MicroCon turned out to be a great show. I expected to have as much fun as I usually do at these things, but it far exceeded my expectations.I was supposed to meet Grant, Jess, and Darla at McDonalds for breakfast at 7:00, so I'd set my alarm clock for 6:00 to give me time to get by the bank for some change in case someone actually wanted to buy something from me. But like the kid in the Disney commercial I was "too excited to sleep" and I woke up before the alarm.
I love driving early on Sunday mornings. Even though I live in a large metro area, the interstates are completely empty. So, already in a great mood, I zoomed to the bank and got to McDonald's in plenty of time to meet the guys.
It had been raining for two days before the convention and was still raining the day of. That turned out to be the best possible scenario for attendance. Folks were tired of being cooped up inside their homes, but it was still too nasty for them to play outdoors. What else could they do but go to a comics convention? As a result, we had a steady stream of visitors all day long.
I usually sell a few comics at conventions, but unheard of anthologies by unknown authors are tough sells, especially when one of them is a $10 trade paperback. For that reason, I'd put together some cheap mini-comics, thinking they'd sell much better. Not so. People wanted the expensive stuff on Sunday. I even sold a Cownt Tail (my first venture into merchandising).
Best story of the convention was a young kid, maybe ten or eleven, who was very excited about Tales from the Inner Sanctum #1 (the $10 book). After flipping through it and barely containing himself, he rushed off to grab his dad. Dad came back and flipped through it, they talked a bit (I didn't eavesdrop) and walked away. So much for that sale, I thought. Then they came back with mom. More looking; more talking. At that point I jumped in and explained what the book was and that while there's no nudity, it is a horror book and that there's some blood and profanity. I told them that I didn't want to make the decision for how appropriate it was for their son, but that I didn't want them to take it if they weren't comfortable with it. Not only did they buy it; they got my website address so that they could order the second issue if they wanted.
I've complained before about my stuff not being suitable for kids. I've no one to blame but myself, but I wish that I could draw more kids to my table like Grant does to his with all his cool Star Wars and Lord of the Rings stuff. There's nothing like seeing a kid excited by comics, and that feeling is exponentially heightened when the comics are ones you helped make. I don't expect to get a big kid following with the stuff I've done so far, but it was really great to see that young fella so thrilled.
I also made some nice networking connections at the show. A couple of different publishers were making the rounds and I got some promising business cards when they came by my table. Nothing I want to share yet, but my creative wheels are turning as I try to think of appropriate pitches to submit to them.
After the show, Grant and Jess and I went to Perkins to debrief over breakfast food. Even though Grant wasn't feeling well, we had a great conversation about the comics biz and I was inspired to start taking the business part of it more seriously. I am not a business man, but at some point I'm going to have to start keeping track of my earnings and business expenses. Expenses far outweigh earnings right now, but hopefully that'll change at some point and I might as well start disciplining myself for it now. I started by saving the meal receipt.
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