Back from SPX!
Sep. 12th, 2023 10:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lb_leeRogan: We had a good time at SPX but we will not be going back. We took a 40% hit in gross profits, compared to last year, so even crashing with a friend and drastically cutting our expenses, we still only broke even. As a paid vacation to visit our high school best friend, see @the-broken-tower, and get a lot of books, that's a success, but as a 15-hour business weekend with two days of travel, that's not worth it.
SPX is a high-level show. A half-table costs $195. Even if we had been local, able to come by rolling out of bed with zero travel considerations or other expenses, we would've only netted a $100 net profit this year. We made the same amount of gross income ($300) in four hours at Dyke March, IN THE RAIN, and it was a lot cheaper and easier to get to. We really seem to be more cut out for smaller local shows.
We have never had such a drastic income drop at a show in such a short timeframe, and I am baffled as to why. Venue and times were the same, my condition was way better, crowds were fine, table had a fine location, but nobody was buying paperbacks from me, and there's only so much profit to be wrung out of floppies priced at $8 or less. I admit, I am bummed.
Ah well. The con giveth and the con taketh away. Still, it's weird to think that I'm about guaranteed to make more money at the Watertown Library Zinefest next month! (It's a little free event and they said they'll pay me to do a panel, so yeah, even if I sell zero books, I am guaranteed a better profit.)
So far, we have done a handful of out of state shows (Flamecon in NYC, SPX in Bethesda, TCAF in Toronto, Staple! in Austin, and IGDID in Seattle) and none have been a financial success. (Though Staple was really just an excuse to recoup the costs of a photo reference trip, so that's fine, and Flamecon is where I got threats of violence so I was really off my game. I would be willing to retry Flamecon.) We really are better off as a hometown hustler, I think. Travel is expensive and stressful, and our work is weird and niche and never a big seller. Oh well!
SPX is a high-level show. A half-table costs $195. Even if we had been local, able to come by rolling out of bed with zero travel considerations or other expenses, we would've only netted a $100 net profit this year. We made the same amount of gross income ($300) in four hours at Dyke March, IN THE RAIN, and it was a lot cheaper and easier to get to. We really seem to be more cut out for smaller local shows.
We have never had such a drastic income drop at a show in such a short timeframe, and I am baffled as to why. Venue and times were the same, my condition was way better, crowds were fine, table had a fine location, but nobody was buying paperbacks from me, and there's only so much profit to be wrung out of floppies priced at $8 or less. I admit, I am bummed.
Ah well. The con giveth and the con taketh away. Still, it's weird to think that I'm about guaranteed to make more money at the Watertown Library Zinefest next month! (It's a little free event and they said they'll pay me to do a panel, so yeah, even if I sell zero books, I am guaranteed a better profit.)
So far, we have done a handful of out of state shows (Flamecon in NYC, SPX in Bethesda, TCAF in Toronto, Staple! in Austin, and IGDID in Seattle) and none have been a financial success. (Though Staple was really just an excuse to recoup the costs of a photo reference trip, so that's fine, and Flamecon is where I got threats of violence so I was really off my game. I would be willing to retry Flamecon.) We really are better off as a hometown hustler, I think. Travel is expensive and stressful, and our work is weird and niche and never a big seller. Oh well!
