Category: ConArtist

I wanted to add some follow up to my recent visit on the Self-Publishing Podcast and go a little more into my scrappiest networking tricks. If you haven’t checked out the episode yet, click here to fill your ears with good stuff. PS It’s not a kids’ show.

Aaaaand if you want all my articles on the sort of stuff, keep an eye on donovanscherer.com/conartist

Now, here’s your bonus stuff:

Networking with Peers
Comic conventions are bursting at the seams with talented people. If there’s something you need to help your business or some way you can help others, this is a great place to find what you’re looking for.

For one of my recent shows, I saw that Erin Mehlos, artist behind the Unicorn Western and Dream Engine cover, would be attending. While I didn’t know of anything we could do to help out each other’s businesses, I knew it would be cool to get a picture together with the covers we’ve both done for Sterling & Stone. Not some kind of big money-maker, but one of those cool brand-building social media thingamajigs. Scrappy, right?

Shows will generally have a list of the artists, celebrities, and exhibitors, so you can see who will be around. If you’re an author in need of a new cover designer or you find somebody who you would like to team up with, do some early research to see what they bring to the table or what you can do to help.

Scrappy Tip:
As authors, a lot of us also have little side businesses to support our wordsmithing. For example, I offer cover design and character illustration. By having that sort of work represented at my table through artwork, I’ve managed to pull in a bit of freelance work. My ZomBeans game has even gotten me a job teaching at the college I graduated from! If you have a side gig like editing, podcasting, cover design, or whatever, make it known and it may pull up some work. You could throw a little sign on your table showing what you offer, or just see if it comes up in conversation throughout the day.

And hey! This article has five pages in it, so make sure you get to them all. Trying to make the numbering a little more obvious but web design, right?

Here are some ramblings on why I focus my book business on live events.

Before writing books, I got my first case of entrepreneur-itis organizing local concerts. I set up shows at local bars that I could talk into opening the doors for the all-ages scene, and bigger halls for full day events. Some of the shows had hundreds of kids show up, all ready to rock.

When I got into putting my stories to paper, I had no idea what I was doing as far as the internet was concerned. I don’t think I had even met a Kindle at that point. So I went with what I knew – live events. Since my books are full of illustrations and I considered myself as much an illustrator as I did a writer, comic conventions seemed like a good fit.

I knew that books could be a tough sell in a show where you’re surrounded by tons of great artwork. Lucky for me, I had a couple secret weapons to help me get started.

My books are full of illustrations so going as visual as possible with my display made sense. And since I draw and was a graphic designer by trade, prettying up my table setup wasn’t much of a stretch. If art doesn’t come naturally to you, check out my Eye Candy article for some ideas to spice up your display.

The concert days also gave me some experience in merchandising. I had been working directly with bands, making t-shirts, CDs, and buttons – things to give out or sell to people that already had their albums. Since I only had two books when I started doing conventions, this seemed like the way to go.

And it worked.

I’ve done a lot of shows since starting and have had plenty of time to refine what I bring to the table. For example, so long, T-shirts! While they are a nice things to have for fans, they’re super bulky to bring on the road when you’re hauling boxes of books. I’ve also done a lot to improve my display. Check out the Setting the Stage article to see how things have come along.

As writers or authors, we have to spend a lot of time working/living in our little vacuums whether its to charge up the imagination or to get our butts in the seat and start bringing our ideas to life. While I know selling books online is waaay more scalable than just doing shows, it’s nice to be able to break away from the computer and see what’s outside your bubble. Being able to meet people who are excited to check out your work, and seeing old readers come back for more is really great.

Walking away from a show with a wad full of cash isn’t bad either.

If you think bringing your wares to comic conventions is something that might be up your alley (get it? ‘cuz Artist Alley… okay), check out my Author’s Guide to Comic Conventions post.

Authors! Want to shiny up your display at live events? Check out Ratatat Graphics for custom illustration. See your characters brought to life in the glorious Second Dimension!!!

This may be useful for anyone interested in selling their work at comic conventions, but today we’ll be focusing on authors. If you haven’t yet, check out The Con Game article for more on why I focus my book sales on comic conventions.

First Things First
Let me explain some stuff about my work so you know right where I’m coming from. Conventions may not be a good fit for everyone but if you’re looking for a new way to sell your stories and meet new fans, I think they’re pretty great.

• My books are Middle Grade. If you’re selling original work in a world of super heroes and movie stars, it’s best to know your audience. Comic conventions are full of kids and adults who refuse to grow up, so it’s a good fit for me. If you’re writing fantasy, sci-fi, horror, or super hero stories, you’re sure to find an audience here.

• I’ve got years of experience in customer service. From my days of popcorn slanging in a movie theater to my time of handing out bullets at Gander Mountain, handling a crowd is no problem for me. A big comic convention is like working the holiday rush in retail, except it’s up to you to make the sale instead of the Black Friday doorbuster ad in the newspaper.

• I draw. My books are illustrated, about one picture per ten pages. I have built up a lot of work to add to the visual appeal of my table. While this all isn’t necessary, it does help a lot to make you stand out in the sea of awesomeness that is the Artist Alley. If you aren’t able to produce your own visual supplements to your books, check out my Eye Candy article for some ideas.

Why an Author Should Consider Comic Conventions
Most of the words of wisdom out there for indie publishing focus on getting things going on Amazon. Not today, my fellow scribe!

The internet is hard. In 2014, I totally owned the Scary Stories category during the week of Halloween with my book, Monsters Around the Campfire. Despite a bunch of online promotions I had done, after Halloween, it was back to the crickets I was used to hearing. This was a real bummer because I had released the book only on Kindle. I was broke at the time with one ISBN left (those things are stupid expensive) so I decided to try my hand at a non-print release. I failed.

But now, I’ve got Monsters in print, and just as I’ve been doing since 2010, selling paperbacks is no problemo. But why is it that I can move more books in print at $10 than I can a 99 cent eBook?

Awareness.

There’s so much online and so many people that are good at doing that internet thing, why not narrow down the playing field? While there is plenty of competition at live shows, they give you a chance to meet and talk to your future fans. The people who have bought my books at shows are people that I talked with and got to know, even if for just a couple minutes.

And if you have always focused on online sales, many of the basics still apply here. For example, everyone that buys a book from me, and some that don’t, I get to sign up for the email list so they can get free goodies and I can let them know when the next book is out. See. That’s the con behind conventions. It isn’t to try and make a living by what you earn at shows. It’s to connect directly with your readers and to become an author whose work they look forward to reading. Just like how we do on the internet but I’m willing to bet any reader out there is going to have a fonder memory of the author they met in person over the one who turned up in their “Also Boughts”.

Let’s Get Started
Hmm. This article is looking longer than I had expected to be what with the ramblings and such. So here are some links instead of me adding more to this monstrosity.

Start Small, Start Local

Setting the Stage

Eye Candy

I’m planning on posting some more of these over time because, you know, the internet. If you want to keep an eye on things, sign up for the mailing list. It’s mostly geared toward my fiction audience, but any big news on this other weird stuff will also be coming from there… for now.

Authors! Want to shiny up your display at live events? Check out Ratatat Graphics for custom illustration. See your characters brought to life in the glorious Second Dimension!!!