Until this year, I had never been to a comic con as an attendee, much less as a vendor. The largest event I’d ever vended at was Texas Furry Fiesta this April with 8650 attendees, and it went quite well. While Fan Expo doesn’t seem to keep such exacting figures, I’ve read estimates of up to 65,000 attendees at this particular one. Which is to say, it was pretty huge.
My setup was located in booth 711 in the Artist Alley, which was at the very back of the enormous Hall F in the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center. Unlike at previous events, I was seated in line with a couple of other book vendors: not usually a good thing unless you’re either very famous or have something that really separates you from the crowd. Unfortunately in this case, I had neither. In an attempt to recoup my losses quicker, I also went out on a limb and used my highest price model here–the same one I used at the ill-fated (if much more fun) DenFur last year. I do not think it scared too many customers away, though, as most did not even look at the price list.
To cut a long story short, this event was easily the biggest financial loss I have ever suffered from my many vending excursions. That is not to say it was the worst experience ever. Indeed, setup was very smooth (if also very time-consuming due to the spread-out nature of the venue). Thanks to the decorator being done early, I was even able to drop my stuff off Thursday instead of Friday as planned. However, I will not be attending Fan Expo again, at least as a vendor, and here’s why.
Firstly, there were simply too many vendors. Not just book vendors, but all kinds. Visually, it’s overwhelming for people, and they get numb to any kind of visual display after a while, especially by the time they make it all the way to the back of the hall. 65,000 looks like a golden number on paper, but as I’ve said many times, size alone is not the most important factor in driving sales. Besides, if you divide those people by the number of vendors available to buy from, the actual number of customers per vendor was lower than some events I’ve attended with 2000 people or less.
As stated earlier, my position was not the best either. Aside from being in the area farthest from the door, I was also the last vendor in my row–preceded by two other booksellers! While I am confident I did better than the one immediately to my left, the vendor to his left seemed to be grabbing most readers right away, so that very few were still interested in buying books by the time they reached me. Luck of the draw, as they say.
What I did like about this event was the fact that there was no teardown every night until the end–always a plus–and the fact that, thanks to my logistical planning, we were able to simply take a ride to the convention center and back Friday and Saturday. No need for the hassle of driving over and finding a place to park until Sunday.
Now, in theory, if I did ever try this again (highly unlikely, I repeat), there are a couple things I would do differently. First, I would book my room at the Omni Hotel connected to the convention center rather than the Hyatt Regency a few blocks away. While the logistics were not a huge hassle this time, that would virtually eliminate the problem altogether. Secondly, I would not come back without a larger, more impressive array of wares. Not just a wider selection of book genres and titles, but possibly some additional types of products related to those books. I might also see about booking one of the bigger retailer spots closer to the door. More expensive, perhaps, but in this place, distances matter.
The last thing I will say is that I did pack up early. Due to the scarcity of sales on Friday and Saturday (generally the best days at all-weekend events, in my experience), I came in early Sunday morning during vendor access hours and packed it in. Considering parking in the Omni garage would have cost me much more than I would have made by sitting at my booth all day, I cut my losses a little. So, in all fairness, I cannot say I have the entire event to judge by. But in all fairness, I doubt it would have made any difference…except to lose more valuable time sitting in a rather uncomfortable chair and watching the public drift by without a second glance.
On a positive note, while at my booth Saturday, received notice that I have been accepted as a vendor at Texas Furry Siesta this year! So, come mid-August, I reckon I’ll be headed to Dallas for one more rodeo.