77 hours of Supanova - Appendix C

Ok, i'm going to be controversial by spilling with how much i sold.

i'd like to think i'm pretty good at the selling things and i usually sell a broad range of stuff, so use this information as raw data if you are ever consider selling at a con. Take these numbers of what you could expect to sell in a supanova weekend.

Some things sold better than others but i don't think quality had much to do with it. everything that i had on the table was good stuff, otherwise i would have been wary of carrying it.

Crab Allan x 1
its a pricey item and people don't expect to have to spend that in artist alley - i'm hoping if Bikini Cowboy gets released as something in the $5-7 price range it might get people interested (or when Gothic Boogaloo gets printed) in checking out the rest of Weber's work.

Interior
1 x 7
2 x 6
3 x 5
I was expecting a bit better than this, but i think the smaller size and cover (which is not very eye catching or dynamic) made people pass it by. Its also a hard to sell, since its difficult to express what its about in 20 words or less. Its one of those books that you need to read to "get" and once you do its very intriguing. (its available at www.phasetwocomics.com)

How to save the world x 4
This was a bit low, since its never been in Brisbane, its got a good cover, and fair price. Again I blame too much on the table, (this was at the back which stopped people picking it up and flicking through) and possibly not enough recognition.

Tales from under the bed x 10
This did pretty good for a $6.50 mini. It was up front, heaps of people picked up and flicked through it, its got an eye catching cover. Though It has been out for awhile and it is a bit pricey for artist alley but i'm pretty happy with this.

Sporadic #5 x 11
I wish i had sporadics 1-4 at the table (though i have no idea where i would stick them), this is brand new, good price point, and recieved a lot of interest. however, the whole anthology thing may have slowed sales - its hard to tell, but anthologies traditionally in the western market don't do so well. Is that the case for local stuff? - i dunno.

Brotherboy Sistergirl x 2
Even though its A4, full colour i'm not surprised that this sold 2, at 8 dollars its a hard sell for artist alley. Also its a educational comic staring aboriginal characters which unfortunately is a very niche market. Also they were at the back of the table covered by tonia's comics, which stopped people picking and flicking.

work of Brendan Boyd, x 4 x 1
I had 4 photocopy mini comics, by Brandan, which i didn't have on the table, i actually forgot i had them. i could have pushed them on some people and sold maybe 1 or 2 more sets but tricky.

Tonia Walden comics
(this is from memory since i left them up north)
Eat comics x 3-4
Once upon a time x 2-3
My office is hell x 2-4
Not bad, for a bunch of comics that were stacked at the back of the table. Again the anthology bit may have played in the slowness of Eat comics and Once upon a time. Also i'm sure these are in various local shops, plus Tonia gives them away so alot, so i think many people have'em already.

Ozcomics Magazine
Issue 6 x 28 - happy with this amount, for this being a new issue, especially since the theme of the issue (comic collectiveness) is not that interesting for most people. I'm also glad i didn't bring the 50 i had originally packed.

Issue 5 x 18 - pretty good, people are still interested in the whole Retro thing (comics from 10-20 years ago) also knowing that this was in brisbane last year and in shops this is pretty good result.

Issue 4 x 7 - not bad, again this issue didn't have much of a theme and its been in brisbane before, so its not that unexpected

Issue 3 x 19 - happy with this, this is the best selling issue of the magazine's run so far and i've had to reprint it a couple of times. this is the self publishing issue and alot of would be creators pick it up, i hope the next issue (#7) will continue on this theme. again this has been available in brisbane since its release

Issue 2 x 6 - disappointed in this, its the manga issue and thought it would do the best at a convention that has such a manga emphasis. but i ended up bringing back home a bunch of these which is disapointing. Although, this has been at brisbane cons three times now and in shops, so i'm sure this issue has hit saturation point in the brisbane market.

Issue 1 x 5 - not so disappointed by this since the issue has no theme to sell it, and if people hadn't picked any issues up before i steered them towards 3,5,6 instead

So, i think the way the Sporadic and Walden stuff went, it would pay off for brisbanites to get a table and sell a bunch of different comics, while artists sit and sketch. (people watch artists sketch and will end up buying - especially if they take requests).

Or the advice i've heard is hit zine fair where people come expressly to buy comics.