Comments on: Selling indie comics at cons

By: Emperor

Emperor — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:55:41 +0000

Also; what the industry needs, is an alternative to Diamond. Diamond dictates prices, and dictates what ships. However, I imagine that the competition to diamond would be almost exactly like diamond, and without a large footprint built already; diamond would crush them through sheer money.

“Oh so you’re gonna try to distribute here? Ill give you a one month discount of half-off to use us.” You lose the business; and on a start-up; even a single month with slowed sales could be enough to kill you.

Or, I’ve heard one of their all time favorite strategies: “If you skip buying from us this month; you forfeit your credit towards discounts, and ave to start over again. The more a retailer buys from them; the larger discount they get. Those discounts are still good for profit margin, but it makes start-up stores hard. And it makes owners feel like they’ve invested in diamond.”

By: Emperor

Emperor — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:51:20 +0000

Im definately gonna grab a table next year. You have to remember, vending at the table should be secondary, and be made of more exclusive things like signed books and prints.

Your true rake isn’t in actual money or cashflow from the table; but from social capital. Bring lots of business cards, free fliers, promo comics, etc. You’ll do 1000x better when your building future business, and you’ll have a 500% better attitude. You’ll be meeting your objectives, and won’t be pushing anyone to buy. And if a person here or there does buy; thats just more icing on the cake!

By: Patrick Dean

Patrick Dean — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:43:39 +0000

I don’t care if I make ten bucks at my table next year. I want to grab an Indie Island table because the folks I traveled with who set up there had a blast while I talked to comic creators and thumbed through long boxes for old Jimmy Olsen issues.

By: Daniel Davis

Daniel Davis — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:01:40 +0000

Thanks too, for the mention of our booth and wares here.

Sadly, I look plenty mopey in the photo myself. (Dang secret shooters)

We usually only do shows on the West Coast (ECCC, Stumptown, Wondercon, APE, SDCC, Phoenix Comicon), but we’ve been hearing great things about Heroes from day one. That’s why we came.

We had a splendid time at Heroes-Con and met lots of really fun people.

We moved a lot of product, but we had some very steep costs to overcome.

While we may have not brought in the big bucks, we did meet some of our other convention goals: Make Friends, Make Fans, Have Fun.

In these, we were very successful.

By: Dustin Harbin

Dustin Harbin — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:06:06 +0000

Oh, Liz Prince, how you kid! Liz Baillie is great, really great–but can’t you be happy being Liz Prince? Have faith in yourself: we can’t ALL be Baillies, after all. Imagine what it’s like for me–I don’t even share a GENDER with Liz Baillie. You’re much closer than I’ll ever be.

By: StevenRowe

StevenRowe — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:07:52 +0000

I’ve attended every one of the Heroes Cons, and there have always been indie comics there – this year there was a lot more competition than usual.
I have a budget and I spent it, buying books from the usual suspects (I have to admire Chris Staros who recognizes me every year – not sure how he does that), and from a handful of new folks to me, usually recommended by someone whose taste is somewhat similar. I saw but really didnt even stop at Buenaventura (i dont recall seeing Picturebox or Bodega) – why didnt I stop? I’m not sure – the table seemed less a publisher than a comic shop? wasnt inviting enough? Nothing caught my eye? With that many folks in booths and on the floor, you have to do something to catch my eye as I walk by. Now I feel sure that my taste isnt everybody’s taste – but how do you show me as i walk by, why I should stop… The place is too big to stop at every table.

By: nvigneaux

nvigneaux — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:33:50 +0000

I agree with Ben Towle, but I didn’t want to be the one to say it. Charlotte is about 180 degrees in the other direction from Portland and San Francisco. I’m actually surprised how well indie books do at Heroes Con when I think about what Charlotte is known for–NASCAR, Banking, and Churches.

Keep up the good work, Dustin.

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:18:18 +0000

I’m Liz Baillie not Liz Prince! TOO MANY LIZZES!! We should form some all-powerful Voltron-like being. I’ll form the ass!

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:38:54 +0000

Speaking as a customer, I find the hard-sell barker and the surly misanthrope equally odious as a salesman. Is it too much to ask for just a little bit of general affability?

By: Scott Bieser

Scott Bieser — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:41:26 +0000

Even though our sales at Heroes were not what we hoped, they were better than the worst-case-scenario we feared. Kudos to Dustin and Shelton for their efforts, and we do plan to return in 2009.

By: Dustin Harbin

Dustin Harbin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:05:34 +0000

Without spending too much time on this, I would say that ALL of the questions about superhero-vs-indie, etc., are intrinsically boring and should be ignored. While that might be the reality on the ground–that HeroesCon is essentially a “mainstream” show with a growing indie component–over the years these distinctions will blur like all such distinctions.

And also, to be clear: I don’t in any way see reports of slow sales as whining or moping. Besides all the fun and everything, the first reason for a publisher to be at one of these things is sales and outreach, and it’s that metric that governs success or failure. I only mentioned those guys by name in the interest of upfront-itude, not in some way to call them out. Not my style.

And thanks to Liz Prince! I’m glad things turned around for you–I was stunned to hear AGAIN AND AGAIN how many people had their best days on Sunday, which any convention veteran will tell you is usually the slowest day. Maybe next year we’ll extend to Monday?

By: Darren J. Gendron

Darren J. Gendron — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:50:12 +0000

With travel fees and the hotel, it’s really hard for me to turn a true profit at Heroes. I admit that one of the main reasons I go there is to have fun, and second is to get new readers. A distant third is to get new buyers. The money-making shows for me are still the Anime shows, but that has more to do with the crowds at the shows and the cash available to certain demographics.
Still, I’d have to count Heroes as a huge success. Even being cut off by the huge Cooke and Fraction crowds, I still got a fair amount of traffic. And this was mostly because I was having fun and keeping my energy level up, and I felt that others realized that.
Also, it helped that I was able to make people laugh.

By: Ben Towle

Ben Towle — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:15:42 +0000

Kenny: “…Indie Island failed so badly…”

Wha?! I think by most anyone’s count, Indie Island was a success (and has been for the last several years–this isn’t the first year of this, you know). The point of my original post really was just to point out that there were plenty of non-superhero folks who did really well at Heroes… and of course had a great time to boot!

One of the things I most enjoy about Heroes is that it’s NOT a “preaching to the converted” situation like SPX or MoCCA, frankly. You’ve got to take a different angle as to how you present yourself and your work, of course, but “superhero people” are not the monolithic automatons that they’re often made out to be in a few of these comments; like the rest of us, they mostly just love comics and are can absolutely be open to new material… if they’re exposed it, which is precisely the point of Indie Island.

Here’s looking forward to next year’s show!

By: The Beat

The Beat — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:52:14 +0000

I think we are all united in how hard Dustin works and what a great job the show does at making guests feel welcome. The South shall rise again!

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:44:23 +0000

I’ll be honest, it was super tough keeping up my usual chipper exterior by Saturday afternoon at Heroes. Usually I’m standing behind the table almost the whole time, trying to smile away at everyone and being chatty, but it was just really hard after Earth-shattering successes at both Stumptown and MoCCA, seeing how little interest there was at Heroes. Luckily in the end when I counted up what I sold, I didn’t do half bad and I was pretty pleased with the result, even if it wasn’t MoCCA or SPX numbers. It was pretty good for a first con in a place I’ve never been and don’t have a strong pre-existing fanbase. I have strong faith that if I continue to go back year after year I’ll start to see those MoCCA and SPX numbers, especially knowing now what sells at Heroes (mainly sketches and original art).

All in all I would say Heroes was a success for me, both sales-wise and fun-wise.

And Dustin Harbin completely and totally rules. I’m sure if he puts in as much next year as he did this year it will be even better than this year.