Convention Recap: Fanboy Expo Knoxville 2024
TRANSPARENCYEVENT RECAP
General Thoughts
For the first time in my life (I think) I set foot in Knoxville. Blessedly I didn't burst into flames (Hail Saban!) And you know, if it wasn't for all the pumpkin puke orange, it would be a pretty city. But college football had nothing to do with why I was there, no, I was on site to take part in Fanboy Expo Knoxville. This was my first Fanboy event, and I doubt it will be my last.
Ben Meeks (who I booth with all the time), Richard Fierce (who I have started boothing with all the time), and Alfred Mueller (who was at my last event) split a corner booth on the main drag. This is very much a vendor con, with a huge emphasis on celebrity autographs and the like, but it was very well attended. We all worked really well together, doing an excellent job passing potential buyers to whoever was the best fit for their needs. Plus, I got to see a lot of celebs walk by, like Danny Trejo, Shannon Elizabeth, and The Big Show Paul White.
Big picture: I had a great time, and sales were pretty good! Any time I can sell over 700 bucks in books is a good time in my book, but the real highlight as always was getting to spend time with my fellow authors and reach new fans.
Small Thoughts
I have a lot of small thoughts. Buckle up.
I am going to stop doing stickers as my small cheap something. Bunch of reasons: they take up a lot of room on the table, they are incredibly hit or miss event to event, they curl with age, I have concerns about where the sticker makers are getting their art from. Which to all the authors I have recommended stickers to, this will be a surprise. But yeah, they just aren't working for me like they once were.
So instead I am going to start carrying dice, d6 specifically. The rpgs I make all use d6, so its more on brand, and I will still be able to sell singles and bundles. Richard used to do it, and I got his blessing to start doing so. Yes, I realize I could have just done it. But I didn't want to step on toes if he was planning to start back. He's not, and he's cool, so yeah. Dice it is.
We are going to start looking at demographics when we look at booking events in towns we've never done shows at. Turns out Knoxville is relatively poor (likely due to karma from being the home of the University of Tennessee, a cesspool of evil (Roll Tide)). So it will help us make choices on which to book if we are deciding between two places at the same time.
We sat down and came up with what it would cost to buy one of everything on the table, and priced out what it would take for someone to do so. We jokingly called it the "Instant Library Bundle" and it would have been over sixty books. We priced it at 1k, and sorta tested the waters mentioning it occasionally. I will be making a sign for it for future events (no price listed, but a 'ask for price' quote instead). Will it ever sell? Maybe not. But if it does...
I have a bunch of signs I am going to make. And I have decided I am going to make a booklet of them, and just start packing a few empty frames, this binder of signs, and then just use which ones make sense for the event. So "Instant Library," a 'signed by the author' sign, a raffle sign, and an 'available in audible' sign in addition to my already existing signs like "gone to a panel" and "prices."
Before Dragoncon I will have made my universal business card for booths.
We had a guy ask if we could throw in a couple of naked Asian women into a bundle. Stay classy Knoxville.
We are talking about setting up a FB group for new authors we talk to at these events (we always end up doing little impromptu mentor sessions), a spot we can tell them to come hang out and ask us questions.
I need to get an anti-fatigue mat for these long ass days on my feet. These puppies were barking, for sure.
I need to get a second set of clips for my rolling cart, so I can clip my folding bookcase and my book rack at the same time.
Tattoo festivals are now on my radar for seeing if I can be a vendor. I sell well to tattooed people (I am myself), and I would likely be the only author there. Turns out there is an event that is a tattoo and author event already, but it was the same weekend as Fanboy, so I couldn't have done it.
I got to hang with Alexander Nader and Parker Jones a decent chunk. So happy to see Alexander doing more events, since he did Chattacon with me as his first event back in January.
Two different events with Possum in the name were recommended to me. I will absolutely be looking them up to see if I would be a fit.
This event, with talking to the guys, confirmed in my mind my plans to really cut down on the number of events I do. Fewer events, but bigger events. This is the way.
Ben and I talked about how even with a fantastic group like we had in this booth, that four person booths might not be the way to go moving forward. Mostly because it can be overwhelming to buyers. Getting hit with four pitches, for a bunch of different series is a lot. It just is. And it's probably why my pitch caught so many ears, it was bizarre and stood out the most from the six or seven other series they just heard about. So moving forward, it will probably make more sense to be selective on which big multi-author booths we do.
Damn I love hanging out back at the hotel with Ben and Richard. We stay plottin! Same for riding to events with Ben, it's fulfilling to get to hang out with folks who get what it's like to sling books.
Panels
There were no panels, so I just had to sit at my booth and sell. Ugh.
Sales
Sales on Friday were slow. All I managed to sell were book 1's, and not a ton of them. I was beginning to despair that I was never going to sell another omnibus, as I hadn't sold one at Huntsvillecon either. The neat thing about Friday was Amy Brewer-Davenport (who is the artist who created the painting of Horace with the icecream cone) was there. And we started sending shoppers back and forth between us. Someone would comment they love possums, so I would send them to her booth. Someone there would comment on the prints of that possum/cone painting, and she would send them to me to buy the book. It was probably a third of my sales on Friday.
Saturday I switched things up, and books started moving. First off, my pitch line "I write books about a redneck wizard with a crippling meth addiction" which was bouncing off folks hard on Friday suddenly became catnip. To the point that the rest of the guys were ribbing me about it, giving me shit about how no one was interested in their books once they heard about mine (which lets be clear absolutely was not the case, everyone sold well. It was more about just how folks reacted in such over the top ways sometimes). The other thing is I changed how I pitch my omnibus, and changing things up made all the difference. And it was such a small adjustment!
Ok, so I noticed that Ben always makes mention of how he has a bonus short story in his omnibus edition. Which I never do, instead usually just rolling right into telling folks about omnibus two once I mention omnibus one. So what I now do is once I give my pitch line, if they are interested I motion to book one, and tell them "this is book one in the series," then motion to omnibus one and say "and this is the first three books bound into one volume with a bonus short story." I don't mention the second omnibus unless they linger, ask lots of questions, that sort of thing. And it's working!
I think it just boils down to:
Folks like a bonus, and
I streamline their choices to two.
By keeping it simple, they don't get overwhelmed. If I start talking about all six books, then a bonus book in Southern Saudade, it seems like A LOT TO GET INTO. So they end up opting to go with the smaller book 1. But by keeping it down to two items, one of which is A REALLY GOOD DEAL, they are much more likely to opt for the really good deal. So thats been rad.
On Sunday the crowd was not great. Worse than Friday by a good bit really. But I made more money, because I moved at least 4 omnibuses that day I think.
Overall I am happy with my sales. I had set a goal of 700 in my head, which is very arbitrary and unfair to do to an event, but I managed to hit and beat that number. So goal achieved on the sales front.
Daily Sales Numbers:
Friday - 145.00
Saturday - 400.00
Sunday - 210.00
Total Sales Numbers By Item:
17 Bringing Home The Rain
0 Books 2 or 3
9 Omnibus 1
0 Omnibus 2
1 Omnibus Bundles
1 Southern Saudade
0 Stickers
0 Sticker Bundles
4 Zines
1 Ultimate Bundle
Total: 745.00
Fixed Expenses:
Badge: 0.00 (included in booth fee)
Booth Fee - 216.00
Hotel - 120.00
Total - 336.00
Grand Total Profit - 409.00
