October27-28, 2006
I wanted to try and do a couple more conventions after San Diego, before the end of the year. For one thing, I’ve got these three books coming out (Dr. DeBunko, Doris Army Battles and Doris in Outer Space), and I wanted a con to shop them. But also, knowing this year is theoretically the year I have to start making a profit, and going to conventions and meeting and hopefully gaining new fans and spreading word seems like it should be the best grass-roots way to build up sales.
It states in the tax guidelines for the IRS that a business must make a profit three out of five years, and I claimed huge losses in 2004 and 2005. This means I have to make a profit this year, and for the next couple after that. I hoped I would get a another nice royalty check for Ojo, like I did in 2005. It had sold so well last year, I got a surprise check that was so ENORMOUS, I fell out of my seat when I opened it. This year I figured, well, sales will of course slow down, but maybe it will still sell a few copies. The royalties came in, and they turned out to be about one five-HUNDREDTH of what I got last year. That is a SERIOUS drop in sales.
So opening the envelope for that royalty check didn’t leave me much hope of making a profit this year. The last two years, my Ojo money made up like two thirds or more of my income. With that gone, I felt pretty hopeless, but thought maybe if I put as many books out as I could, one of them would finally do all right. So I threw together the three issues for Oct-Nov-Dec release, but all of them sold as pathetic as my books usually do, and that was the end of my hopes for a profit this year.
I assumed my only remaining hope was to get out there to a couple more conventions, and pitch pitch pitch. I voiced this to my friend, Dan Cooney, who self-publishes a comic called Valentine. We talked about some possibilities for going out to cons together before 2007 rolled in, and he suggested Stumptown in Portland. It’s a small and newer con (this was its third year), and its emphasis was on indie comics publishers. That sounded like a wise choice for me for a con. Add to that I had relatives to stay with, so I didn’t need to get a hotel. Add to that, it was a five hour drive, but a drive nonetheless, which would save on airfare. And I was sold when I saw Mike Allred listed as a featured guest.
After discussing it, Elizabeth decided it would be best if she stayed home with Oscar, because we’d tried a five-hour-drive vacation, and it was pretty rough with our little newborn. So the plan was for me to drive up with Dan.
Plans changed, after the con was booked, when we learned Elizabeth had to go down to Los Angeles for business. We decided I should take time off from work, and go down with her, and watch Oscar while she was in her meetings. Once her meetings were done, I flew straight from L.A. up to Portland. No extra money spent there, because I would have had to have flown back home anyways, and Dan kindly picked up and drove all my boxes of books up with him, in his car, and then I drove back home with him.
Before leaving for the trip, I learned Mike Allred wouldn’t make it to the con. I had emailed him, saying, “If I come up to the con, would you have time to have dinner or breakfast one day?” He replied it was a possibility, but only if he didn’t have to cancel, since he was working on his Madman film. Of course, he wound up having to cancel. Shucks!
I also emailed Matt Wagner to see if he’d be there. He said he was most likely going to be flown out to a con in Texas, I believe.
Even though I wouldn’t be able to hob-nob with my friends, I was ready and hopeful that this would be a good con for me.