Con Kernels

All right. It’s been a week since con. I’ve had the chance to unwind a little bit and recover. Time for a debrief! What did we learn? What do we need to learn yet? Here’s some hard-won wisdom!

• Practice load-in and load-out, or at least have a good idea of how it’s going to work. Load-in at the con was through a loading dock. Only so many vehicles could get in at a time. We had a good cart that we brought. Nearly everything we brought fit on that cart in one trip, meaning we were in and out of the loading dock so fast! We had planned ahead. My wife made sure everything fit on that cart, and it helped us get set up quickly.

• You probably don’t have control over it, but where your table is on the con floor matters. I don’t know there’s a best place or a worst place, but there are differences. We had the second-closest table to the loading dock, meaning load-in and load-out were ridiculously simple for us.
  
  However, we were on a major thoroughfare for the con. You’d think that would be great for visibility, but what it meant practically is that most people sprinted past us to get to other places.
  
  The aisle was wider than normal to accommodate the extra traffic. Across the aisle was a very colorful anime display. A good chunk of our target audience checked out that booth, but never returned to see the other side of the aisle. And because of the aisle’s large size, we couldn’t engage with them once they were done with that booth.
• That said, your neighbors can make a huge difference. One of our friends was next to an artist that got rather belligerent with them and caused some discomfort. We did not have that problem, and I’m very glad of it! We got to know the artist to one side well, and the two artists on the other side. We watched each other’s tables so we could take bathroom breaks or grab some food. There was a level of trust and comradery that I greatly enjoyed! We’d joke with each other and with con goers. One artist and I ended up serenading a Gaston cosplayer with his song from Beauty and the Beast.
• The people that come to con are amazing. Last week I posted my favorite cosplays, but there were so many fans of various stories that showed up! I met very few grumpy people. Almost everyone was there to have a good time, and it showed.

• So, now, to the business portion! We found we need a much better way to drive engagement. I was trained by the amazing Lydia Sherrer, and she drives people to her table by simply asking, “Do you like to read?” Those that don’t like reading keep walking, which is just fine. She sells books. People who don’t read aren’t her audience. But it stops a lot of other people, allowing her to pitch her books!
  
  I didn’t want to “steal” her line. Since our entire thing is putting out a six-book series every year, we tried, “Can’t wait for book two?” We figured it would draw in the voracious readers.
  
  We were wrong. It just created confusion. It drew in very few people.
  
  My wife and I have workshopped a different question for next year. This year we had Madelyn of the Sky present, all six books, along with book one of Cade and my fantasies from Dark Owl Publishing, Keeper of Tales and Dragons of the Ashfall. Pretty much all fantasy, with the exception of Cade.
  
  Next year, though, we’ll have six Madelyn books and six Cade books. So we’ll ask, “Fantasy or sci fi?” We’ll have some jars to let people vote, and then we’ll pitch the series that matches their vote.

• We sold ebooks! Ebooks generally get us a better profit, so be brought codes printed on stickers that would allow people to download books. I thought we’d sell more of those. After all, we were selling the series cheaper than you could get it for your Kindle! (Speaking of which, we’re now offering that same deal at our online store…)
  
  I still think the idea is good, but we didn’t sell nearly as many as I thought. Something to workshop, possibly.
• Some people were so excited to see us! Sunday afternoon, a pair of ladies approached us. “Tell us about your books!” And then they both purchased Madelyn’s full six-book series! There were some truly easy sales.
• Our covers really did grab a lot of people. So many approached and commented on the covers! And they are amazing. However, once they learned they were novels, not graphic novels, and not illustrated, we lost a lot of people. It’s made me think that maybe at Madelyn’s ten-year anniversary we see about doing an illustrated edition…
• That said, most of the time it was difficult to sell the books. A friend pointed out to us why: We need to sell the book to two people to make one sale. Most books at con, you talk to the person buying the book. Since our books are aimed at middle schoolers, we have to sell to both an adult and a kid. If either one says no, that’s it, no sale.
  
  We saw it more than once. A kid wanted to stop and look at the books. The parent kept walking, eyes locked forward. And then we had a few adults who clearly wanted their kids to like the books… but the kid was staring off at something else.

• We way, way overpurchased books. Based on talking with other authors who had sold at this same con in previous years and making some calculations, we purchased several cases of our own books to sell.
  
  …and we didn’t sell that many.
  
  Had we purchased “the right amount,” we would have broken even with all our costs. Instead, we are in debt to ourselves and have a lot of inventory left.
  
  On the other hand, it means we have inventory to sell ourselves at both our online store and at the next con… assuming we go to another con. This particular con is moving to a much smaller space because the current venue is going under some extreme makeover type stuff and not able to host next year. We may not be able to get in.

• Best part of the con for me: The Saturday night authors’ dinner. A number of the authors get together after to talk shop and just be together. It’s an evening with a lot of laughter and learning. Also good food. Also, I had enough leftovers for two more meals after that.

So, overall, the con was a great experience. We didn’t sell nearly well enough, but I think we can learn from that and sell much better next time. At least I hope so!

In other news, we’re finally starting a Dawnsbrook newsletter! It will have unique content that doesn’t appear on this blog, and you’ll get a special prequel story about Madelyn and how she first raised the Island into the sky! If you’re interested, please use the contact form or comment to send your email, and you’ll get your newsletter four to six times a year!

And (if you didn’t notice up above) we now have an online store! If you want to support us, purchasing from our online store is much better than using Amazon or other online retailers. They take a big cut of the profits; purchasing direct from us supports us much better.

And… go check out local cons. They’re not just fun. You’ll be supporting a lot of artists directly!