Event Recap: Jordan Con 2026
TRANSPARENCYEVENT RECAP
My white whale convention has happened! I have officially been a guest at Jordan Con, and it was all I dreamed it would be! Drinks were had, friendships made, besties hung out with, authors mentored, and books sold!
Two things I want to highlight: First, Joe Compton and Sean Hillman, I love those guys so much. I wish I could scoop them and Ben Meeks up in a ball and we would just go start a media empire together. One day guys, one day.
Second, I really want to shout out Jordan Con for being amazing and letting me a be a guest in two spaces most cons don't let me: gaming and mentoring. Multiverse lets me be a weird lil game designer guest as well, but almost no other con brings me on for that content. And Jordan so far has been the only con to turn me loose on their writer community in a mentor roll. It's something I think I am pretty good at, and they took a gamble on letting me do it. For that, I am so, so, so thankful.
I have a few small thoughts.
I am a salad innovator. Just ask author Rob Grimoire. No really, message him and ask him about his favorite salads.
The metal meetup at Jordan Con is simply, the best.
I will never be as famous as Brandon Sanderson. Maybe if I get a sports coat...
I want to organize a 'con' where all my favorite folks who are usually off vending and guesting just hang out so we can just relax and enjoy each other. Who's in?
I mostly did panels on the Gaming Track. Here is a full breakdown though:
Rules vs. Storytelling: There are four panels on this list that yall probably don't care about. And honestly, they are all variations of a theme, each one digging into a niche aspect of Indie TTRPG design. This was the first. It was great. You don't care. Each of them had myself and my hero Bill Bridges. Three had Judy Black and three had Sarah Madsen, who are both far better at all this. It was basically the dream team.
Rules Light, Procedure Heavy: This was the second. You still don't care. It was great.
Friday Night Workshop: In this I was paired with another author and the two of us mentored 4 writers who had submitted 1k words of one of their works. I loved this so much. And super neat, I actually ended up getting one of the submissions placed in an anthology. Bob the King Maker, that's me.
Pets in Sci-Fi: My sole Sci-Fi track panel, I got to talk about cats. Which is pretty much all I want out of any panel.
The Rules You Don't Write: This was number three. I get you don't care, just know I had a blast.
Layout and Graphic Design in Gaming Books: Number four that you don't care about, but that I was LIVING for.
Pitch to Playtest: The usual insane madness that is a group of authors and game designers designing a simple rpg on the fly in an hour. This year we made a game where you play as a whole multiverse of Tom Cruises.
Author One on Ones: In this one I mentored a pair of writers one on one. The highlight for me was when I got to spend time with a writer who has been promoting my works on reddit...like a ton. So I was able to carve out 45 minutes one on one with them, which is no way enough of a thanks for all their support, but I was just stoked I was able to do that.
One Sheet Writing Workshop: In this panel a group of us pros workshopped folks submissions of games they were working on. The best part: the man I mentored in my One on One also had a game idea, that we were really able to dig in on and (I hope) help!
I sold really well. I was worried that Brandon Sanderson being there would suck all the dollars out of the room, but that did not prove to be the case. Whatever dollars he sucked up, he more than made up for by bringing a whole host of attendees along with him!
In fact my only quibble is that I hate how much I was away from the booth. Saturday, the prime selling day, I was on panels more than I was at my table. Which would not have been an issue if I was sharing. But I wasn't, and I didn't bring anyone. But selling as well as I did, despite being away from my booth more than I was there should indicate just how great sales were.
Anywho, here are my numbers:
Event Sales Numbers:
Friday: 370.00
Saturday: 478.00
Sunday: 324.00
Tales by Bob Sales Numbers By Item:
Bringing Home The Rain: 17
The Depth of the Water: 1
Feet in the Fire: 1
Omnibus 1: 13
Omnibus 2: 5
Southern Saudade: 1
Ultimate Bundle: 0
Create: 0
Bearded Bard Inkworks Sales Numbers By Item:
Zines: 11
Total:
$1,172.00
Fixed Expenses:
Badge: $0.00
Booth Fee - $35.00
Parking - $40.00
Hotel - $250.00
Other - $0.00
Total - $325.00
Grand Total Profit: $847.00
