Super Fans
Doing shows isn’t just a great way to get new fans, when you do them often, it helps you reconnect with the old ones. If people have purchased your books, artwork, or doodads at shows, there’s a good chance they’ll recognize what you have on display, if not your beautiful face. While you should do what you can to get all your new fans on your mailing list so that you can stay in touch between the cons, sometimes things fall between the cracks. But that’s okay, plenty of second chances at these things.
If you have people come up who know your work, now’s a chance to find out what they thought, what they want next, and your opportunity to turn them into a super fan. If your willing to part with it, give them some insider information of your story, or even the process you use to create your work. If want to be like you when they grow up (this applies to adults, too), let them know how you got started, what hurdles you had to jump over.
Sometimes, your super fans might even be able to help you out. All of the beta readers of my books were originally fans or parents of fans that wanted to be able to get some behind-the-scenes for how the story all came together.
Scrappy Tip:
It can be hard to remember people’s names after a weekend of thousands of new faces. While most people at shows won’t necessarily expect you to remember the next time you come to town, it can be a nice gesture.
If your new super fan to be made a purchase from you, go ahead and ask if they’d like to get a picture (being in the artist alley grants you some weird level of celebrity). After they snap their pic, give them something with links to the social media channel you use and ask them to post it there. Then, once you get home from the show and your brain has had a chance to settle down, you’ll have a little reminder of the name of that totally awesome person. And if your new super fan’s post goes out to all their friends, it just promoted your page to everybody. Not too shabby.
