#nerd conventions

I'm getting ready to sell art at a small-ish local nerd convention. This is I believe the 4th con I've sold art at and the third one I've been to personally. I'm looking forward to a good time.

Something a lot of people don't think about when it comes to Artists in Artist Alley is just how much preparation goes into showing at a con, and how much money it takes just to get there. Sure, you've got to actually make the pieces you'll be selling, that counts as prep, but then you actually have to have your pieces printed. I spent about 2 hours today in and out of my universities printing service building trying to get things just right. And you gotta pay for those prints remember.

Then you get a whole big pile of them.

You gotta decide what you're going to charge for all of them. Remember it takes money just to get them printed. Then you have to buy the booth at Artists Alley, depending on the size and prestige of the con, this can range anywhere from $20 to like hundreds of dollars. Oftentimes this can be in addition to a badge to get into the con. They'll usually include one badge with the purchase of an artist booth, but if you're partnering up with other artists like me, at least one of you is going to need to purchase their own badge. Then you have to take into consideration any money you'll be spending on travel to get to the convention and hotel fees for staying there.

So let me run my numbers for you.

Today I spent $28.37 on my prints. This was only to top off my stash, I still had plenty left over, which I will count as a null expense just for simplicities sake.

I am partnering with a person who is willing to absorb most of the $30 cost of the table himself, and only asked that I pay $5.

I live in the town that this con takes place in, so I will not be spending any money on lodging, and my travel expense is negligible.

I will still be needing to purchase my badge, which is $25 (via a student discount, woot!)

Therefore, my startup costs for this weekend are $28.37 + $5 + $25 = $58.37.

I have priced most of my prints at $10. This is very much a balancing act between the technical skill of your pieces, the amount they cost to print, and what people are actually willing to pay for art. In my experience, con goers have a relatively low threshold for what they're willing to pay for art. So sometimes its better to set the bar low to sell anything at all rather than setting it high and not selling a thing. Plenty of people would argue with me over this, but what I've done here is what I'm comfortable with.

In that my costs are about $60, I'm going to have to sell just about 6 prints (or another combination of my items) to *just break even*

That may not sound like much, but it can sometimes be rough.

This isn't nearly as hard if you're a more experience artist than I am or if you have a little more swagger to your name, but then you're probably going to be swimming in bigger ponds than I, where a booth costs $100.

You gotta figure out ways to market yourself. If you're smart you'll have a business card. I'm very fresh to the world of Artist Alley booths so I don't have a business card yet. However, I am handwriting my social media on the back of all my pieces. Yes. All of them. Handwritten.

(If I were real smart I might have a stamp made or something)

And then if you're smart you probably want to track what you sell. Especially if you're at a booth with other artists. You can make up something on the spot and hand write your inventory, or you can be like me and make a fancy graph.

On my graph, I have the names of the items (my prints, but I'm also selling some hats I made) a keyword on some to help my table mates identify the pieces if I'm not there, the number of individual items I started with of each, spots for tallys for each day, the tally total and the actually monetary total for each item.

And then of course you need to get a good night's sleep before and during the con and remember and find out where to eat during the con. Enlist the help up your buddies as free (or cheap) labor to work your table so you can go have a little fun or at the very least eat.

And hopefully, the planets align in your favor and you'll have a really fun, lucrative weekend.

Neopets Mystery Capsule in real life! This was at comic con.