Anime Central 2013 -- Post Con

edited May 2013 in On The Road
Can you guys repost your blog and facebook con reports in here too?

Here's mine:

114 copies of Amala's Blade.

Booyah.

Comments

  • Holy fuck, that's a lot. You outsold all of us by volume, 5x over.
  • My acen sales totals:
    SS#4: 0 copies (expected)
    SS Digest 1 and 2: 5 each
    OCP singles: 4 (plus 4 given away)
    OCP trade: 10
    Criminal Element trade: 10
    One Last Thing: 7
    Sketch cards: 4 for $23
    My art: 8 pieces for $83
    Marv's art: $30 (I owe you another check, @marvinmann)
    The books from my own collection in the shortbox on the table: $205. And that's amazing, yet again.
  • Jeezus... 114.  Those are single issues?
    Are you shipping that many books or bringing them with you?

    I have to admit, I'm really bad at keeping track of inventory.
    I tend to work off the dollar total at the end.
    Sometimes I give books out as promotion items to retailers and other pros, so I can't remember what I sold versus what I gave out.
  • edited May 2013
    Yep, single issues! This was a local show, so I filled my trunk with books and had a wheel cart for all the Diamond boxes. I had just a single box of books left over ... mostly #0s. I've reordered since then. Lucky for me the book was not a sellout, so I can keep ordering til they run out.
  • @SteveHorton - Ah, I see.  That's damn cool. That's a lot of potential return customers.
  • All weekend, I kept telling him, IF ONLY YOU HAD THE TRADE.
  • @SteveHorton - Ah, I see.  That's damn cool. That's a lot of potential return customers.
    Yeah, I made sure to mention when issue 2 is out and to order it from their LCS. Plus, some of them could be back for the trade next year.

  • Hey all, came here via the article on tabling at cons, and found this one about wrap-ups for ACEN.

    Missed ACEN last year, but wanted to come back this year with a vengeance, and was very pleasantly surprised at how well I was able to do in Artist Alley this year. Had lots of new poster art for sale, and plenty of graphic novels. No new books, so I did have some concern that people wouldn't be driven as much by the poster art. Man, was I wrong!

    My best seller on the table was the most expensive thing I had; my LITTLE WHITE MOUSE Omnibus Edition ($20 at table), and lots of sales of people just picking up one of each book, at $50 for the whole set. But my highest volume was posters, and at $10 a pop, people seemed to eat them up. Made table in 1 hour, 3 days of hotel by the end of day 1, so it was two full days of (essentially) profit from there on out. 

    THAT is why I love this con; people are willing to try new stuff they haven't seen before. I would have had to talk myself hoarse to sell 1/5th of what I did in one day at ACEN. Regular comic cons nearly killed my desire to do conventions, and ACEN restored my faith that there still are comic fans who aren't bitter fanboys who only want super-heroes. I'm back next year for sure.
  • edited May 2013
    Thanks for your input, Paul! Great seeing you here again! Sorry I missed saying Hi this year but you looked slammed every time I walked by. I've still got that Reimagined Wonder Woman print from two years ago.

    You know what the solution to no new books is, right? ;)
  • Yes, the problem of doing a solo table; I got out nearly 0% to walk the con floor or visit with people.
    Oh yeah, don't worry; New stuff is in the mix! : )
  • Agreed, Paul. I had two new books on the table (one a $15 volume 2 graphic novel in a series), and expected to have extremely high sales. Despite falling short of my expectations, upon calculating the numbers I did exceed last year's sales - by a small margin.

    Still, that's growth - and growth is always a good thing. Below is my con report:

    Last weekend was another awesome and amazing ACEN
    – this third largest animation convention in the country, and my
    favorite convention to attend as a guest. It’s also a very strong sales
    show, and has a very enthusiastic fan base. This was my 5th year as a
    guest at the show, and the experience just keeps getting better every
    year.

    THURSDAY:

    After work, I headed over to the convention center from downtown
    Chicago. During my walk from the train to the hotel I was recognized by
    several fans and attendees, all of whom were in good spirits for the
    impending fun that would occur this weekend.

    Upon arriving at the show, I went to con ops to get my badge and room
    keys, dropped off my stuff, and headed to dinner with the other comic
    guests including Russell Lissau (Strawberry Shortcake, Shrek), John
    Bivens (Comic Book Tattoo, Reading with Pictures), and his wife,
    Mallory. Steve Horton (Amala’s Blade) showed up a little later. After
    dinner, we headed up to V to enjoy some drinks with the other guests and
    some of the ACEN staff. Then it was off to bed because – silly me – I
    decided working out in the morning would be a fun way to start the day
    on Friday.



    Mallory poses with her delicious baked goods, celebrating Russell’s birthday

    FRIDAY:

    6:30am rolled around, and our alarm sounded. Since I’m in wedding boot
    camp, I’m trying to go to the gym 2-3x per week so I’m…less skinny for
    my wedding. Bivens was kind enough to join me, and we did a full arms
    and shoulders workout for an hour. We were joined by Jessie Pridemore,
    who handles the masquerade for the show every year – and has some
    amazing cosplays!

    After the workout, we showered and headed to breakfast – and then
    headed to the floor to set up for our weekend of selling. There was some
    confusion on our location on the floor, but after a quick conversation
    with the appropriate people we were able to locate to the correct
    location – which totally rocked! Sales were extremely high on Friday,
    with volume 2 of my latest book selling insane amounts! Always a good
    thing.



    Russell Lissau is ready for commerce, baby!

    After the floor closed, we headed off for a quick dinner before
    heading to our panels for the evening. Russ and Steve had a Superman vs
    Batman panel, which was standing room only and had a line waiting to get
    in. During the panel, Steve’s wife showed up to celebrate their 10 year
    anniversary in front of a crowd of a hundred people. It was really
    cute, and I was glad to play a role in their special day.

    After their panel ended, I headed to Bivens Drawing Comics panel
    already in progress. Gabe had joined him, and the two were having a
    great time giving an entertaining and educational panel about visual
    storytelling and pacing. After their panel ended, I had about 20 minutes
    before my Panel That Shall Not Be Named. This has been a convention
    staple, and usually has a full room. This year the show gave me a very
    large room for the panel, and it was pretty full for the entire duration
    of the hour. The panel was a ton of fun, and a great way to end the
    night on a high note.

    After the panels the group headed up to V for more drinks and hanging out, and then headed off to bed.

    SATURDAY:

    Breakfast was the order of the morning, with some delicious gourmet
    buffet-style with fresh fruit and juice. A solid breakfast makes for a
    solid day, so after we headed to the floor to get to selling. Traffic on
    Saturday was record-breaking for ACEN, with a huge number of attendees
    coming in to shop and buy and check things out.



    Between sales there’s always time to make silly faces

    Friday sales had been so strong, Saturday seemed to lag a little –
    which was surprising. However, this was more than made up later in the
    evening after the panels. There was a lot of interest in the new books
    on the table, including the launch of the Albert the Alien webcomic series. Lots of new fans and friends were made as books were flying off the shelf – including my remaining copies of Reading with Pictures volume 1 (now out of print).



    Trevor, selling some comics

    However, Saturday was a ton of fun – with the group getting a chance
    to be goofy behind the tables, as well as checking out the fantastic
    cosplays people put together for the show. Some seriously artistic and
    creative people out there.

    After the floor closed, we all headed to dinner – enjoying some 18
    year old scotch and delicious food. We then headed off to our Making
    Comics panel – which was an all comic guest panel Q&A about making
    comics. Some excellent questions and hilarious jokes later, the panel
    was over and it was off to quickly moderate my next panel – Making
    Webcomics. The rooms for both panels were filled to the brim, and I used
    the panel as another Q&A format to help answer questions people had
    about their own webcomics – or the process in general.

    After the panels, I headed up to V for a final night of hanging out
    with good company. I got to chat with Brad Swaile until all hours, enjoy
    some tasty beverages, and laugh until I had no voice.

    SUNDAY:

    Sunday saw a 9am press call, which was well attended and we got some
    great questions. The group all had specialties to focus on, and input to
    each of the questions. After the press call, it was time for our final
    breakfast together- followed by a bum rush to the floor for the final
    day of selling.



    John and Mallory pose in front of their booth at ACEN 2013

    Sunday is family day at shows like ACEN, and this is when Albert the
    Alien tends to shine. I almost sold out of my entire stock, some from
    families and some from panel attendees from the previous nights of the
    show. I sold out of Junkyard Chase and one of my Albert books before the
    end of the day. All in all, the show was fantastic.

    After the show, Beth showed up to come get me and we packed the car
    and headed out to dinner with the gang. We were joined by Sean and Sara
    from Spinnerette and connected on how well they did during the weekend, on the next show we would all be doing together (Anime MidWest),
    and on how we can connect outside of the shows a bit more (Ravinia has
    Lord of the Rings the Two Towers in August with live orchestral
    accompaniment).

    Once again, ACEN sets the bar high for a fun weekend and a great
    convention. I would like to thank the staff and volunteers for putting
    together a phenomenal show; the fans I’ve made who continue to support
    the work, tell their friends about me, and attend my panels; and my
    amazing friends, without their support I would not be able to do what I
    love so much. You guys all rock, and from the bottom of my heart, I
    thank you!



    Trevor stands by his books – figuratively and literally

  • Hey Trevor, please post the photos of our tables over in the AA dos and donts thread Steve created.
  • Loving these!  Great shots and displays.  I bow to your awesomeness of signage.  I have a lot to learn.

  • @RussellLissau you can just copy / paste the image location from either this blog or your FB :)
Sign In or Register to comment.