more than that.”
And that’s the deal. That’s the broad brushstrokes, thousand-foot view description of it. This post is about the details, because some folks have asked. BEWARE – there’s a lot of information here about how the sausage gets made as far as the life of a struggling midlist writer. If you just want to read cool books and don’t want much behind the scenes crap about finances and all that other stuff, click on one of the buttons at the top of the page, buy one of my books, and enjoy!
Still here? That probably means you’re either a real fan of mine and are counting on me to say something hilarious (probably unintentionally) or you’re a writer and are interested in the business side of things. So here we go, down the rabbit hole.
Patreon is a fundraising platform that allows creators (me) to connect with fans (you) to create ongoing funding streams for long-term projects like webcomics or podcasts, or series of other projects like music videos, or just support the creator with a monthly pledge to keep doing what you’re doing. Since I release new work almost monthly, I set my Patreon account to be a monthly funding source. This allows my fans and patrons to support me, and in exchange they get perks, kinda like Kickstarter rewards. My fans get early access to the stories, and they get the stories for free. So if you know you want to read everything I write, and you want to be the first one in your book club to read it, you can pledge to my Patreon and get it via email before anyone else.
So on the one hand, why would anyone pay for that from me? I don’t really know. I have a dozen or so patrons right now, some of them I know personally, some I’ve met once or twice, some I’ve never met. Could be they feel like they get more joy out of reading my work than the cost of the book. Could be they see me at conventions and really want me to continue to be able to travel and amuse them at cons, so they help fund that travel. Could be they just have more money than sense and want to support the arts in a more direct fashion than their local arts council allows them to do.
How much do I make? It varies as pledges get added and dropped, but it ranges from $75-100 each month. This year, that has so far totaled $947.44. Not an insignificant sum of money, but not rock star numbers, by any means. What does an extra thousand bucks a year mean to a midlist author?
For me, it means I go to Connooga and Con-Gregate. Straight up, those two conventions would not have made it onto my list in 2015 were it not for the extra money from Patreon. And I love both of those cons, and I sold like gangbusters and Con-Gregate this year. But they’re smaller shows, and I am guaranteed to lose money by attending those cons, almost no matter how well I sell. So without Patreon, those are two conventions in 2015 that would have been on the chopping block. For 2016, it would be Arisia and MystiCon, two shows I’m very excited about attending, but without Patreon money, wouldn’t be able to afford.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the convention circuit, just let it be known that I could be out of town every single weekend working a convention somewhere, and I am out of town about once a month doing a con. And I lose money on almost every single out of town convention I’ve ever done.
Want to take a second for that last sentence to sink in?
Want me to say it again?
I lose money on almost every single out of town convention I have ever done.
Wanna know what’s worse?
I’m better at selling books at conventions than 75% of authors out there. So most of the writers you see at conventions, unless they are listed as “Guest of Honor” or “Special Guest” are paying for the privilege of being there, knowing that it’s money we’ll never see back. So when people ask why I don’t run Facebook Ads, or do a lot of paid advertising, it’s because my marketing budget consists of convention attendance.
I’m a numbers guy, so here are some rough numbers –
Connooga – one of my worst cons of the year, sales-wise. I love the show, I love seeing all my friends, I love seeing my Tennessee fans, but I think after 2016 I’m taking a year off from the show because I’ve been there too many years in a row. The attendees have all my books, which means they aren’t buying anything at the show. If I give it a “breather year,” then the attendees have more time to be excited about seeing me again, and they’ll buy more stuff.
2015 Sales – 19 books totaling $230
Book Costs – $142
Net sales – $88
Hotel – $200
Gas – $60
Food/Booze – $150
Net for Convention – (-$322)
What could I have done to reduce costs? I split the room with my assistant and another friend. I don’t currently pay my assistant, so I should at worst cover his room. And my other friend picked up the tab for Congregate 2014 when I was out of work and really needed that help, so this was my payback to him. Going forward I could split the room, but after two people, three max, you see a point of diminishing returns on rest v. savings, so the most I would save there is $100. I could split the drive and gas costs, but food costs money, and I network over meals and in the bar, so those expenses aren’t going to budge much. I already travel with a cooler and sodas and Pop-Tarts for breakfast, so $150 for food and booze for three days is pretty damn good. Being super-frugal, I could reduce expenses on this show to where I’m only $200 in the hole, but that’s probably the best I can do.
And Connooga is just used here as an example of a small to mid-sized show that costs me gas, food, and a couple nights in a hotel room to do. You could change the year and substitute JordanCon, MystiCon or any of several other conventions into this slot. The point is, if I have to have a hotel, I have to either sell like a boss, or I lose about $200 just attending.
So let’s look at a con where I sold like a boss – Con-Gregate. I moved a ton of books at that show this year, a marked improvement over the (1) I sold in 2014. Here are the numbers –
2015 Sales – 37 books totaling $479.00
Book Costs – $287
Net Sales – $192
Hotel – $200
Gas – $30
Food/Booze – $150
Net for Convention – ($-188)
Same cost-saving measures here could have gotten me very close to breaking even. Or I could have sold more books, but most authors will tell you that selling close to $500 in a weekend is pretty damn good. In fact, Con-Gregate was my 4th-highest grossing show of the year! After a few years of doing this, the only way I can be in the black on a show at the end of the weekend is if I don’t have any hotel costs associated with the show. And even that doesn’t always cut it. By my reckoning, I lost $50 on MonsterCon this year, and I drove to and from Gaffney each day to do the show. I also spent more on food than I should have there, but there were extenuating circumstances. In other words, I wanted to.
Overall, I spent about $400 more than I made in 2015 on conventions, and that doesn’t include leftover stock, which I have tried very hard to keep to a minimum. So if I lose $500 every year (extrapolating and guesstimating moving forward), why do I keep going to conventions?
Well first, I love conventions. I love meeting fans, I love converting people to become fans, and I love meeting other writers and hanging out. I also really enjoy being on panels and pontificating about things I may not really know anything about.
Secondly, this is what I consider my marketing. I don’t do much direct email marketing right now, I don’t do much paid advertising, and I do limited swag, so this is where most of my marketing money goes.
And Patreon allows me to do it. If not for Patreon providing funding, I couldn’t have afforded to do the West Virginia Book Festival, which was a lot of fun, and my biggest sales show of the year.
So if you like seeing me at conventions, and want me to come to one in your area, hit me up. I’m always interested. Here’s the 2016 Schedule – Tentative. I haven’t gotten confirmations on guest status as all of these yet, so everything is always subject to change until I arrive.
January 14-18 – Arisia – Boston, MA
February 19-21 – Connooga – Chattanooga, TN
February 26-28 – MystiCon – Roanoke, VA
March 2-5 – SouthEastern Theatre Conference – Greensboro, NC (completely different life, but if you’re there, we can hang out!)
June 3-5 – ConCarolinas – Charlotte, NC
June 17-19 – HeroesCon – Charlotte, NC
July 15-17 – Con-Gregate – High Point, NC
September 1-September 5-DragonCon – Atlanta
October 27-30 – World Fantasy Con – Columbus, OH
November 18-20 – Big Fandom Greenville – Greenville, SC
That’s nine conventions, not counting one-day signings and appearances. And we’re not into 2016 yet! So thanks to everyone who has given to the Patreon, I would never be able to plan this much travel without you!
by john | Sep 14, 2015 | Appearances, Travel, Writing
I hate starfucker conventions, and I hate most of what they stand for.
There you go, kids, career suicide by a barely midlist genre fiction writer. Just what you wanted for your reading entertainment.
But it’s the truth. I hate the conventions, and you know the ones I mean, where the main focus is getting as many people run through lines to have autographs and photo ops as possible, with the least possible interaction with the people you’re there to “meet.”
For the record, Dragon Con is not what I consider a starfucker con, nor are any of the cons I attend as a guest. That’s not always been the case. Fandom Fest is definitely a starfucker con, with some programming glommed onto the side of it, and a horror con tacked on for good measure. Mad Monster Party is a starfucker con with a badass party attached, and people seem to love it.
I just don’t. If it’s your thing, that’s awesome. If you can actually manage to connect with someone for the ten seconds you get to talk to them, or if you want to support them and thank them with your dollars for the joy they’ve brought into your lives with their work, that’s your choice. For me, I want people to enjoy my work, not the spectacle of meeting me (and God knows meeting me sometimes turns into a goddamn spectacle).
There’s gotten to be a lot of talk all over the place about everybody charging for autographs, all kinds of folks from writers, to comic artists, to Magic:the Gathering Artists, to actors, etc.
Here’s my promise to you – I will never charge money for an autograph on a book that I’ve worked on unless you’re obviously just getting it autographed to increase the value of it. If you’re a fan, and you’ve spent money on my book, or even if you got it as a gift, or just happen to have it, I promise I’ll sign it for free. Personalized or not, your call.
Now if I ever convince someone to hire me to write comics and you show up with a stack of twenty copies of Issue #1 and want them all signed, none personalized, then the first one’s free and we’re gonna have to talk about the other copies you want for eBay.
Because I understand that sometimes people are just in it to monetize a signature, and that’s not cool to the artist/actor/writer/musician. When I did Mad Monster Party a few years ago, I think Corey Feldman was only personalizing thing, he wouldn’t do just a signature. Because he wanted to sign things for his fans, not for eBay. And I respect that. And I understand that people have costs to recoup associated with travelling to cons. God knows I understand, I just dropped almost $2K to go to Dragon Con.
But if you’ve bought something of mine, and aren’t looking to monetize it, then I’m not going to charge for an autograph. I just don’t think it’s right. I also will not charge for photos taken with me, because if you want my ugly mug in your camera, you must really be a fan. And I sure as hell will never charge just to come up to my table and meet me, that to me seems the height if hubris. I do admit that if I’m ever famous enough to where a convention pays for me to be there, and I’m working for the con all weekend, I may not be in charge of what the convention charges for those things. But I won’t ever do it, personally.
This is inspired by a bunch of things that I’ve seen this past year – a blog post by a dad who paid almost $300 to have his kids’ picture taken with the Weasley family from the Harry Potter movies, a comic artist at Heroes Con charging for signatures on anything you didn’t buy from his table, a Magic artist charging for signatures on cards he did the art for, and a general growth across all parts of the creative industry of a desire to get as much out of the fans as we can, all because somebody else is milking them, and they’re willing to pay it.
Well, maybe, just maybe, you should give something back to the fans who allow you to have the life you have. I’m not saying give away free shit, but certainly if someone who loves your work enough to carry a heavy-ass hardback all the way across a convention center to get it signed, give them a little personal attention and a moment of your time, instead of trying to get a couple bucks out of them for the minute and a half you spend with them. You’ll make more in the long run by modeling yourself after folks like Mark Poole, Brandon Sanderson, Pat Conroy, Orson Scott Card and others I’ve seen or heard of staying long after signings to make sure everyone’s stuff is signed, or just folks that are super-accommodating to their fans.
I know this is long, and I know there are parts where I seem to contradict myself, but it’s a complicated issue. At the end of the day, being at a convention is for the fans, and we’re all fans, too. It does us well to remember that, and to wonder how we’d feel if we walked up to a creator with our favorite book, comic, or Magic card, only to be greeted with a sign telling us it’s $3 for a signature.
So before you try to squeeze more blood from the stone of fandom, maybe ask yourself if you’re giving enough back. A lot of you are, but maybe a few could look outside their wallet a little more.
