Cons and local fairs

[munboy]

Anybody else do different Cons and local events to sell books and meet new readers?
Since I've started publishing 3 years ago, I've been working my way up to 3-4 cons a year (plus a few local events a year). Until this year. I did the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, which was by far my biggest con as a vendor. I met a lot of nice people both visitors and other authors/artists, but financially it was a bust when factoring in travel costs. Usually, I'm ok with breaking even or coming a little under break even, but this was so bad that I blew through a huge chuck of my "writing/marketing" budget and had to cancel several events (luckily, I hadn't paid for them yet), so I only did 2 cons this year.
For you independent authors out there, is attending cons worth it to you? Would you rather spend the 100s of dollars on online ads and marketing instead of attending events? That does make so much more sense to me, but I love going to cons and actually getting to talk to readers face to face. I love meeting people as passionate about reading as I am about writing. Or meeting aspiring writers and answer their questions the best I can. I love doing panels and hearing from other writers. I love the networking with authors, artists, and other creatives. While I'd love to boost my sales with more ads and marketing, it's hard to give up the human connection part of doing events. What say you?

[Michelle Louring]

I do attend conventions, but they're usually conventions I would go to anyway, so it has never been a question about it being "worth it" for me.
I always earn back my expenses, however, and I really do enjoy getting to talk to readers in person. I have had lots of nice and funny interactions from it   

I'm actually getting ready for a convention next month at the moment and since the con itself is Halloween-themed, I'm spending more time figuring out how to decorate my table than how to sell more books 

[LilyBLily]

If you like the personal contact, you're probably building plenty of goodwill that could result in sales in future. I would not put all the value in conventions on the dollars earned.

That said, there are many reader conventions these days, and some are going to be better for selling books than others. At comic cons, books are an uphill battle. I've been to several of these big cons recently and (as you undoubtedly know now) they get so jammed with people that only the biggest booth displays are visible. It's not easy to pull people toward you and get them interested in less flashy items.

Smaller venues are possibly going to be more cost-effective, but IMO, only if they're book-oriented events. And you have to be sure enough people will come to them; that's the downside to the smaller shows.     

You can lose your shirt just as easily with ads, faster.   

[Vijaya]

I do attend conventions, but they're usually conventions I would go to anyway, so it has never been a question about it being "worth it" for me.
I always earn back my expenses, however, and I really do enjoy getting to talk to readers in person. I have had lots of nice and funny interactions from it   

This.

Just returned from the Carolinas kidlit conference and feeling very much energized. I don't have a solid writing group in the area so it's really nice to connect with other writers in person.

[munboy]

I do attend conventions, but they're usually conventions I would go to anyway, so it has never been a question about it being "worth it" for me.
I always earn back my expenses, however, and I really do enjoy getting to talk to readers in person. I have had lots of nice and funny interactions from it   

I'm actually getting ready for a convention next month at the moment and since the con itself is Halloween-themed, I'm spending more time figuring out how to decorate my table than how to sell more books 

Kind of curious. Do you find that having a decorated table helps get the attention of possible readers? I usually just set up my banners and books and call it good.

[Mark Gardner]

My wife only allows me to attend 4 multi-day cons a year, and as many single-day events that I get invited to. I usually break even for the multi-day events, often due to the appearance fee or stipend. I usually make a profit on the single-day events.

The last event I did this year was a loss, but I did it because my friend Harry was the guest of honor, and I got a chance to see Arizona authors David Van Dyke and Beth Cato.

[dgcasey]

I've thought that if I was a bit younger, I'd like to go to steampunk cons, all dressed up and such. This would be after I get my steampunk mysteries off the ground. But, I think that's better left to the youngsters.

 

[munboy]

I've thought that if I was a bit younger, I'd like to go to steampunk cons, all dressed up and such. This would be after I get my steampunk mysteries off the ground. But, I think that's better left to the youngsters.

 

Oh no, my friend. I see many older ladies and gentlemen all decked out in steampunk gear at cons. It is quite awesome. Steampunk is such an amazing aesthetic that I saw a couple who must have been in their 60s dressed up and one girl who must have been 13-ish in the garb...and everything in between...at the con I attended this past weekend.

[Michelle Louring]

Kind of curious. Do you find that having a decorated table helps get the attention of possible readers? I usually just set up my banners and books and call it good.

I only recently started to put more effort into decorating, so I can't really say yet. However, what I do find really helps is reaching out to people who walks by.
I'm the kind of person who will just politely sit at my table and let people come to me... which isn't very effective  On the other hand, I have friends who will stop by my table and then randomly start calling out to people and ask if they aren't interested in buying a book, and suddenly they will have doubled my sales for the day!

[Michelle Louring]

I've thought that if I was a bit younger, I'd like to go to steampunk cons, all dressed up and such. This would be after I get my steampunk mysteries off the ground. But, I think that's better left to the youngsters.

 

Oh no, my friend. I see many older ladies and gentlemen all decked out in steampunk gear at cons. It is quite awesome. Steampunk is such an amazing aesthetic that I saw a couple who must have been in their 60s dressed up and one girl who must have been 13-ish in the garb...and everything in between...at the con I attended this past weekend.

I second this. I go to a lot of cosplay cons (where I cosplay as well) and everyone thinks it's awesome when the older generation joins in!

[TimothyEllis]

Conventions are on my to-do list.

But until my health improves, I'm not going anywhere.

I'd like to do a selection of them across the US, joining up with local authors and sharing the costs on a larger joint stand. Gives you backup to man the stand while you have food and toilet breaks, stage calls, or whatever. Cons are damned hard to do alone. I've not done one yet, but I did a lot in the past in different life-focus.

And yes, need to be dressed in my own uniform. (Need to find someone to make it for me.)

[munboy]

joining up with local authors and sharing the costs on a larger joint stand.

This reminds me of something an author friend of mine told me this past weekend.

Normally authors can get the smaller (cheaper) artist alley tables, but last month in Salt Lake City, a small publisher crammed several authors behind the table in the small space at FanX (their comic con since they can't call it comic con) and the organizers told them they couldn't do that because it was making their neighbors uncomfortable. The publishers threw such a huge hissy fit that FanX booted ALL authors out of artist alley, so they have to purchase the larger (expensive) space.

That stinks because FanX was on my radar for next year, but now if I do it, I'll have to see if my buddy will go in for the larger vendor space with me. We've done several cons together, but always try to get our booths away from each other so we're not in direct competition with each other since we write similar genres.

[munboy]

Kind of curious. Do you find that having a decorated table helps get the attention of possible readers? I usually just set up my banners and books and call it good.

I only recently started to put more effort into decorating, so I can't really say yet. However, what I do find really helps is reaching out to people who walks by.
I'm the kind of person who will just politely sit at my table and let people come to me... which isn't very effective  On the other hand, I have friends who will stop by my table and then randomly start calling out to people and ask if they aren't interested in buying a book, and suddenly they will have doubled my sales for the day!

I'm kind of the same way. I'm an introvert (being around people wears me out), but I'm not shy. I have no problem talking to people individually or in front of large groups. My problem is I overthink things and don't want people to feel like I'm bothering them. I think if people are readers and are interested in buying books, they'll stop. I don't want to flag them down and bother them if they're not interested. It's a flaw and bad marketing, for lack of a better term.

I am considering standing in front of my table and handing out bookmarks at my next event. It's something I started to do until Emerald City Comic Con. I never had so many people refuse a free bookmark (and not even a sales pitch!) before and it deflated me a little so all I wanted to do was hide out behind the table and let the book nerds come find me. ECCC was a baaaaad con for me. 

[CoraBuhlert]

I enjoy cons, but I mostly go to meet people, attend and take part in programming. IMO, cons are great for interacting with fans and fellow writers and for making connections. I do bring some books along, but so far I've never rented a table at a con.

I do have some experience manning sales tables from my time as the sales manager of the university magazine. We regularly set up our table at university events, literature events or simply in the cafeteria and we sold a lot more magazines than we would otherwise have. And indeed, the mag folded not long after I left.

Here's a few things I have learned: Decoration-wise, at least have a nice tablecloth. Ours was a bright green bedsheet with the logo of our magazine. It's also always good to have something to give away to customers and passers by. Candy or chocolate is always good. Actually, even if you don't have a sales table, bringing candy and chocolate to a con is still a good idea. I bought a bunch of German chocolate and candy to WorldCon 75 in Helsinki and gave them away to people I met. They'll remember you more easily if you give them something nice.

Swag is also good to have. Bookmarks never did much for us. But at university magazine, we had button pins with the logo of the magazine and/or inspirational quotes. We sold them for 1 Euro, I think (because we had to pay for them and had almost no budget), though you can also give them away. They were very popular, at any rate. Badge ribbons are also a popular bit of swag. You can order them and print your book or series title on the ribbon. And because people stick the ribbons to their badge, it's basically free advertising. Here is a photo of my beribboned WorldCon 75 badge.

If you just sit passively behind the table, you'll likely be ignored. So try to strike up conversations with people who pass by. If you have the temperament for it (many pople don't), you can also try the barker or market crier routine. We had one guy who was really good at it and it increased sales.

Finally, get yourself a lockable cashbox and fill it with sufficient change, because inevitably the first person will only have a fifty dollar bill or so. Also look into credit card reader solutions.