I?m back from the 2007 Baltimore Comic-Con, and I?m exhausted. Partly from the drive there and back, partly from a full day at the booth on Saturday chatting up attendees about Finders Keepers?and partly from consuming a lot of beer Friday and Saturday nights and getting very little sleep in between!
While the San Diego Comic-Con has morphed into this wild Hollywood-led bonanza, the Baltimore Comic-Con, which started running earlier in the decade, is still just a good, old-fashioned comic-bI?m back from the 2007 Baltimore Comic-Con, and I?m exhausted. Partly from the drive there and back, partly from a full day at the booth on Saturday chatting up attendees about Finders Keepers?and partly from consuming a lot of beer Friday and Saturday nights and getting very little sleep in between!
While the San Diego Comic-Con has morphed into this wild Hollywood-led bonanza, the Baltimore Comic-Con, which started running earlier in the decade, is still just a good, old-fashioned comic-book convention for comic-book fans, filled with booth after booth of comic-book creators?some mainstream, and some less known–which means there were artists and writers of X-Men and Spiderman titles, as well as a whole of host of other books from a new crop of creators just breaking in. Not to mention some comic book writers who also happen to write books–like me!
There were also many, many booths filled with retailers selling paperback and hardcover collections of recent popular comic books, and individual comics from the Bronze Age (from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s) and the Silver Age (from the late 1950s to the early 1970s; mostly superhero titles), which have become a hot item over the years, as they are now are quite valuable, if that?s your thing.
Like at the San Diego convention I was there chatting with attendees about Finders Keepers, sharing a snazzy looking booth with Rich Henn (www.timepell.com) and Rich Koslowski (www.richkoslowski.com), with some killer color posters and individual comics velcroed to the display (I’ll have photos soon so you can see what I mean).
At San Diego, reports had 100,000 attendees, while at Baltimore we had a few thousand attendees–still a very respectable number and a lot more manageable for us–with big lines at many booths, mostly filled with fans who wanted to get their books signed by their favorite writers and artists. It was a two-day show. I was there all day Saturday, while Rich and Rich also were at the booth on Sunday.
Even though the Balitmore show was a little slower than we expected, with sales down for a lot of creators, all day long I felt great talking to folks about Finders Keepers–maybe even better than ever–seeing that ?Wow? look in their eyes when they heard about it. And for now, that?s what I?m after. Getting the word out about Finders Keepers, building a potential audience, keeping the buzz growing and growing and growing.
While I keep plugging away to land an agent, Finders Keepers is taking on a life of it?s own, building a reputation as a book that people want to get their hands on. And as I continue talking to a few people who have read advanced copies?or are still reading?the feedback is universally top notch. Which of course just gets my juices flowing and wanting to get back out there and letting the whole world know that Finders Keepers is coming.
That?s all for now, but I?ll be blogging a few more times this week about the 2007 Baltimore Comic-Con, so stayed tuned for more, including pictures from the show …
Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2007/09/10 21:18
Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2007/09/13 07:17
Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2007/09/13 07:28
