Our first convention! Buying a table space, and showcasing our brand-spanking new issue of Tabloia #572!
We decided to drive down, mostly because we thought it would be easier to take a bunch of stuff with us. It took me hours to pack up, a policy that I haven’t been able to shake. The preparation of getting everything packed and ready to travel is such a pain. I’d had a taste of selling at store signings, and I’d done relatively well, thanks to supportive friends and family. I didn’t know how Tabloia would sell at the actual cons, and it was my first book, and my first convention, and San Diego is THE BIG convention. Even though the book had only sold moderately well through Diamond (600 copies), I was hopeful that an appearance at a show like this would generate lots of interest and sales. I was convinced that not enough people were aware of my book, but if they only became aware, and had a chance to see it, it would catch on and become popular. So we decided to bring two boxes of it – five hundred fifty issues! – just to be safe. We ended up selling maybe thirty, and another thirty to some stores, and then giving some others away and driving home with probably four hundred sixty or so. Ah, to be unexperienced and hopeful and naive.
I had a friend in L.A. who had popped into Hideho Comics when my first issue hit the stores. He’d enjoyed talking with them about my book, and they sounded very supportive to him, recommending I should come down for a signing some time. So I called to see if they would let me do a signing on our way to San Diego Con. We popped in Wednesday, and the con began that night.
By phone they had asked that I split any money I made selling my books there, and that they be able to take a quarter of any original art I sold. I felt, as a new, hopeful (stupid) but struggling artist, I should get any money I made, and they should be happy with all the potential for increased foot traffic I would generate, as well as for all the additional sales that my foot traffic would stir up at their store. Why I thought an unknown moron selling his one unknown book would create this mass of foot traffic and sales, I don’t know. The store and I bargained, and I acknowledged we’re probably only talking about twenty bucks, if I’m lucky. But as soon as I hung up I realized maybe I should have just shut the fuck up and done whatever they said — because they asked and it was their store, and besides, I was a nobody, and what the hell did it matter if they kept a few bucks for their troubles. I ended up only selling one book. And sure a lot of this was because I’m just some unknown hack, but I think the more important result was what if I irritated or pissed them off? What if they decided, why bother putting out any fliers or telling anyone I was coming? Or why should we support this book at all? Valuable lesson. So we sat at Hideho Comics for a couple hours, and basically no one came over or noticed us there. I did enjoy talking with the employees and showing them all the nice pin-ups I had collected for my comic by that time, and they all seemed impressed, and very friendly. They were a great store, and I liked everyone who worked there.
The drive felt like it took forever. It’s about a six hour drive, I’ve heard, but we hit a ton of traffic coming, and a ton of traffic going home, and it took closer to eight. We vowed only to fly to the San Diego Con, from that moment on.