Man, and I thought the MCA zine fair wasn't for the likes of me!I made more money at the MCA in 6 hours than I did over the whole weekend. I was friendly, I chatted, I complimented peoples costumes, I did the hard sell but nothing doing. I sold 7 copies of the Dicks anthology, did 4 commissions, sold a decent amount of comics for $3 and some old stuff I had lying around and still came home short. What an arse.
As per usual I shared a table with Trev Wood - he was so peeved off by the whole thing that he pretty much swore he'd never darken their doors again. Understandable as he has to make his way up from Melbourne.
Personally I blame our lack of success on the layout. Stars are grouped together away from us plebs and us plebs have to fight for our right amungst Pokemon T-shirts, cute toys, spray on tatoos and all sorts of merch the retailers probably didn't have licences for. Artists Alley is a bloody joke. And even with Tim McEwan being an organiser they still can't get it right. At least I was in a corridor away from the wrestling, though it was still loud enough.
I reckon all the comic related stuff ie artists, writers and publishers should be all grouped together all mixed up. None of this 'this is the pro corner and this is the slops corner' all together in one happy family out to help each other. It's not like the pros are going to lose money from being next to us.
A pretty uninspiring weekend all in all.
5 comments:
Yeah, I heard it was pretty dissapointing. I still don't know why organisers of these big events don't simply group similar sellers together (like you mentioned). Spreading everything out in a hodge-podge is just bullshit. No good for punters who are looking for a 'particular' thing, and no good for sellers.
I think these big cons are going to less and less a place that comics creators will attend as years go by... until their works gain attention from other media (ie. Film, games, etc)... but not as book-literature.
A shame, but times are-a-changin.
-Bobby.N
These things are aimed at people wanting to by a product™ so until we're endorsed by Marvel or Dreamworks or HBO who wants to know us?
I'd say you went there with the wrong intentions. Perish the "If you build it, they will come" mentality when it comes to cons. I made a loss of $185 but made some seriously good contacts. Remember, the fans aren't there for the likes of us. We're riding on the privilege that the big names draw these crowds, and we get a chance to pimp our wares to an otherwise unaware audience. Better luck next year if you make there, Tom. Don't give in so easy!
Don't worry I haven't given in. Not by a long shot.
I know pretty much all the Aussie creator who come to these things (cons are a great place to catch up) and I've met heaps of the big names at many cons and I know what they say: 'You're work's cool', 'this reads well', 'check your perspective', 'try some life drawing classes' etc
I know this sounds cynical and defeatist but that's just winging. I just haven't figured out the crowd and when I know what it's like in Europe and America it just seems like a shame.
I'll be there at the next Sydnova with bells on!
Woo-hoo! That's the spirit, Tom. We're all entitled to have our gripes at these events. There is always room for improvement. It was my first time there, so maybe I'll bomb spectacularly next year, who knows? In any case: see you there. :)
Post a Comment