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davemerrillWe went to the Cambridge show! And it was OK! Very super heroey. Cosplayers front and center blocking the doors of the library with photo shoots of Dude Dressed As Dr. Evil (bringing the role back to Ontario, as it were) and Pink Power Ranger, and Guys Staring At Pink Power Ranger's Butt. We printed a lot of zines but only sold a few. The crowd was mostly People Who Bring Their Kids To The Library On Saturday Anyway - a demographic I support fully, but not one really in the market for self-published comics. Especially not self published comics that aren't very kid friendly. Other tables were a pretty typical mix of aspiring super hero artists, a smattering of edgy zombie monstery professional illustrators all chatting with each other about next week's Fan Expo, one table of people selling their board game.
On the plus side, the table was free, the event was well-run and provided coffee, pizza, water, and snacks to the artists. It was nice to table again, it's been a while. The zines and the promo stuff we produced for the show can, of course, easily be used for the next show. I brought the strip I'm working on and Shain brought her sketchbook and we spent most of the time working on our various projects, and having a solid block of time away from typical distractions was really helpful. We handed out a lot of postcards and met a few people and swapped comics with one guy.
The minus side was that this really wasn't our crowd, the event wasn't that well attended, and it's a solid hour of 401 traffic away from our place. If it happens again next year, and the tables are still free, then it might be a thing we think about. But it, and tabling in general, are such a commitment- gas money, supplies, and time - that I don't know if it's worth it. Certainly for a show that pretty much sucks up an entire day, for us the return on investment is dependent on many factors.
I think we'd sell more zines at a show like Con Bravo, at a larger, more eclectic convention. Of course those tables cost more money and demand a larger time commitment. There was a zine festival last Saturday in Toronto that we probably would have done fine at - "Zine Dream" - but one half of a table was $30, which isn't onerous, but still, it's more than zero. It becomes a question of, are you at the con to sell zines, or are you selling zines to be at the con? Are you making comics just to give yourself an excuse to attend as many conventions as you can? Because I've seen that mindset in action and it might be great for some, but I don't want to attend as many conventions as humanly possible. I'm 47. I value my weekends away from my actual job that pays my actual bills.
(I did buy a zine from a guy at "Zine Dream" and chatted with him for a bit about zines and I mentioned the Cambridge comics show, and he lives in Cambridge and had heard nothing about the show. I think if you aren't an aspiring super hero artist, the Cambridge show just wasn't on your radar, if you aren't a super hero fan, the Cambridge show just didn't know how to reach out to you.)
Back in the 1998 daze, we knew enough people that we could send an email and get a free artists alley table at AWA, at ACen, at AZ, at A-Kon, you name it, we could get a table and camp at it for however long we wanted, selling whatever. Most conventions, with the exception of late Saturday nights at Anime North, do not operate like that any more, for several very good reasons. I'm good with doing the very occasional zine or comic show and distributing most of our published output on a one-on-one basis.
Anyway we did meet a guy at the Cambridge show sporting a t-shirt from the 1972 anime series Dokonjo Gaeru, the show about the frog squished onto the kid's T-shirt. He bought the shirt in a local thrift store. So jealous!!
Sunday we met visiting Twitter anime pal Dylan for lunch at a crowded, slow, brunch-filled Lakeview, and then we dropped him off and drove out to Grand Bend and got in some late summer swimming and beach time. The water was just about perfect. We got back to town really late and that was the weekend. Oh yeah, we stopped off at the antique mall in Stratford.
On the plus side, the table was free, the event was well-run and provided coffee, pizza, water, and snacks to the artists. It was nice to table again, it's been a while. The zines and the promo stuff we produced for the show can, of course, easily be used for the next show. I brought the strip I'm working on and Shain brought her sketchbook and we spent most of the time working on our various projects, and having a solid block of time away from typical distractions was really helpful. We handed out a lot of postcards and met a few people and swapped comics with one guy.
The minus side was that this really wasn't our crowd, the event wasn't that well attended, and it's a solid hour of 401 traffic away from our place. If it happens again next year, and the tables are still free, then it might be a thing we think about. But it, and tabling in general, are such a commitment- gas money, supplies, and time - that I don't know if it's worth it. Certainly for a show that pretty much sucks up an entire day, for us the return on investment is dependent on many factors.
I think we'd sell more zines at a show like Con Bravo, at a larger, more eclectic convention. Of course those tables cost more money and demand a larger time commitment. There was a zine festival last Saturday in Toronto that we probably would have done fine at - "Zine Dream" - but one half of a table was $30, which isn't onerous, but still, it's more than zero. It becomes a question of, are you at the con to sell zines, or are you selling zines to be at the con? Are you making comics just to give yourself an excuse to attend as many conventions as you can? Because I've seen that mindset in action and it might be great for some, but I don't want to attend as many conventions as humanly possible. I'm 47. I value my weekends away from my actual job that pays my actual bills.
(I did buy a zine from a guy at "Zine Dream" and chatted with him for a bit about zines and I mentioned the Cambridge comics show, and he lives in Cambridge and had heard nothing about the show. I think if you aren't an aspiring super hero artist, the Cambridge show just wasn't on your radar, if you aren't a super hero fan, the Cambridge show just didn't know how to reach out to you.)
Back in the 1998 daze, we knew enough people that we could send an email and get a free artists alley table at AWA, at ACen, at AZ, at A-Kon, you name it, we could get a table and camp at it for however long we wanted, selling whatever. Most conventions, with the exception of late Saturday nights at Anime North, do not operate like that any more, for several very good reasons. I'm good with doing the very occasional zine or comic show and distributing most of our published output on a one-on-one basis.
Anyway we did meet a guy at the Cambridge show sporting a t-shirt from the 1972 anime series Dokonjo Gaeru, the show about the frog squished onto the kid's T-shirt. He bought the shirt in a local thrift store. So jealous!!
Sunday we met visiting Twitter anime pal Dylan for lunch at a crowded, slow, brunch-filled Lakeview, and then we dropped him off and drove out to Grand Bend and got in some late summer swimming and beach time. The water was just about perfect. We got back to town really late and that was the weekend. Oh yeah, we stopped off at the antique mall in Stratford.
