Broken Frontier

My company has been doing conventions of all sizes for about two years now.  We’ve done the little po-dunk local shows, the genre shows, the big shows, and, of course, the BIGGEST show, San Diego Comic-Con.  Every show, we go in with the same attitude, “This is the show where we make some money.”  Of course, by day two, we’re at “This is the day when we make sure as many people as possible see our book, money be damned.”  Why? Well, conventions, for the most part, aren’t about making money.  Sure, most of us like to think we’ll cover at least our booths, but, the harsh reality is that most of the time, that’s just not going to happen.

So, there I was, this weekend at the 2nd Annual Wizard World Los Angeles.  It’s been deemed a disappointment by virtually every exhibitor I’ve spoken to, because the show was pretty much empty the whole weekend, even on Saturday, which was expected to be the big business day.  Cries of “I only sold a dozen books” were heard from small press creators come Sunday morning, and, while we certainly did better than that, I started looking around and thinking about what this means to us.

That’s when it clicked.  All of the really big companies weren’t even selling books.  Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, even IDW (although they had a small display with a few copies of each of their books displayed) all seemed to not be interested in the sales.  Instead, they boasted signings, meet and greets, panels, and previews of upcoming books.  That’s when it clicked again.  Everyone always says “Shows are all about PR and Marketing,” but, for us small press guys, we tend to put more weight on them.  This is our big chance to reach out and put our books in people’s hands.  To introduce our work to readers who might have missed them, nestled in the back of the Previews copy, and buried at the far end of their retailer’s counters.  The thing is that most of us also look at it as a way to supplement weak direct market sales, and help to ease the pain of overstocked comics.  

But that’s just it.  That’s wrong.  Conventions are not about making money.  They can’t be, because so few seem to do it.  They’re about reaching out and meeting readers one by one.  Because, frankly, that’s what this industry has become.  We’re targeting a small audience with limited cash flow, and tunnel vision in terms of their buying habits.  We’re competing with the X-titles and Bat-books, and the odds are strongly stacked against us.  We’re left with only two things:  Quality and Perseverance. 

So, what do I suggest?

Well, if you take money out of the equation, all shows are a great opportunity to convert.  This show marked the first time we did discount pricing on our books, and, frankly, it’s the most success we’ve had.  While we didn’t make a ton of money, we got our books into people’s hands, and in the long run, that’s more important, because we know that the quality of our books all but ensures we’ll make fans out of anyone who gives us a shot.

Does this work for everybody? Maybe not.  Is it better for your business AND emotional well-being to just take the show as a financial loss and do whatever you can to at least make sure you’re building new fans? Absolutely.

The bottom line is this.  No independent publisher will ever replace Marvel and DC -- not in the current setup of business anyhow.  So, it behooves all of us to look at what it is about how they run their businesses that allows them to maintain such total dominance over the market, and build our own marketing and PR strategies with the years of experience they bring to the table as a guide.