Con Aftermath

So, if you guys follow our Twitter or Facebook feeds, you’ll know that a few weeks ago we had a table at a smallish scifi/fantasy literature convention called MileHiCon.

We went into this madness with our previous experience on the subject being that we had attended a couple conventions ourselves at various times, and also knowing people who had had tables themselves, though not with any details about how they had run said tables.

Now, since TDP is Internet-based, none of us actually live very close to each other, which means I, Kit, had to do the actual table running myself. Which turns out to sometimes be really boring. But it was a learning experience, and the other authors/presses were very friendly and willing to help, and the guy next to me gave me a sandwich for lunch on the last day, so there you are.

(He gets a plug because, seriously. Sandwich.)

MileHiCon was a good con to start out with because, as I said, it’s quite small. And they consolidate the authors/presses in one place, so you can see what other people are doing in terms of booth decor and marketing, and what’s working and what’s not.

Here’s what I learned:

  • There is such a thing as having too much choices available at first glance.
  • Candy only lures in children.
  • Upright book stands are the way to go.
  • It is totally okay to bring something to work on, because otherwise you will die of boredom.
  • Other authors rock.
  • People totally judge books by their covers.
  • Even sitting for three days straight is exhausting.
  • The locations of water/bathrooms is super important to know.
  • Not only does candy not lure in paying customers, but it is sitting right there, staring you in the face.

We turned out to be fairly well prepared, all things considered, and I would say the con was a relative success. As to whether or not we’ll do anymore, well, time will tell. But I had a good time and would not be averse to doing one again.

2 Comments:

  1. Yeah, totally a learning experience. 😉 I really appreciate you doing the con for TDP.

  2. …but candy totally draws ME in… >_>

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *