TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE December/13 - The Mental Highs/Lows of Convention Sales
And, a strange but thoughtful writing prompt.
♫ I applied for a rescue dog,
But if I get you dog,
You're rescuing me ♫
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2021 -- beyond.
Another con weekend, some new thoughts.
We had a little local thing, the Geek Markets, that due to some shuffling ended up on a new weekend and down to one day. And yet, it was one of the best 6 hour blocks I’ve spent selling my comics in a long time.
The fact I’d made a handful of sales in the very first 45 minutes of opening should’ve been the tip off. I went on to have one of my biggest monetary single sales days in the last 4 years. Staggering to think: a small market/fair gave me more money than a day of sitting at a major city comic convention has in years. It was a nice way to close out the year, and lead into Xmas.
Because I’m a nerd, I keep a spreadsheet on these things, and this weekend gave me the confirmation that ETERNAL is now my highest selling convention comic. It’s just nudged out DEER EDITOR #1 by one sale this weekend. At the same time, I am also now out of copies of ETERNAL. I’ll probably restock on it, because it just always sells, every show, no matter what. That Zawadzki cover lures people in with its beautiful white design and promise of an ethereal Viking narrative.
I think it’s definitely true that the less you have on your table in variety, the more you can sell overall because it’s less overwhelming for people. Also less overwhelming for me. I had 3 main things on the table to push the last two weeks: the SHE hardcover, SKYSCRAPER, and the 4 issues of EVERFROST. Then ETERNAL to the side, looking all slick. I found I could run through those 3 main pitches easily, especially because each one has a different thing to push - the awesome hardcover die cut cover, the newspaper sized spectacle, and the sweeping epic sci fi tale. I’ve done cons before with 7 different titles on the table and I can see the people walking up just have no clue where to focus, and sitting through 7 pitches is really a bit much. I’m happy to have things retire off the table to give the new stuff a chance to sell.
My best thing this past fortnight has been my ‘Buy The Table’ deal where you’d get one of everything for a discounted price. I’ve noticed many people will often just sample one of your things if given a range of choice, but if there’s a deal in the offering, and the discount is right, then people don’t have to make a choice out of a few things they like the look of. I only have to do this a few times a day to really push the $$$ up, which I hugely appreciate. And people are getting a deal, though often some of what I’m selling are comp copies from the publisher. But given what comic writing page rates are, I’ve often banked on convention sales as part of my overall ability to make any money from this comic making malarkey. It really does factor into my decision making process to go with certain publishers. Some pay really high, but you get few comps, so that’s one balance, but some pay pretty low and yet are very generous with their comps, meaning I can get paid in the end. Some pay low and give no comps, and then I’m shit outta luck if I wanna buy myself any red frogs on the weekend.
It was a good con weekend, it cleared out some of my office, and put some money into my wallet for the coming holiday season with my kids, and for everyone that picked up a little something I am hugely grateful, and if they read it and dug it then I am so excited, and if they read it and dug it and told some friends then I am elevating them to the GOAT Tier of the human scale.
Oh, one last thing - conventions are exhausting for the body [my back and feet] but also the mind. Standing and pitching your work constantly, chatting with cool readers, making chit chat with fellow creators, it all takes a mental toll on me. In the same way my back is sore after 2 days of standing at my table, the same for my mental energy. I feel pretty wiped after these days. I also feel like I am certain someone will come away thinking I’m rude. It’s a fun glitch in my brain, especially with other creators, where I’ll think that I didn’t go to their table and now they’ll think I’m rude when really it’s more just I’m a strange concoction of shy that doesn’t really want to bother everyone, and I do think me coming to their table is a bother [they have to deal with me]. But then I worry it makes me come across as rude or something. Despite the fact if someone doesn’t come to my table, I don’t think that in the slightest.
My brain might come up with awesome sci fi stories, but it’s just as creative when breaking me down and crumbling me to dust and that’s something I constantly need to balance.
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An RKL Journaling RPG.
Every con I go to, I have a little something to peck away at with pencil and paper for those moments where everyone on the show floor seems to be eating lunch, or slapping down pineapples in the artists’ alley behind you in frantic droves, and this past weekend was no different. I had my paper and pencil, and I found time between each sale to work on something fun.
The Second Guess System is a one-page structure writing rpg where you come up with a prompt table around a central story/genre and you make it so the player can write a journal about their character investigating something, or I guess just doing something.
I spent my between moments on Saturday putting my thoughts down about a ‘suburban horror’ page and mostly just worked on the prompt table, getting all 20 prompts down. The trick seems to be, you want them interesting and to lead the player/writer to something of merit, but you cannot be overly prescriptive otherwise there’s no creativity for the player. So I kept thinking about awesome suburban tropes I could use, because I want to use this for class to get students thinking in exactly this genre, and I ended the day with 20 pretty decent prompts to lead them towards success, or failure.
I like this system because it’s really just one page, keep it tight, and the game play of it is pretty simple, too. I want to write one using the Wretched & Alone system, but it has like 4 prompt tables, and a lot more figuring out to do, so this feels like a better place to dip my toe. I’ll hopefully write a few more of these for fun - will put them up on my Patreon at some stage, too.
But if they work for class next year, that’s a win. And they kept me sane through a fun Saturday, too.
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PERHAPS YOU'D CARE TO SAMPLE
Jana Hoffman reads THE LONELY GIANT - a video from the recent Papercuts Festival in Adelaide. Always cool to hear a comic read/shown aloud. I always kinda loved doing that in class.
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GRIST FOR THE MILL
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE, the OGN - been reading the graphic novel adaptation of the Vonnegut classic and it’s really good. Makes me want to reread the novel alongside it and see what it’s doing.
HAWKEYE - I am digging this show. I didn’t know Maya Lopez was gonna turn up, so I’m all in for that. But Hailee Steinfeld is really fun as Kate Bishop. She has a few moments where I don’t think she should act that way in character, but it works for the narrative - mostly when dealing with her mother and her fiance - but she’s got enough charisma on the screen to carry this role into the next decade, honestly. And there are enough good sequences in the show - the trick arrow car chase, and a lot of the Tracksuit Draculas - that I’m excited to get into the next ep when it drops.
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Be one of the good guys, because there's way too many of the bad.
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POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
I saw this law enforcement flex photo on twitter and couldn’t help myself:
What a great writing prompt!
Look closely - the single dollar bills all laid out, the weed stems all arranged, the completely fucking empty pill bottle!
This 4 man arrest took a small amount of weed and like $50 off the streets. I’m glad there are two less guns, sure, but I also hope the individual, maybe two people, arrested were steered towards some quality health care and future options to move forward in life and not just dropped behind some clinking bars for a night, then a week of legal fees and a fine, and no real prospects to escape the parts of their current situation confining them.
I hope.
But perhaps good writers could consider what the events of the night were that lead to this amazing photo being taken? What’s the backstory of these four officers? What happens next in the night of these intertwined people?
Creative writing might not be everyone’s jam, but hopefully some critical thinking is, and when a photo like this appears we can all do a little reflecting and wonder about what we are actually seeing.
Just downloaded the Second Guess SRD and I now have *plans*.