Comic Convention-al Thinking

Yesterday's appearance at GTA Comic Con was in many ways a wake-up call for me. Or rather, further confirmation of things I've been noticing/ experiencing over the past couple of years in the convention scene.

I know that many have the mentality of, "Keep your chin up," or "don't let them know when you're down," but I am going to be totally honest, because I hope that what I'm about to say may be helpful, in some way to others in my position. You may or may not agree. This is my point of view, based on my own experiences and observations over a 11 year period, probably almost 100 (or more) appearances in that time with varying degrees of success, from earning thousands in a weekend to losing hundreds; sometimes in the same month.

Things did not go well for me yesterday, nor have they for the past few appearances I've done as an artist. Certain things I've noticed with regards to shows from the artist point of view are:

1. It's tough to sell independent books when you aren't as well established. Your stuff make look amazing but if no one has heard of it, they are less likely to invest in it. This is not negativity, this is reality. This is a major factor because exhibition rates continue to rise and there is also the conundrum of whether it is worthwhile to set up at all. With the success of TCAF and it's focus on independent comics, I'm surprised to see many would-be organizers not taking their lead. Instead, we have a lot of attempts to duplicate the large-scale/ mainstream shows. I'll get to that issue a bit later but right now, I am thinking that the best places for those trying to promote and sell their own stories are events with a more literary focus. Even small pop up events at places like book stores and pubs. Exposure is important but being selective about shows (focusing on those that cater to your target audience) will help you save time (so you're not constantly prepping for shows) and money (hotels, travel expenses) that comes in handy for you to continue your work. Start small, local and low cost. Think outside the box. Big shows don't always mean big bucks. They can sometimes mean big losses. Assess your risks and be realistic. Build a brand, gradually but proceed with caution.

2. The Fan Art Trap:

I'm not going to debate the ethics of fan art (this has been discussed to death). I'm talking strictly economics and impact on creative output. Whether or not you agree with it, there is no denying that unlike selling your own stuff (above), selling work featuring established characters is much easier. In fact, by around 2010 (after scraping by at shows, on my own books for five years), I discovered what a powerful money maker it was. My bottom line increased exponentially as I shifted to a primary fan art focus. I stopped bringing my own books to shows because, well, they were just a tougher sell and much higher investment for the potential profit margin. I justified it by thinking that returning customers who were enthusiastic about my art would be easy sells on my book projects. Not the case. The fan art, capitalizing on the established popularity of well-known properties, distracted from the books. So I started leaving the books behind, because they were heavy and just didn't move as well. For several years, my focus at the shows was all about creating fan art that would sell. It was decent income. Sure, the occasional comic project would come up, however, my limited table space had to be used for the money-makers. Starting 2014, it seemed as though every other artist was getting the same idea. Artist Alley started to become much larger and flooded with fan art. It was a rarity when I started in '05 but these days, it's the norm. It's gotten to the point where there is so much competition at shows, undercutting is now standard practice. Artists are dropping their prices just to make the sales, in a sense, undervaluing their own efforts. Because there are so many shows these days, and so much fan art at each, attendees are starting to get desensitized to it. Bored. By the time an attendee makes their way through the entire artist alley, they have experienced sensory overload. In short, it's just not selling as well. The bigger issue? When you spend so much time creating art specifically in the hopes of selling it and taking advantage of the latest hype, you aren't given yourself the opportunity to pursue projects which may be more fulfilling and that have long-term potential. But the rising costs of shows makes it very difficult to resist betting on a more sure thing. So my solution (which I am actually employing this year) is doing less shows. As a result of this decision, I have become involved in (and completed) so many projects, which would have been extremely difficult while trying to uphold the convention schedule that I used to (at least one per month, sometimes two). The certainty of sales with Fan Art just isn't there anymore. Also, the big companies are starting to actively crackdown, so if you decide to ignore all of this, you may find yourself being forced to make a decision. 3. Over-Saturation I don't have an immense friends list on Facebook. A few hundred people. From that, I'd say about 25% are artists. 3/4 of that number are local. This is not a set up for an elementary school math word problem, but an illustration of a statistic. Every single weekend, and I don't think I am exaggerating here, I hear about an artist friend doing a show within about 50 km of Toronto. Sometimes two shows. Sometimes, more than that, even. I remember when there was one. Then a second came along at a completely different time of year, and the first one got pissed. I don't know when the explosion of new shows started, like a cosmic big bang, but it doesn't seem to be slowing. More are popping up all the time. I've run shows with my wife. It's not difficult to do so and be profitable, if you plan properly. As organizers, it's easy to be in the black before the day of the show. But we take our responsibility seriously. We talk to our dealers, get ongoing feedback, promote the hell out of the show and look for unique ways to bring people in. Sometimes, we hold off even booking one, because we realize that there are just too many. We schedule them when we get overwhelming demand. As an artist (or exhibitor) doing a show, you need to communicate with organizers. Find out how they are advertising, to whom, and if there are issues, get them fixed. I know a lot of people who continue to do shows where they consistently lose money and I don't understand why. When shows are organized with what appears to be little regard for anything besides putting money in the pocket of the promoter, skip it. Even if the show seems to consistently bring in large crowds, it doesn't matter if a very small percentage of those people are actually engaging with your art or product. If the promoters aren't putting in the necessary effort, stop supporting them. This is not personal, it's business. The more mediocre shows that continue to stick around simply as a money-maker for those planning it are only serving to dilute the crowds at other shows. Be wary of organizers who seem more interested in selling you table space than ensuring that the show is a proper fit for you and your type of work/product. I.e. if you specialize in creating more literary comics that are a little outside the mainstream, a large gaming-focused show probably isn't a good match. Of course there is the, "you just never know what could happen," mentality but since there are so many shows to choose from these days, why go for the long-shot with other options available? My solution: I will give any show one chance if the price seems reasonable and will take a calculated risk. If it doesn't work out, I communicate my concerns to the organizers. From here, depending on their attitude (either they consider the feedback or they don't), I decide whether to continue. If I do the show again after promises of improvement, but nothing changes, I stop doing the show. Sometimes, it's just not a good fit from the get-go, so I chalk that up to a lesson learned. As mentioned above, I have come to rely on conventions as a significant source of income over the past decade but experiences over the past year have shown me that times have changed. Again, as someone who has organized shows, I know the work that goes into it and it's heartbreaking when things don't pan out how you planned, because you feel (or should feel) accountable to every exhibitor and/or artist who invested in the experience. Especially when you have done your utmost to set them up for success but attendance is negatively impacted by circumstances beyond your control (transit/ construction/ weather/ competing shows scheduled after promotion starts). So where I am at right now, is that Niagara Falls Comic Con 2016 will be my final show appearance until further notice, unless I am exhibiting with a publisher to promote an upcoming project. Additionally, I will be focusing on potentially looking for more full-time work, since I do need to make up for that lost income, while working on commissions and projects in between. This is not me giving up on my dreams, but adapting to current trends. So if you know anyone in Toronto looking for a creative, analytical, hard-working and challenge-driven individual, I would greatly appreciate any referrals. It is greatly appreciated (applying to a few places as we speak).

Personalized Junk Mail And Stupid Dumb Spam Legislation

As our dog is now in his senior years, it means more frequent need to go outside, and not always at the most optimal times. Of late, these calls of nature have been occurring in the middle of the night or in the very early mornings. Occasionally, he'll make quick work of it and come back to bed, sleeping soundly for several hours so Sari and I can piece together several hours of quality sleep. However, sometimes, it takes a bit longer, and whoever is on duty will be unable to return to our slumber, so we'll find something to do while the other snoozes away, undisturbed. This time, my activity of choice was sorting through a huge pile of junk mail, which had been accumulating for quite some time and was starting to take over both our kitchen counter and table.

Junk mail (or unsolicited mail) is hit or miss. I don't hate it 100%, because we sometimes get McDonalds coupons, hear about deals on custom framing, or learn about a new business opening in the area. We save a lot of the take-out menus for when "JustEat.com," doesn't cut it in terms of selection, and now and then, I'm inclined to browse through the community programming booklet for classes I probably won't take. For a good deal of this stuff, we can read it or toss it in the Recycling Bin. In fact, we keep one on our porch to quickly deal with flyers shoved in our door handles by local real estate agents and politicians. These are easy to handle.

It's the other kind I want to talk about. The junk mail that is personalized, to us, with our full name and address. I don't know where they got this information (likely purchased by a third-party), but these are usually of zero interest to me. A seemingly endless barrage of Credit Card and Internet Service Providers won't stop at just sending a general flyer, oh no, they want to give it a personal touch. Not just on the address portion either, but they will actually personalize form letters inside, as well, to let you know that they really want to be your friend (in the same way that a telemarketer will repeatedly use your first name when you are foolish enough to agree to hear what they have to say--and regret it seconds later, not to mention wince whenever this complete stranger says your first name like you've known each other for years).

Last year, the Canadian Federal Government passed the highly controversial anti-spam legislation (CASL), requiring businesses to re-confirm with their entire customer base that they would, in fact, like to continue receiving email communication and promotion. Essentially, this means that customers that businesses who spent money (in some cases) to get these contacts WITH CONSENT were now in a position that they had to awkwardly email these individuals to ask, "so...umm...we still cool? 'Cause if not, you can, like, unsubscribe...and...we'll, ummm, stop sending you the stuff that you asked us to send you in the first place...so...uh...yeah...hope we can still be friends."

This process was not only frustrating for businesses, but resulted in a HUGE spike of junk email from companies all doing the same thing to comply with the legislation (or face hefty fines). All to protect people from promotional info that THEY AUTHORIZED! Meanwhile, male enhancement offers and pleas from Nigerian Princes go unchecked, because these are sent mostly from zombie accounts from overseas, and aren't going to be held accountable by legislation in Canada, because there are just too many of these being reported for officials to make any headway.

In any case, dealing with email, solicited or otherwise, is simple. If it's a company you don't want to hear from anymore, you click the "unsubscribe" button and other than the occasional, "we're sorry to lose you, " email, that's it. If it's the Prince of Nigeria and you doubt his credentials, you just hit the "Report Spam" button (which I'm convinced doesn't actually do anything but delete the email) and you won't get any more...from that address (plenty more from other scamsters!).

Email doesn't take up physical space (unless you have an urge to print all your emails...why would you do that?). Physical mail does. Either on the counter, table or in the recycling bin, it's something you are forced to deal with. The personalized stuff is the worst. THE WORST. Not only do you have something you don't want, but it has personal information printed on it. Because we don't want to attract additional unwanted attention, now we have to ensure that this info doesn't get out. So we have to shred it. We have to buy a shredder. We have to purchase a piece of equipment specifically to deal with something dumped on us without request or permission (kind of like a snow shovel, but nature serves a purpose and snow is just a drawback). Not only do we have to buy a piece of equipment, we have to spend time actually using it. So now, we're out both money AND time for something we don't event want. The other solution is calling the offending companies and asking them not to send you stuff but I don't have the luxury of taking a month off to make all these calls (nor should I have to) and face further irritation as I'm transferred through multiple departments who don't make notes on the call.

If there is legislation on spam email (which is really just a minor inconvenience, most of the time), why not on physical junk-mail? In addition to the annoyances of requiring a shredder, isn't it more
disturbing to receive unsolicited communication at your place of residence than your email inbox? Even tele-scammers trying to gain access to your computer by claiming that your system is unstable is more unnerving than some moron asking for money-laundering assistance while masquerading as African royalty). The verdict, at least from my point of view, is that I would rather have 100 male enhancement offers in my Junk folder (because again, technology tends to sort things for us--I'll talk about the "Other" folder in Facebook Messenger later) than one more credit card offer that I have to shred and dispose of, physically.