Amid the madness at Comic-con, our booth location was actually quite good. We had a corner position?in an L shape?near the front in a key spot (and close to Lou Ferrigno, a.k.a. the Hulk, and porn queen Jenna Jameson?s booth, although she only made a brief appearance).
And when I say we, there were a bunch of us: yours truly, with Finders Keepers; Rich Koslowski, with The King, The List, Three Fingers and 3 Geeks (www.richkoslowski.com); and Rich Henn, with Timespell (co-written by yours trAmid the madness at Comic-con, our booth location was actually quite good. We had a corner position?in an L shape?near the front in a key spot (and close to Lou Ferrigno, a.k.a. the Hulk, and porn queen Jenna Jameson?s booth, although she only made a brief appearance).
And when I say we, there were a bunch of us: yours truly, with Finders Keepers; Rich Koslowski, with The King, The List, Three Fingers and 3 Geeks (www.richkoslowski.com); and Rich Henn, with Timespell (co-written by yours truly), his comic book documentaries, and Zoomies (www.timespell.com). Sharing the little corner with me was Brad Webber, with his 24-hour mini-comics (www.juniormadscientist.com).
For pictures, go to the photos section. I’ve uploaded a few. And the posters you see in the background are all courtesy of Rich Henn, who has just an amazing eye for this sort of thing:
Wednesday was just a few hours long, so that was manageable, 5 pm till 8 pm, and overall Thursday was a good full day, 10 am to 7 pm. We all had a decent amount of traffic, and we had general enthusiasm. But though my day ended well, I got off to a rocky start. I?ll explain.
One of the main reasons I came out to Comic-con was to get the opportunity to talk to Hollywood agent/producer types about Finders Keepers, assuming they stopped by at all. That?s why I went nuts the preceding few weeks tweaking the manuscript for convention shape. Only, when the time came, I wasn?t ready. I wasn?t in game shape. The idea of talking to them appealed to me, but actually doing it was something else. First off, they usually don?t come up to you and announce who they are. They try to be sneaky. They usually have their name badge turned around, so you can?t tell who they are right off, and they tend to start off just browsing, as if they are regular attendees.
But early in the morning, Rich Henn starting to talking to a guy, who turned out to be an agent type, and there I was, sitting behind him, feeling both jet lagged and very hung over, but more importantly, lost in a tiny sea of anxiety?and doing nothing. I needed to just physically stand up and start talking, but I didn?t. I was caught unprepared, and it showed. Same thing happened not more than an hour later.
After that I physically stood up around the booth as much as my back could handle, and started talking to folks. And once I started, I shook the nerves right out of me pretty quick. I was back to my old self, and kept it up comfortably the rest of the show. Overall I probably talked to a half dozen agent types, maybe more. And then another 20 or so attendees, one of who even bought a copy of Finders Keepers, so that was a nice boost.
I also had to keep in mind that Comic-con is a more visual experience, in that most people are looking to buy merchandise?comic books, DVDs, posters, T-shirts?all designed for more immediate, visual interaction. I was shopping a novel, so I was prepared for reduced interest, although the cover printing was really great?Henn, thanks again!?and I also had a glossy flier and business cards to hand out, which also really helped, and also courtesy of Rich Henn (who works for a printer). I found that the walk-by interest was pretty strong once I started talking to them.
Friday and Saturday were tough in that we got the full blast of attendees?almost 100,000 in total?but had less traffic at the booth those days then day before. Most people were there for the big stuff?the Heroes booth, the video games. Comic-con has morphed into an entertainment con far more than comic books, so the weekend brought in the masses, the general interest fan. It was frustrating to see so many people so close but so far. It?s a tease. You really want them to be there for you, but most of them weren?t.
The nature of the show is that it?s getting tougher and tougher for the little guy to do well there. Our booth alone cost $2,500. So that means that you have to sell $2,500 worth of merchandise just to [i]break even[/i]. And that doesn?t count airfare, hotel and food. As for me, the pressure of selling wasn?t there, as Rich Henn and Rich Koslowski paid for the booth (as they do every year), and graciously allowed me (and Brad) to grab a little corner in exchange for helping work the booth and selling their books for them, which I did happily. Plus, since I co-wrote Timespell, it?s a bit easier for me to help sell that one since my name?s on it.
But for me at least, the interest in Finders Keepers seemed quite positive. I came away feeling good.
There?s still so much more to report from Comic-Con 2007, so stay tuned for more posts this week …
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