Event Recap: ConCarolinas 2025
TRANSPARENCYEVENT RECAP
Alright, alright, alright! ConCarolinas is behind me, so time to talk about it!
First and foremost, fuck the drive. What should have been a 7 hour drive ended up being closer to 9, thanks to a number of wrecks. But that has nothing to do with the con itself, I just had to take a moment to complain.
I was once again in Authors Alley, this time sharing a table with author Barbara Evers. We got along quite well, so I would happily share table space with her in the future should the need arise.
I have a follow up post to this one where I will talk more at length about this, but a real highlight was getting to meet (in person) two long time author friends of mine for the first time. Michael J. Adams and Martin Shannon made the trip to hang out with myself and superfan Steve, and it was all I hoped it would be.
Outside of that I got to room with my brother from another mother Joe Compton, which I loved. There were old friendships renewed, new friendships forged, and more than a few puns cracked. What more could a guy ask for?
I have a few small thoughts.
I wonder when Joe Compton will kill me? I hit him with my 'chili' pun three times inside a 12 hour period, and I think I saw his eye twitch.
Bringing my big rack and using it was a mistake I think. I would have been better off using two small ones, one for zines and Martin's books, and one for my books. I do that normally, but I thought I would be more limited on space, but really, I could have used the two and been fine.
I don't think I will do this event next year unless I have someone to share the drive with. It's a good event, but frankly, I don't like road tripping that distance solo.
I had seven panels:
Beyond the Dice: Running a Great RPG
This was a fun one, and very well attended. It was what it says on the tin: we talked about ways to be better dungeon masters. I picked up some great tips myself, that I will be using to torment my group...one day.
Monetizing Your Passion
If you are reading this, then you can no doubt imagine how excited I was to do this panel. I was the only author on the panel, and we had a great mix of creatives including a streamer, musician, and artist (the Artist Guest of Honor, Amanda Makepeace). We talked about our journeys, and gave advice around how to, you know, monetize your passion.
AI: Changing the Game or Destroying the World
My first of two AI panels. On this one I was on the more conservative side of the AI debate, advocating for not using AI in any way that would take money from a fellow creatives pocket, or in actually creating any of my content. Mostly we talked about how bad this is all going to get.
How I Went From Christian Fundamentalism to Writing Fantasy
It is rare for me to say I am a bad fit for a panel, but I was a bad fit for this panel. I was raised Mormon in the deep south, and frankly, I would not describe my upbringing as fundamentalist in any real way. My experience with Mormonism was pretty chill. The bulk of questions focused on the trauma such an upbringing can impart, but that just wasn't my lived experience. Religion absolutely influences my writing, but it wasn't as big a leap for me to make the jump to fantasy as many others.
Cryptids and Critters
Or "Why ConCarolinas Is Never Going To Let Bob Be A Moderator Again." Jokes aside, this was my most fun panel, with a stated topic of discussing what is new in monster fiction. It was a late night panel so we could cuss, we could get silly, I could ask questions about monster fucking. I made puns so bad I was threatened with violence. It was glorious, and I think everyone had a great time.
How To Navigate the New AI Landscape as a Reader and Writer
My second AI panel, and on this one I was the dirty heretic haha. I have used AI (again, in ways that don't put other creatives jobs in jeopardy). That made me very much the outlier on this panel, which was pretty vehemently anti-AI. It was fairly whiplashy to go from the finger wagger, to the finger waggee. Suffice to say, I have some nuanced thoughts on AI. Expect a blog post (and possibly page) on this site where I talk in depth about it.
RPGs As Therapy
This was one of those panels that descended into the crowd just making suggestion after suggestion of great games to check out. I love those types of moments on RPG panels, I find so many games I want to buy that way haha.
This was a good weekend for sales! My best year here yet, as you can see here:
2023: $330.00 (lost money)
2024: $450.00 (made money)
So what made the difference? The biggest factor I think was that I was in a better spot. It's always luck of the draw on where you are going to be setup wise, and this year I drew a better straw than last year. But there were other factors at play.
First, there is a trend at certain events that you sell better each year, to a point. You become more well known, folks see you more often, and eventually they buy. It doesn't happen at all events, but I would say more often than not it does. That said, you eventually hit an upper limit. Is this my upper limit for ConCarolinas? Remains to be seen, but I don't think so.
Secondly, there were some small influences that helped I think. I sold a higher percentage of omnibus 2s, to folks who bought omnibus 1 last year. I also did a few more panels than I have in the past here, and across a wider spectrum of topics. Of course the price increase since last year helped as well, as did having tweaked Southern Saudade and my zines both.
Daily Sales Numbers:
Friday: $230.00
Saturday: $500.00
Sunday: $180.00
Total Sales Numbers By Item:
Bringing Home The Rain: 6
Omnibus 1: 8
Omnibus 2: 6
Southern Saudade: 4
Create Your Way To Freedom: 0
Zines: 15
Ultimate Bundle: 0
Total:
$910.00
Fixed Expenses:
Badge: 0.00
Booth Fee - 0.00
Parking - 0.00
Hotel - $300.00
Other - 0.00
Total - $300.00
Grand Total Profit: $610.00
Fun aside: this brings my yearly total for in person events to $6,666.
