Convention Recap: Multiverse Con 2024

My third year at Multiverse, and it was another fantastic year! Let's dive in!

General Thoughts

I really love this con.

Seriously, it is my favorite con not named Dragon Con (and that one only wins out because my friends and LadyWife all attend it). If you are a creative of any type this is a fantastic event for networking. A ton of us who do the southeastern con circuit end up here, and I call this my family reunion con. This is the one where we actually all get to hang out with each other at length, and I love it.

This was the first year in the new hotel, which is located in Peachtree City. Which meant that the con is now one of the closest ones to me that I do, which I love. The new hotel I think was a great move layout-wise, it has a lot to offer for sure. Everything (including my room luckily) was on the same floor, so I literally only had to get on an elevator to load in/out. How sweat is that?

I got in on Thursday because I was sharing a room with my brother from another mother Joe Compton. As per the norm we tracked down some beer and proceeded to have an amazing time. We didn't go tooo hard with it though, it being only Thursday, which led to a wild bit of luck for me.

See, I tend to wake up early, doubly so with Atlanta conventions which are in Eastern time, compared to my usual Central time. I also like to get set up as early as possible. Which meant I was the first author to show up Friday morning and start setting up. I was about 95% set up when the second author showed up, only to find there had been some confusion. They were sharing a table with another author, and when they booked they thought they were getting a whole table. But Multiverse has so many authors who want to be in the Authors Alley that no one gets a solo table. Everything is split. So they had essentially signed up to share a 4 foot space together...which is not enough.

So they went and talked with the Con staff, who happened to be talking with John Hartness at that moment. And when he heard what was going on he said 'Why don't you ask Bob if he would be ok sharing space with Falstaff Books? We can put him on the end, and then that frees up that half of a table.'

The Con runner found me and asked if I would be ok with that.

Um, yeah. Lol. The Falstaff table (called the Mothership), was a three table booth right where you walked into the space. Prime positioning for sure.

Which was a great thing because attendance was down this year. I haven't heard an exact number, but I am guessing it was around half of what it had been previously. It's what happens when you move events (says a guy who just moved an event and lost half his crowd). Just the nature of the beast. But fewer people means fewer wallets.

I was already pretty sure I wasn't going to make much money due to the fact that I was going to be in panels for most of Saturday's selling hours. Not sharing with Ben or Richard, and not having the LadyWife with me, I had no one to run my booth space while I was in the panel rooms. Just the nature of the beast. If this was my full time job, that wouldn't work. But at this point in my career I am more focused on growing my brand and increasing name recognition. So I was ok with that potential tradeoff (while hoping I could at least mostly cover costs).

So needless to say having a good spot for those times I was at the table was choice. And you know what? I made a profit! In fact I sold almost exactly as much as I sold last year (522 this year, 535 last year). Which considering that last year Dino (the Patron Saint of Indie Authors) was in attendance but this year he wasn't able to make it is even more wild. I have literally seen a con where Dino was responsible for at least half of all sales in Author Alley. Last year he bought a good chunk from me which buoyed my numbers.

It was the zines that made the difference I think. This was my best selling event for them to date, selling 14 of them. I think with better bundling, adjusted booth layout, some tweaked signage and I could really move some zines at this Con. I have some fun ideas coming down the pike, I just need to make them happen.

But yeah, attendance was down, but that didn't really hurt my sales it seems. I am sure that wasn't the case for everyone, which sucks, no two ways about it. Knowing the folks running this con though, I have zero doubt they turn it around and have us back up to near where we were last year in a year, two at the most. They know what they are doing, and now they know the space and community better. They are gonna rock it. This is seriously one of the best run cons out there, they have their shit together.

I did get to go to some of the late night activities as well. Crits and Bits was a dnd themed burlesque show, and it was too much fun. Normally at bigger cons the lines are such that I never get to see things like this. I also got to watch the karaoke. No, I didn't partake lol (no one wants that), but I really enjoyed the atmosphere.

Mostly though it was just great to get to spend a lot of time with Joe Compton and some of our best friends like Sean Hillman, Tyra Burton, and Jim Nettles. If someone wanted to organize a con where all we did was just get together and hang out in the bar, I'd be down. Just saying.

Small Thoughts

I have lots of small thoughts.

• John Hartness may kill me if I keep cracking puns around him. He's already had years of them from punmaster Darin Kennedy, so sharing a booth with me just piled on that. I was happy to do so haha.

• I sold more book 1's than omnibus 1's for the first time in awhile. I attribute that to two factors: folks insecure about the election, and there being a ton of authors on site. If those numbers had been swapped I would have made at least another hundred bucks or more I think. Math is hard.

• I met a burlesque dancer from Alabama who wants me to come sell books at events she hosts. I'm not sure what that looks like yet, but I am always down to get into unique spaces to try and move some books.

• Some plans were made about potentially making some game content based on some author friends books. This is one of the main points behind me starting Bearded Bard Inkworks, so I'm excited to take a step in that direction.

• Southern Saudade moved better than I thought it would. Normally I have it sitting out on its own stand, but I didn't have room. But I still sold 5 of them, which was more than my past two events (4 each).

• I really need to make a sign with a QR code advertising my podcasts/podcast network. I am going to be ramping this up in the near future, so I need to be actively spreading the word more effectively.

• I am going to set up my zine bundle differently, basically it will shift to something like 'buy 3 or more and get 2 bucks off per zine' in some more catchy to say way.

• I got to spend a large amount of time with some folks I don't normally get to, like Tyra Burton and her husband, and Rosie J. Potter and her husband.

• Dice are not moving like my stickers were. I am not going to swap back, but that lose of income isn't ideal. I am going to play around with this idea, and I may need to adjust my pricing.

What...?

This section is where I relay the occasional WTF conversational moment(s) we get into at booths sometimes:

A bunch of us authors spent a disturbingly long time talking about our pill caddies. How do I know I'm getting old? I've talked with folks about my pill caddie.

Panels

Yeaaaaah! I got to do a bunch of panels! Let's dish:

FRIDAY

1. Hobbits and Hashtags

Moderator: Sarah J. Sover

Panelists: Justina Ireland, Claudia Blood, Jessica Cage

This was a panel discussing urban fantasy. It was a great start to my con, and I got to share it with the Literary Guest of Honor, Justina Ireland. Everyone was so impressive.

2. Bedtime Stories - The R+ Rated Storytime!

Moderator: Venessa Giunta

Panelists: A shit ton of authors. Seriously, there were like 10 of us.

The show where we read scenes from our books and volunteers act them out, this brainchild of Venessa's is stupid fun. My reading came from the scene where Marsh is attacked by the squirrels. I did that scene last year as well, and while it is fun and is a hoot to see acted out, next year if I am on the panel I will be choosing some different scene.

SATURDAY

3. Why Do We Like To Be Scared?

Moderator: Vikki Perry

Panelists: Marc L. Abbot, John G. Hartness, Christina Barber

Vikki is a great moderator, and it was fun to dive into this topic. Marc Abbot and I now have a pact: I'll squash cockroaches for him if he will squash spiders for me. It was just really neat to see how different folks embrace horror.

4. Budgeting for Your Author Career

Moderator: Me!

Panelists: Jessica Cage, M'Shai Dash, Marlena Frank, Kiernan Kelly

The first panel I moderated, and lord was I blessed with some amazing people. I've paneled with Marlena several times before and we always mesh well. But everyone had so many great ideas that I was largely able to 'go off script' from my prepared questions and let the conversations flow more naturally while covering what folks wanted.

5. The One-Page RPG

Moderator: Me!

Panelists: Christina Barber, Catherine Barson Eastis, Shannon Strucci, Joel Ruiz

My second panel I moderated, and this one was fun. Joel and I have done this panel before at Dragon Con, sorta. But this one had a lot more diversity of thought on it, which I think really brought a lot to the table. We had a great crowd as well, with a room full of folks looking to design their own games. One woman had asked me ahead of time what we were going to talk about to judge if she wanted to come. She did, and when I saw her some hours later I asked if she had gotten what she was looking for, and she said absolutely. So I'll count this as a win.

6. An Hour of Zero Means You Are Dead

Moderator: Sean Hillman

Panelists: James P. Nettles, Eric Holden, Judy Black, Sara Glassman

A live recoding of the GoIndieNow production Zero Means You Are Dead, the rpg discussion show hosted by Sean Hillman. That show is usually interviews, so this was a fun twist. We talked about rpg gaming in general, and there were some really fun folks on there. Sara Glassman talked about how she teaches rpgs to kids, which while that sounds like hell to me, it also makes me so very happy someone is doing it.

7. MEETup: Podcasters, YouTubers and other Digital Content Creators

Moderator: N/A

Panelists: Joe Compton, Catherine Barson Eastis, October K. Santerelli, The Modern Mombie, Tyra Burton

The MEET track is different from most. Instead of a structured panel, it is essentially a room full of chairs in a circle. Folks who want to meet up and talk about a given topic come out, sit around, and chat. There were several folks who had showed up to learn from us about how we do what we do, and Tyra and I got to give one young future twitch titan a little mentor session.

8. Potato Masher: Chuck Tingle RPG Go!

Moderator: Sean Hillman

Panelists: Rey Nichols, Judy Black, Ashley Chappell

If you don't know who Chuck Tingle is, stop and go look him up. I'll wait.

Ok, wild right? Now imagine the man who brought you 'Pounded in the butt by (insert bewildering choice here, like raptor)' made an RPG. Yeah, I got to be a player on a live play of that. I played a Bigfoot sneak name Mondo Nike in this late night panel were we got raunchy in hilarious ways. This is a repeat panel that Multiverse does each year, with the story continuing each year. While I lived for the chance to make a bunch of sex/potato puns, the real highlight was Sean Hillmans intro where he spoofed the opening lines of the Gunslinger by Stephen King. I died. It was glorious.

SUNDAY

9. The Rise of Horror Anthologies and TV Series

Moderator: Tony Sarrecchia

Panelists: Joel Ruiz, Calley Jones

This was a fun one, and I got to express the fact that I attest that Doctor Who is a horror show primarily lol. We mostly talked about anthology horror tv shows, but we did dive into book topics as well. Tony impressed me with his moderating, he did great.

10. Getting Into Miniature Gaming

Moderator: Me?

Panelists: Jason

If anyone asks, this was the best attended panel of the entire convention. It was standing room only, we packed them in like cordwood. In reality...no one showed up haha. First, let me just say that I think Sean was spot on to have a panel like this. Miniature gaming is huge right now, and weirdly you never see panels about it. Or only very rarely. I think this is a real potential growth area. I think this panel just didn't resonate, because 1. it was early and everyone was hung over from Saturday's madness and 2. most folks interested in miniature gaming don't need an intro to it, they are already playing them. Sean and I have already come up with a fun concept for next year, and mark my words, there will be folks in that one. Just wait and see.

Sales

As stated earlier, this event was slightly profitable. Which is a big victory considering I expected to not cover costs due to paneling so much. I shared a room with Joe, which brought my room cost down. And an author alley spot was cheap, only 30 bucks. Friday was good (for a Friday), but Saturday as expected was kinda garbage for sales. Turns out you do, in fact, have to be at your booth to sell books lol. Sunday though once I was done with my two morning panels and the GoIndieNow live 'This Week In Indies' was a good day for sales. I did over 300 in about two hours I think. Which given the crowd size by that time, I am very happy with.

Daily Sales Numbers:

• Friday: 149.00

• Saturday: 70.00

• Sunday: 303.00

Total Sales Numbers By Item:

• 9 Bringing Home The Rain

• 0 Books 2 or 3

• 4 Omnibus 1

• 2 Omnibus 2

• 1 Omnibus Bundles

• 5 Southern Saudade

• 0 Dice

• 1 Dice Bundles

• 5 Zines

• 3 Zine Bundle

• 0 Ultimate Bundle

Total: 522.00

Fixed Expenses:

• Badge: 0.00 (included in booth fee)

• Booth Fee - 30.00

• Hotel - 400.00

• Total - 430.00

Grand Total Profit - 92.00