Vending Back-to-Back Weekends Part 2: TTFC

Last week I reviewed my experiences as a vendor in the Artist Alley at DenFur 2024, so take a look at that post first if you haven’t already. This week, I’ll be talking about my vending experience in the Artist Alley at Tails & Tornadoes Fur Con 2024, which took place in Tulsa, OK over Labor Day weekend. At the end, I’ll sum up the takeaways of my experiences both good and bad, and share my general impression of writing and bookselling as a lifestyle.

Tails & Tornadoes was a very different experience from DenFur the weekend before. For one thing, though there were only 1353 attendees (compared to 3623), the event felt much livelier and more con-like. I think this may have to do with the simple fact that the venue was not as large or spread out as the Denver Downtown Sheraton, and the overall density of people per square yard was slightly higher. In addition, the Marriott in Tulsa has a big skylight in the ceiling, which brightened everything up significantly during the days, which were all sunny and clear.

The Artist Alley at TTFC was also run very differently. For one thing, I was selected ahead of time unlike at DenFur. In fact, I was initially selected only for Friday and Sunday, but was told on the spot that the vendor who was supposed to take my place Saturday wasn’t showing up, and so I could have the space if I wanted it. I said yes, paid my due, and thus got the golden opportunity to vend all weekend! And what was more, unlike any previous Artist Alleys I’ve been in, TTFC’s was in a small, closed off room with a lockable door. Thus, only vendors who had to give up their spaces to someone else the next day had to tear down their booths every evening, so by getting Saturday, I didn’t have to tear down my booth from the time I set up at noon Friday to the time the Alley closed down at 4:00 Sunday! A major saver of time and hassle.

The space itself was also much better than DenFur. For one thing, I got a full 6′ table to myself, and so was able to set up not only my book rack, but my poster rack as well. My particular table was located in a corner, so I had to angle both racks outward and place my sign on one side of the table to actually be seen, but this caused no problems at all, and in such a small room, pretty much everybody who came in had to pass right by my table anyway. I will say that the TTFC tables were a bit deeper than I was used to, and at $40 a day, it was easily the priciest Artist Alley booth I’ve ever rented, but it was well worth it.

Which brings me to sales. How did the booth do at TTFC compared to DenFur? Quite simply put, a whole lot better. In three days at TTFC, I sold exactly three times the books I sold in two days at DenFur. Could I have bolstered the latter number a bit by vending Sunday? No doubt, but I’m certain that even had I done so, TTFC would still have come out ahead by a goodly margin. It is also true that I used my older price sign in Tulsa, on which a couple categories of books were $3 cheaper, which may have contributed somewhat. But my overall take each day was still higher than at DenFur, proving that moving more books at a lower rate is more profitable in my case than moving fewer at a higher rate.

Tear down went smoothly when it did come around, and staff was friendly and helpful throughout. Staff was polite at DenFur as well, but tear down was always a bit more difficult due to the terrain. One final plus to TTFC was that, as at many furry conventions, there were ample tables set up around the general convention space where folks could spread out stickers, business cards, or any other kind of self-advertising free of charge (of which I and several others took full advantage). There was no equivalent at DenFur: only a few side tables next to seating areas, which were regularly cleared off by hotel staff.

If I have any complaints about the Tails & Tornadoes Artist Alley, one would be the $40 per day price tag. Though I did make that up and then some each day, I think $30 would be more reasonable for future endeavors. Granted, registration for the event itself was about $15 less, but in doing the math, DenFur was still the better deal based on vending/registration costs alone. My only other concern would be that there were several who came into the Artist Alley and remarked that they didn’t even know it was there. I can only imagine how many others didn’t know it was there and didn’t bother to go looking, so perhaps better placement and/or signage might be a good idea as well. The Dealer’s Den was located at the end of an even longer corridor by itself, but the fact there was a game room and a panel room down an adjoining corridor more than made up for that, I think.

So, what are the takeaways from all this? Well, obviously my overall experience was better at TTFC, with a couple minor exceptions. As for selling my own books as a lifestyle? I could quite honestly see it as a possibility, albeit one that would require a much larger volume of sales both online and in person to become truly self-sustaining. The fact of the matter is, there is nothing quite so gratifying as to have someone pay you their hard-earned money in exchange for something you yourself created from scratch. It’s all good and well to move tons of product in a retail outlet and make a good paycheck that way, but to move even just a few items of your own making is truly special. And the opportunity to actually meet the people who are your future, current, and in some cases past readers is an experience that you simply can’t get any other way. If you ever get the opportunity to try, I highly recommend it.

I’m also pleased to announce that I will be appearing at two more back-to-back events next month: The Burg Fest in Warrensburg, MO (Oct. 11th & 12th) and Zeeco Oktoberfest in Tulsa, OK (Oct. 16th-20th). I’ll be found behind the Bluedrake Books table in the yellowish tent at both, so come say hi if you happen to be in the area!