Comments on: Von Allan’s view from the trenches http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2007/05/02/von-allens-view-from-the-trenches/ The News Blog of Comics Culture Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:10:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Matthew High http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2007/05/02/von-allens-view-from-the-trenches/#comment-144200 Wed, 02 May 2007 18:48:43 +0000 http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2007/05/02/von-allens-view-from-the-trenches/#comment-144200 Interesting discussion, but all the numbers are such wild guesstimates and shots-in-the-dark that I wonder if they have any value at all. Two very important points: 1. The people who buy stuff at comic/anime/fandom conventions are often the same people who are also selling stuff -- and the smaller/more-narrowly-defined the convention, the more true this is. At most conventions I've been to, a very large portion of the stuff I sell happens to be sold to other dealers. At a convention like APE, I imagine a huge percentage of our sales went to other vendors (perhaps even more than half). This kinda throws a huge monkey wrench into the works -- how much of the money exchanging hands is 'fresh' money coming from outside the convention hall, and how much of it is just being passed between dealers? 2. For many APE exhibitors, it's not about making money. I've always found it is best to consider profit as a secondary motive, behind exposure. For example, many years ago I exhibited at a small sci-fi/comics convention in Springfield, Missouri. As expected, sales were slow (very few people interested in small press comics there), and if you calculated out how much money came in versus the expenses, we lost hundreds of dollars on that trip. HOWEVER, we got exposure to a whole new audience, and probably "converted" two or three fans into regular customers who will buy our books at their local comic book store every month for the next few years. Short-term loss turns into long-term gain. One more interesting anecdote to pass along about this year's APE. At most comic book conventions I've exhibited, you have to start out the show with a huge stack of ones and fives and small change, because most of the people showing up at the convention arrive with crisp new twenties to spend. As the convention wears on, you see fewer and fewer twenties, and many of those ones and fives you've passed out on that first day start trickling back in, as people end up spending all their money at the show. This year's APE defied that trend. At the end of the first day, we ended up with MORE ones and fives and tens in the till than we started out with at the beginning of the day. Very unusual. This indicates to me that most of the attendees arrived at APE cash-poor, and didn't have much money to spend. Interesting discussion, but all the numbers are such wild guesstimates and shots-in-the-dark that I wonder if they have any value at all. Two very important points:

1. The people who buy stuff at comic/anime/fandom conventions are often the same people who are also selling stuff — and the smaller/more-narrowly-defined the convention, the more true this is. At most conventions I’ve been to, a very large portion of the stuff I sell happens to be sold to other dealers. At a convention like APE, I imagine a huge percentage of our sales went to other vendors (perhaps even more than half). This kinda throws a huge monkey wrench into the works — how much of the money exchanging hands is ‘fresh’ money coming from outside the convention hall, and how much of it is just being passed between dealers?

2. For many APE exhibitors, it’s not about making money. I’ve always found it is best to consider profit as a secondary motive, behind exposure. For example, many years ago I exhibited at a small sci-fi/comics convention in Springfield, Missouri. As expected, sales were slow (very few people interested in small press comics there), and if you calculated out how much money came in versus the expenses, we lost hundreds of dollars on that trip. HOWEVER, we got exposure to a whole new audience, and probably “converted” two or three fans into regular customers who will buy our books at their local comic book store every month for the next few years. Short-term loss turns into long-term gain.

One more interesting anecdote to pass along about this year’s APE. At most comic book conventions I’ve exhibited, you have to start out the show with a huge stack of ones and fives and small change, because most of the people showing up at the convention arrive with crisp new twenties to spend. As the convention wears on, you see fewer and fewer twenties, and many of those ones and fives you’ve passed out on that first day start trickling back in, as people end up spending all their money at the show.

This year’s APE defied that trend. At the end of the first day, we ended up with MORE ones and fives and tens in the till than we started out with at the beginning of the day. Very unusual. This indicates to me that most of the attendees arrived at APE cash-poor, and didn’t have much money to spend.

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