The end of last February, Grim Crew decided to make an appearance at Megacon. This was our first convention as “behind-the-table” participants; we had been going to Megacon as consumers for a few years now. So from the aisle looking in we knew what to expect.

The initial choice to do Megacon was made a few years ago before we really had things nailed together. We knew the show was local and that costs would be lower for a show of this size. What we didn’t know was exactly what to expect once we got behind that table. Part of the issue here is the lack of information provided by the people who run the convention. Unless you are a big name, you really have to poke around a lot and assemble your own information.

They listed things for exhibitors and independent press in the same area, but only would elaborate on the exhibitor side. This brought a surprise come day one for us.

When you are in the process of wrapping up a book you are publishing yourself and trying to promote, you tend to lose track of details along the way as well. This was another issue we faced walking into this.

With only a month left before the convention I found myself trying to put together promotional items, do additional artwork, and still find time to promote online as I had been. My wife was nose deep trying to figure out merchandise to sell as well, keeping things at a low price point.

We went into this convention knowing the book would not sell much, our goal was to network and perhaps sell some of the cheaper items. This was all towards getting the name out there, building a better foundation for future appearances and sales. But enough of before, let us get to the day one.

Day One – We arrive at the convention a few hours before the doors open to the public. We hurry to the badge desk for exhibitors and independent press, our goal, two additional badges. The lady looks at the badge I am wearing and immediately informs me that independent press only get 3 badges and that I cannot buy any more. Mind you this was not on the website at the time, and it even said on the paperwork that we could buy extra badges at the desk for $50 each.

Now we are short two hands to help set things up and carry stuff in. Instead of panicking we quickly decide to leave the ladies outside while the guys take the stuff in. One of them waited to buy two 3 day passes, while the other waited with the excess stuff.

We get to the table. It is plain with a simple skirt. There is no wall behind it except for the one the people behind us setup to display their merchandise. In the exhibitor/independent press section of the Megacon site it had mentioned curtained walls. Turns out only exhibitors get that. My wife went about setting up the table using a science fair style board to display the covers of the book and Octane Comics’ original artwork.

We noticed on the way in that people were using crate styled shelving to display things behind them. So we quickly sent one of the friends out to buy a couple boxes. During this time Greg Laroque showed up to setup on the table next to us. It didn’t hit me till later I used to collect his comics during his old Flash run. Things seemed to be looking up, save for one large item.

The books were not there. Our printers were setting up near the front of the hall but had not arrived yet. I paced the aisles waiting for them to show. Not only did they have our books, but also our t-shirts, our posters, and some fliers. Panic set in as I realized I had no way to contact them other than email. This was a foolish mistake on my part; you should always make sure you have a phone number for anyone you work with.

That was problem two, problem three showed up directly after. Jasmine Mai, Import Supermodel. What was this? It turned out Greg had created a comic with her, so now, next to our book was a barely dressed import supermodel? I immediately saw the issue here, scantily clad woman next to a book with cute animals and fairy tales marketed towards tweens and their parents? Yeah, this was not going to fly.

Finally a little after the doors open our printers showed. The books looked awesome, better than I could have ever hoped for. The posters I designed looked great as well. Problem four, the black t-shirts were not there. The printer ran into issues with their, printer. Long story short, the majority of the shirts I had designed were on black. So now we had to either ask for a refund or they offered to print them in white and bring them back to us the next day. We took the shirts and said yes to the offer, they even printed extras for us.

Problem five then came about; one of the important cover posters was missing. Thankfully this was only Friday and Saturdays were the notorious busy day for the con. So the printers said they would bring us extra posters plus the ones we were missing.

Traffic was okay, the setup we had was drawing people over on a regular basis it seemed. Of course the Jasmine’s table was overshadowing ours and scaring off people who would like our stuff, her stalkers hanging out in front of our table was not good. The main draw to our table was Octane’s art boards and the cover artwork we had.

Day One wrapped up without much more to say. We were all exhausted; I was starting to feel maybe this was a waste of time, hoping after a night’s sleep I would change my mind.

Day Two – I get up early while my wife gets ready, the night before we had talked about meeting for breakfast downstairs with everyone. Problem was no one was answering at first. As it turned out one of the friends had told the others that we were not meeting till 9am, which would have put us completely off schedule. A lack of communication like that really can throw a wrench into things and frustrate people. It was not a good start to the day.

So instead we headed over without them, at this point the table was set so really there was nothing for them to do in the morning. When they did show one of them took a puppet we had and headed out to hand out flyers and draw interest for us. The puppets that had been created for us by another friend really helped draw people’s attention as well. Everything was about drawing the eye and when you are working against a half dressed woman, you have a lot of work ahead of you.

Day two was busy, but we didn’t sell much till the end of the day. A nice young lady came over and bought a copy of the book. Our first book sale, so we quickly took a picture. Directly after we sold another thanks to one of our crew standing at the end of the table talking to people with puppets.

Crucial thing needed is pitch delivery, the cover can draw people in, but if you can’t talk to them you are not selling it. I needed work there and everyone tried to help me. Finally by the end of the day I felt I was improving, the sales of our first book most likely helping to inflate my ego a bit.

Day Two wrapped up. Our battle for attention against the car model was done for the day. I was exhausted and so was everyone else. We passed on doing any con parties and instead just went out to dinner. I felt battered from the day and was looking forward to the end of the convention.

Day Three – We quickly had some breakfast and left a car in the parking lot of the convention center to pack up our stuff at the end of the day. What we expected to be a slow day quickly became our busiest. Not really in sales but in socializing. We started to venture outside the booth and talk to other exhibitors and artists.

We also sent a few friends around with the puppets to take pictures with the cos-play people walking around. I can’t really go into too much detail about some of the people we talked with and met but needless to say it has brought some new developments for our company. Day three was very uplifting and we had given up trying to battle for attention and instead focus on preparing for our next shows. Taking mental notes of what we needed to do to change things up. We sold a few more books that day and people asked me to sign them.

I was also interviewed by a few people and felt my confidence perk up a bit. Sunday was wrapping up nicely. The conclusion was a bit humorous and sad at the same time.

I’ll leave the last part of Sunday out, it deals with the car model and some stalkers. That one you can ask Matt about in the Comic South forums.

So what went right?

1. The books turned out great.

2. We had a decent amount of room.

3. Having people to help out is a requirement for a good showing.

4. The cover design created by Paul Petyo worked exactly like he wanted.

5. The puppets by Jen Daisy (though we were still missing a few)

6. Sunday’s networking session and meeting other talents.

What went wrong?

1. Lack of information provided by the convention.

2. Inability to buy extra badges.

3. Books showing up late and having no contact info.

4. Trying to design a booth with no idea what you will have to work with.

5. Being placed next to a half naked woman while trying to sell books to kids and their parents.

6. Our black t-shirts being white.

So in all it was a valuable experience I will never regret. We have learned a lot from it and plan to use these lessons at our next convention in April at FX International (www.fxshow.com). Hopefully the continued promotion of our book Grim Furry Tales: Seeds will continue to be as beneficial.

Discuss here: http://www.projectfanboy.com/vb/showthread.php?p=16046