This past weekend, I was once again selling from behind the Bluedrake Books table, this time at Alamo City Furry Invasion in San Marcos, TX. This experience was quite different from the weekend before at Gateway FurMeet, and indeed from many other experiences as a vendor.
ACFI was held at the Embassy Suites in San Marcos from October 9th-12th this year (though vending was only the 10th through the 12th). As with my last two vending experiences, this event was taking place at a new venue from previous years (when it was, in fact, hosted in San Antonio). This time I was in the actual Dealer’s Den–playing with the big boys, as it were–and was able to set up Thursday evening. Unfortunately, I left my sign and display racks at home, and thus my display was not quite up to par. But as I found out over the weekend, it made little difference.
Setup was easy as usual, though I had little to no guidance in finding my table. It must have been a hectic night indeed for the convention staff. However, throughout the weekend, I discovered that they were very vendor friendly on the whole. Not only did staff actually come around to inquire about dealers’ wellbeing, but they even brought around a little wagon of snacks and sandwiches in the late afternoon of Friday and Saturday (i.e. the long days). Vending hours were also nice and stable for once: 10 to 6 Friday and Saturday; 10 to 4 Sunday.
Now for sales. Friday was a rather disappointing day overall, but it was more than made up for Saturday and Sunday. Overall, sales came to equal in number the sales made at TFS in August. Thus, it was overall a “success,” at least in relative terms, though being in the more expensive Dealer’s Den, I did not quite cover my cost of attendance this time. Surprisingly, Knights of Aralia won out against Sauragia for total sales–a reverse from the usual trend at furry conventions where the anthro creature covers usually win out.
So, what are the takeaways this time? Well, for one thing, having attended five separate events throughout the state of Texas as a vendor over these last two years, I have come to the conclusion that events down there tend to be more lucrative for a bookseller than events elsewhere. While my best records ever were set at a Tulsa furry convention (i.e. most sales at a single event) and a smalltown Missouri festival (i.e. most sales in a single day), with the exception of FAN Expo, all of my Texas experiences have generated the best average sales volume. As such, I will no doubt be returning there next year, possibly beginning in February with Lone Star Fur Con! We will see. Either way, there is a decent chance that I might be back for ACFI 2026, should the stars align just right. In the meantime, I have just one last vending obligation this year, and that will be a return to the Leavenworth Indoor Holiday Market on November 1st (hope to see some of you there!).
Another note worth making is that despite my lack of a sign and display racks this time, my experience was not as bleak as I had initially feared it would be. Thankfully, I have enough titles at this point to fill up the full table that I had at my disposal. And in all honestly, I found that the lack of tall display racks allowed me to better view and interact with my surroundings, including customers. Thus, what I at first viewed as a total lack of professional appearance turned out to be something of a blessing after all. And as stated earlier, it seems to have had little to no impact on my ability to sell. So, as nice as those amenities are, you do not necessarily require them to get out there and promote your work!