When I started making a list of events I wanted to attend in the area, the ALA Annual Conference was one of the biggest on the list. But getting in proved very difficult – probably the hardest barrier to entry of any event I’ve ever encountered. After going through all of my options, I knew there was no way I was getting in. And then, when I had given up hope, I saw an opening. And I took it.
Table of Contents
What is ALA?
How do you get in?
The Zine Pavilion
What am I bringing?
Comix Clubhouse Goes to ALA
Day 1 of 3
Day 2 of 3
Day 3 of 3
Day 4 of 3
Final Thoughts
What is the ALA Annual Conference?
The ALA (American Library Association) Annual Conference & Exhibition is the biggest library conference in the country. Every major publisher will be there along with companies showing off new library tech and services. It’s the biggest event in the book industry. It also just so happens to be right here in Philadelphia. Naturally, as a local, independent comic book writer and publisher, if there’s one event I attend while living here – this is it.
How do you get in?
As one of the biggest book events in the country, the likes of Penguin and Scholastic and friends are all expected to have big booths. But smaller publishers are more than welcome to exhibit as well. Comix Clubhouse is a small publisher. Super small. But how small is too small?
According to my research, the largest exhibitor space is $4,620 with a smaller option for $3,750. That’s a lot. Apparently these spaces are “rooms” made on the floor with standard table and chairs surrounded by pop-up walls. A roof can be added for an additional $2,200. I’ve been to cons where you pay extra for a table or a chair, but never a whole roof.
Obviously that’s exceptionally beyond my reach. In my entire life I’ve never paid more than $3000 for any one thing. I made like $500 in all of last year and while this year has already been way better, the profits from one event usually go into the next. Since there are exhibitors of all sizes, surely there are smaller booths?
There are two pavilions at the conference with booths at $1,725. One is for promoting mobile apps. Nope. The other is for diversity in publishing. Comix Clubhouse’s owners definitely fit that, but most of our titles aren’t the sort of thing you put under the “diversity” banner. I’m Puerto Rican, sure, but our latest book was about cats. Also, I can’t afford $1,725.
The last and most appropriate option is a “small press” table. Hey, small press. That’s what Comix Clubhouse is! That sounds perfect. It seems like a very small, standard artist alley sized booth with a single six-foot table and limitations on signage and display. But even then, that’s $1,350. At least I have a goal to work toward for next year’s conference.
There is a $500 gaming area, which is probably so cheap because it focuses on publishers and developers demoing games instead of selling them. Or because they know games are less popular with librarians. I’m not saying I never want to make a game, but if I start now it won’t even be ready for next year’s ALA.
There is, to my surprise, an artist alley at ALA. Now we’re talking. It’s your standard one table, two badges affair – and it’s free! The only catch is that to get in you have to submit a framed, library-themed art piece for a raffle. That’s super cool, but I found out about it too late. However, it seems like it’d be very difficult to get into. There are only 30 spots and some big names got in this year. And it’d be pretty weird to get in with something mostly made by Markk if it’s just me there.
With all of my exhibitor options off the table, the only way I was getting in was with a normal attendee badge. Given the industry representation that’s going to be there, that’s probably not the worst investment. But, keep in mind, this is not a fan convention. The ALA is an organization of library professionals. You don’t have to be an official, dues-paying member to attend, but non-members can’t get in for less than $580 early bird admission with standard admission as high as $755. And that’s still a bit out of my price range, at least this year. It would be cheaper to make a board game.
That’s it then. I can’t get into the conference as an attendee. I can’t afford an exhibitor booth. There was no other way in. I simply wasn’t going to be attending the ALA Annual Conference unless I discovered some other, lesser-known way to get in.
The Zine Pavilion
On June 1st I did a one day event called Go Punk Yourself where each table was a different aesthetic like cyberpunk or cottagecore. I called it the “theme-themed” event. I shared a table with my new best friend Lu who makes dice and earrings and other art. It was the premiere of a new comic we made together. Don’t tell Markk I cheated on them. And, for what it’s worth, our table was “retropunk” themed.
I didn’t write a post about it because it wasn’t particularly interesting. No big disaster and no surprises. But I did meet this chill couple who said they were working on some zines for an upcoming event they were doing this month in this city. Interested in doing as many events as I can, I asked for more information.
They said they were tabling at the Zine Pavilion at the ALA Annual Conference. This perplexed me. I wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with the Zine Pavilion. I saw mention of it during my research and actually sent them some of my old zines for a raffle, but it didn’t even register with me as a potential exhibiting possability.
While I am focusing on “comic books” this year, I used to make “zines” quite a bit. However, only a few were the traditional personal/political/queer kind of zines. Most were just experimental minicomics. But they were all selling for like $2 so going to an event focused entirely on zines simply isn’t worth it for me these days.
With the knowledge that tabling at the Zine Pavilion was a thing, I decided to shoot my shot and reach out to the organizers to ask if they had any space left. Too my surprise, I got a pretty quick response back. They said “yes.”
I was in.
What to Bring to the Zine Pavilion?
Now I had a new problem. What exactly do I bring to the Zine Pavilion? The Comix Clubhouse titles are usually my bestsellers, but do they really count as “zines?” If I learned one thing at FanExpo it’s that it couldn’t hurt to diversify what I bring to events. I still have some of my older books that are closer to “zines” and I have been looking to get rid of them. Or I could print more. I could even make new ones. I have time and I have a printer.
I also have one of those wood bookshelves you see in a lot of artist alleys. It comfortably holds six books which means I could potentially bring literally every single item in my inventory and maximize potential profits. Though, I have noticed sometimes too many options does more harm than good, especially with indecisive customers.
A couple of weeks before the conference, the Zine Pavilion organizers held a Zoom meeting. I’ve never seen that for an event, especially a small portion of a larger event. I was available so I popped in anyway, fully expecting it to be the sort of “this could have been an email” kinda meeting. It sorta was. They went through a slideshow and actually sent the slides out ahead of time which made it feel extra pointless? But if anything it would have been nice to see/hear the organizers and, most importantly, gauge the vibe.
One of my biggest concerns with the event had been: are my Comix Clubhouse titles “zine” enough for a zine-focused event? Deep down, I didn’t want to sell my old zines. But I didn’t want to harsh the vibe by selling my traditional comic books.
I’ve been the person selling out of Space Bunny and Jack & Beans while nearby vendors barely made back their table fee. That’s not fun. I also didn’t want the reverse to happen, with everyone else selling “zines” because people came to “Zine Pavilion” looking for “zines” and not “comic books.”
So I asked. During the Zoom meeting I asked what the vibe would be and if everyone stopping by was looking for your standard, anarchist, anti-establishment, protest, personal, memoir, gay, weird, and generally “zine” zines. I wanted to know if my traditional “comic books” would do well or if they’d even be “allowed.” Sure, they accepted my application based on examples of my work. But I was still cautious.
Their answer was seemingly random and off-topic. It technically didn’t even answer my question, but it changed everything. One of the organizers said that the question they get asked the most is, “Is there anything for kids?”
Those are the magic words.
Comix Clubhouse Goes to ALA
I didn’t really know what the attendees of the conference would be like. You hear “librarian” and picture the stereotypes, plus maybe a mix of the real librarians you’ve encountered. But librarians are a kind of people and there are as many kinds of librarians as there are people. I wasn’t sure who I was going to expect to see, but I was pretty certain I wouldn’t see any kids.
However, learning that people going to the Zine Pavilion are looking for stuff for kids I knew I was throwing money away by not going all-in on Comix Clubhouse – vibe be damned. When I saw the map, I also realized the Zine Pavilion was right next to the Graphic Novel and Gaming Pavilion which included the Artist Alley. Even if I stood out in the Zine Pavilion itself, I’d blend in perfectly with the rest of the general area. My mind was made up.
For inventory I brought Jack & Beans, Space Bunny #1, and Hero Booster. I’m not bringing Sapphire & Moonstone to cons anymore so I can reserve it for online and wholesale orders. That left a spot open, so I decided to bring Wildwood Menagerie – this is the comic I made with my new best friend Lu.
I printed out extra copies of the new Comix Clubhouse catalog, which we mailed to retailers earlier this month. I don’t see libraries making bulk orders, but you never know. If anything it makes us look more legit. One of my main goals this year was to convince people that Comix Clubhouse is a real publishing company and not just… me in my room.
Day 1 of 3
It was possible to apply for Zine Pavilion tables on individual days, so I decided to book for the main weekends only. While an extra day of tabling did – in theory – mean an extra day of profits, I knew this was such a big event I couldn’t spend the whole thing trapped behind a table. With so many cool people in one space, I decided to set Friday as my day to walk around and network.
I woke up, got ready, and quickly finished packing. I realized I forgot to get cash to make change so that was a stop I had to make – easy peasy. I didn’t have to bring anything with me so I just headed out with my messenger bag around mid-morning.
Fun fact: I’m a dipshit.
First of all, I didn’t think to look up where exactly in the convention center the expo hall was. I went through the same doors I went through for FanExpo and was told by a security guard that registration was upstairs and “to the left.” I was so confused why they would do that. The longer I walked the more I thought, “Why is it waaaaay in the back and not the front?” Turns out there are a bunch of different entrances and I went in “the back” way like a moron. The crazy thing is registration was in this beautiful area that FanExpo didn’t use.
Look at this architecture! What the hell? I don’t even know how to describe it. It feels… fantasy? Like it’s probably based on a real culture but to me it just looks like an 80s alien villain castle. By the way I’m not a dipshit because I didn’t know where the entrance was. And I’m not a dipshit because I don’t know what this architecture is called.
I am a dipshit because I got in at around 11:30 am. That was six hours before the expo hall opened.
I don’t know how I missed that. I definitely must have read it at some point. It’s probably why I chose not to table on Friday in the first place. But I felt real stupid when I tried doing the whole networking thing and entire booths weren’t even in the beginning stages of getting set up.
Now, it’s not like I was turned away at the door. I had an exhibitor pass. I was allowed in even though I had absolutely nothing to do. The problem was: I had absolutely nothing to do. I couldn’t really network or hobnob with people who were actively unpacking and setting up all of their stuff – assuming they were even there yet.
And so, I decided to walk around. Talk to whoever looked free. Network with whoever was available.
For six hours.
It wasn’t entirely boring or miserable. The expo hall is huge so there was a lot to see and plenty of booths were set up be the night before. There were, technically, panels and stuff happening elsewhere but none of that caught my eye. I figured I should check in with the Zine Pavillion, so I headed over.
On the way there I passed through Artist Alley…. It was mostly empty. But I did run into Kirk Reedstrom, another creator of kids comics. We ended up talking for like an hour, chatting about the business and the craft and the air conditioning. We decided to head over to the Zine Pavilion together.
We barely made it ten feet before someone stopped us because they couldn’t find their table. They were another artist’s assistant and after looking at the map – which was a pain to do on mobile – we found their table… except we were standing right on it.
The artist showed up and the four of us tried to figure out where this table was supposed to be. Eventually, it was Kirk who realized there were four signs hanging above five tables. So the artist’s sign never got set up in the first place. The only real problem was that someone else had shove a suitcase under their table. They didn’t set up so I was like “… why don’t we just move the suitcase?”
The artist decided to go to the help desk for… help. Kirk and I stayed with the assistant and chatted about art and life and the universe and all that. The artist came back and was like, “They said to just move the suitcase.” So I just moved the suitcase.
That was the most exciting part of the day.
Kirk and I finally made it over to the Zine Pavilion and everyone there seemed totally rad, but it was still being set up just like everything else. Kirk and I split up after that and then I just wandered some more.
ALA is really weird in such a fun way. You hear it’s a “library” conference and expect publishers and app developers and some non-profits and that’s it. But instead there were so many cool and different things that I didn’t even think made any sense to show up.
There were multiple companies who sold shelves, tables, chairs, and display fixtures. Like… you ever notice how libraries don’t have normal furniture? Neither did I but now I will. There was a company there that makes bags for traveling libraries, there was a company that makes rolling carts, there was even a company there that makes library cards themselves!
The most fun I had was chatting with this guy who worked for a company that sells book sorting machines. I was once in the regional sorting facility for Pittsburgh’s library system and it was like a massive Santa’s workshop with conveyor belts automatically moving books into bins to be sent to different libraries across the city. But this guy had a smaller machine that could go into each individual library without the need for a dedicated facility or time shipping them to each location. And they can be connected to book return chutes – literally all a librarian would have to do is reshelve them. I started this conversation with this guy by telling him I don’t have anything to do with libraries but he was still so damn cool to listen to because he was so passionate about the product. Also, this wasn’t even the only book sorting machine in the expo hall.
I eventually made my way back to Artist Alley and chatted with plenty of other cool people including Sarah Davidson, Kane Lynch, Jannie Ho, Mark Russell, and even Iron Spike. The Iron Spike For a good portion of the day I was just popping around chatting with random people and talking about the business of comics more than anything.
Eventually, the expo hall officially opened at 5:30, but I wanted to attend a cartoonist meet-up at 6 so I started heading to the door. However, I got distracted. I got distracted like twenty-seven times. I ended up staying until they turned off the lights to signal the show floor closing. (Who does that?)
In a surprise to no one, it was way easier to network and stuff once the event was officially open. Everything was set up and everyone was in active marketing mode. I got to meet face to face with the people behind some of my favorite publishers, and I got to make friends with some new publishers I’ve never heard of.
Another thing I didn’t notice until after the official opening: everyone I talked too throughout the day asked who I was exhibiting with – because only an exhibitor would be there 6 hours before the expo hall opens. But once the hall was open, everyone I talked to assumed I worked for a library. Interesting.
I knew I wasn’t likely to make any direct financial benefit from Friday. I figured unless a publisher wants to buy my soul, the biggest thing I was going to get out of my time there was to see how other (real) publishers handle things like catalogs and promotional products. I knew a lot of them were giving away free books, but that’s not what I was looking for.
In the short hour and a half before we closed, I managed to pick up: fifteen publisher catalogs, eleven promotional postcards, thirteen bookmarks, five star-shaped stress toys with positive affirmations written on them, one pencil, one sticker, one temporary tattoo, one pair of sunglasses… and yeah okay twenty free books.
I also grabbed this thing at some point and wasn’t even sure what it was. It looked like a really thick art print that was shrink-wrapped for some reason. When I opened it I realized it’s actually twenty-six copies of the same sticker sheet shrink wrapped together. Obviously, everything there was “for” librarians but this was the most for librarians thing I picked up. What am I gonna do with them?
Alright, that was an exhausting day and it was technically, officially, only an hour and a half. Time to get some sleep and get ready for tomorrow…. Y’know what? I am writing this Friday night and off the top of my head I have no idea when the expo hall opens tomorrow.
Day 2 of 3
The expo hall opened at 9:00AM. Jesus Christ. I’m an early bird so that wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t just spend like ten hours walking around, two of which carrying a massive tote full of free books. I was so tired and sore I did not want to do anything today.
When I got to the Zine Pavilion I realized I had no idea where to go or what to do – probably should have asked about that the night before. I quickly found an organizer who said I could take any table I wanted. Whoa.
Table placement can make or break a con. There is no perfect spot, but some are objectively better. When I saw the options that were left I was a bit worried. The Zine Pavilion is at the very back of the con – several of the open tables were facing the wall. Even if the foot traffic would eventually flow that way, logic dictates a table facing the rest of the expo floor would do better. Plus, I didn’t want to stare at a wall all weekend. So I grabbed the furthest table from the wall that I could get and set up quickly.
I don’t know if I was harshing the vibe, but there were times where I certainly felt like the vibe was harshing me. This was definitely one of those events where I felt out of place. People trekking their way over to the Zine Pavilion weren’t looking for traditional comic books. Maybe. A bigger issue was probably that most attendees weren’t expecting to pay for anything because most of the publishers were giving away things for free. Speaking of free-
Every time I got up to go to the bathroom, get some water, visit a friend, or even just stretch my legs, I would inevitably return to my table with a handful of free books. I genuinely was not planning on this. I really didn’t know this was that kind of event. I wasn’t looking for free books… But… It’d be rude not to take them.
While I was on these walks I’d often find myself talking to more people. Lots of different publishers were interested in telling me about their work while simultaneously asking me about mine. They were all there to get the word out and share their stories and learn from others. And give away free books. And the best way to give away free books: bring the author.
I accidentally bumped into my favorite author… like four or five different times. I swear I didn’t look up any publisher schedules to see who was going to be there or when or what they were giving away. I was just… there. And so were they.
Early in the morning, Shannon Watters (Lumberjanes) was doing the rounds at the Zine Pavilion. She glanced in my direction, pointed at Jack & Beans, and shouted, “That’s amazing!” Then she left without buying it. Five minutes later I literally accidentally bumped into her. I said, “Excuse me,” but she didn’t seem to notice.
Later, I popped by the Oni Press because Ben Kahn (Mr. Muffins: Defender of the Stars) was signing copies of Mr. Muffins: Defender of the Stars. I’ll admit this was one I knew about and planned to attend, but Ben’s a friend and even then I only found out about it like two days before. I’ve already read Mr. Muffins: Defender of the Stars by Ben Kahn, but you bet I was first in line to grab a signed copy of Mr. Muffins: Defender of the Stars by Ben Kahn.
Later, I was walking by the Mad Cave booth when someone was like, “Hey, you want a new murder mystery?” I glanced at the cover and saw that the book was Murder Kingdom by Fred van Lente. It had a bit too much black and red going on for my liking but I said I love anything by Fred van Lente. The guy said, “Well, hey, you can even get it signed by Fred van Lente.” Confused, I looked up – I was talking to Fred van Lente. I gushed about how much I loved his novel, The Con Artist, and he enjoyed me praising him in front of the Mad Cave people.
While lost in the vicinity of the Scholastic booth, I noticed there wasn’t a line at whatever signing was going on. I thought I’d pop in and got a signed copy of Mabuhay! by Zachary Sterling who was sitting next to… Molly Knox Ostertag? THE Molly Knox Ostertag. What the hell? Just… not having a line? There was a line already forming for whoever was next, so I realized Molly’s signing was until 4PM and it was like 3:57. I guess it’s okay for her to not have a line. But also… why was she signing at the same time as Zachary Sterling? So bizarre.
Another random encounter involved walking by the Skybound booth a million times and seeing this tokusatsu-looking thing called Family Force V out of the corner of my eye. Well I just so happened to be there when the author was signing – it was Matt Braly, creator of Amphibia. There was also only like 2 people after me so… that was weird. It seemed like despite the high amount of guests in the building, the amount of “fangirling” going on was really low. Or it was being spent elsewhere. Who knows?
The absolute best interaction I had has to be when I was wandering around and saw Alex Krokus – lost and confused. He was looking for the Chronicle booth and I didn’t even know they were there. I was so ready to fangirl all over him, but he seemed to have other stuff going on so after trying my best to point him in the right direction, I decided to just leave him alone.
Five minutes later I stumbled upon the Chronicle booth – and Alex was there. He said he had a signing in half an hour. I didn’t want to stand around fangirling to him, but of all the people I could have met that weekend Alex Krokus is easily one of the most influential on my career. I like the works of the other creators I met, but I’ve made comics specifically in response to Alex’s work.
And thankfully, Alex is the best guy. We spent like the next half an hour chatting about the usual stuff – the art, business, good, and bad of comics. We talked about random crap like what else he’s been doing in Philly and what crimes he’s committing while he’s here.. He seems like such a cool dude.
While I was making sales at my table in the Zine Pavilion, I simply could not sit behind that table all weekend. Cool stuff happened to me every time I got up. So I closed up my table an hour early and just… explored. It was a great opportunity to sell my books, but it was an even bigger opportunity to network and – yeah – pick up some free books.
Twenty-five free books.
Day 3 of 3
Sunday was basically the same deal as Saturday. I spent a lot of time antsy behind my table while cool stuff was happening everywhere else. I spent a lot of time seeing and doing cool stuff everywhere else. I talked to all kinds of different people from all kinds of different companies and organizations. I met some of my favorite people… And, yeah, I got a lot of free books.
Here are a few highlights:
Before I even went to my table I booked it to two signings I really wanted to check out. One was at the Scholastic booth to grab a signed copy of Reel Life by my new best friend Kane Lynch. At the same time at the Oni Press booth where Brian Gonsar was signing copies of Dracula’s Brunch Club. I was torn about which to head to first. I figured Scholastic would have the bigger line because they’re Scholastic. But Oni had donuts. I don’t even remember which one I went to first. I got both books and I got a donut – it was fine.
Speaking of the Oni Press booth, I purposefully avoided that whole area when George Takei was on the floor, but I heard the line was snaking all over the place. Not sure why they didn’t do that in a different area.
Speaking of the Oni Press booth, I later I passed a huge line that was all over the damn place and loudly asked, “What the hell is this line for?” Someone said, “Maia Kobabe,” and I was like, “Haha, that makes sense.” But it didn’t make sense. Why didn’t they do this in a different area? I wasn’t even by the Oni Press booth when I found the line.
Speaking of the Oni Press booth, I popped over there for a minute to get a copy of The Littlest Fighter by my friend Joey Weiser. At the booth was my other friend Ben Kahn (Mr. Muffins: Defender of the Stars) and my other other friend Mat Heagerty. While chatting with the whole bunch before Joey’s signing, I realized something that may be the cause of why they all have more successful careers than me: I am so short.
Speaking of the Oni Press booth, Joey’s signing was described to me as a “group signing” which I assumed meant him and the whole creative team on The Littlest Fighter… Y’know… the book Joey made by himself. Apparently the “group” in question was actually Joey, Mat, and Ben Kahn (Mr. Muffins: Defender of the Stars) in other words… all my friends were signing at the same time? Which explains why they were all there at the same time. I’m so short.
Speaking of the Oni Press booth, have you noticed it was the place I went to (on purpose) the most? The marketing people started to recognize me. What a great group. I still have no idea where their booth was. Every time I went anywhere I got so lost.
As far as selling at the Zine Pavilion went: I made a total of two sales, both of which were pretty interesting interactions. Why? Allow me to explain something I haven’t mentioned yet.
The conference badges are printed on demand at registration for each attendee. Not only do they have your name on them, but they also have whatever organization or company you are with as well as, in certain cases, what your job title was. Some were, however, more detailed than others.
This meant it was easy to tell who was actually affiliated with a library, what kind of librarian they were, and whether or not they were a big decision maker. If they were an exhibitor, you could easily tell who worked for which publisher and maybe what they did there.
There was some weird glitch that had some but not all of the Zine Pavilion tablers being labeled as being from Chicago. I also saw a random guy with a badge labeled “N/A” followed by another “N/A” and really regret not asking what his deal was.
Interestingly, I didn’t see a single press pass. As a former blogger, I found that really weird. I know it was an industry conference and not a fan convention, but press still goes to those kinds of things. I guess there wasn’t anything “newsworthy” but also there are plenty of librarians who didn’t make the trip so some coverage would have been beneficial. Now that I think about it I haven’t really seen press passes at any events I’ve been at in the past few years. Maybe they just didn’t want to deal with the kind of “press” you get these days. Like TikTokers and people who open their jaw as wide as they can in thumbnails.
Anyway. The badges meant I generally knew who was buying my books. The ten sales I got on Saturday felt like people mostly buying for their kids. A couple were sold directly t some of the few kids I actually saw. Once I saw how many free books were going around, I didn’t expect any librarians to buy anything “for” their library.
So. One of the books I sold on Sunday was to someone working at a major publisher of graphic novels for children. I wasn’t sure exactly what their role was and their name didn’t stick with me. Maybe they bought it for their niece. Maybe they bought it to see if they’d like to acquire Comix Clubhouse. I don’t know.
The second sale of the day was a bit more interesting. While walking back from the bathroom, I spotted someone lingering by my table. I quickly made it back to the table as they were about to walk away. Once I was back, they stuck around a bit.
They took a long, deep look at Space Bunny – basically reading the whole book while standing there. They smiled, laughed, and took interest in some pages more than others. They started asking some very general questions, then got more specific and more in-depth. Their badge said they were with a publisher, but one I know will never have any interest in any of my work. I figured they were also shopping for a niece or whatever.
Then they straight up told me that their badge was a lie and that their friends at the publishing company got them in sneakily. Another infiltrator! However, this made me think even more that they were just… a person. Until they dropped the bombshell. They weren’t with the publisher. They weren’t with a library. They weren’t even shopping for their niece.
They were an agent.
Suddenly, the tone of the conversation shifted. They had very specific, pointed feedback about Space Bunny. They talked about what worked and what needed improvement. They talked about trends at publishers right now.
They gave me their card.
The ALA Annual Conference isn’t a comic book convention. If I had bought a $1350 table, there was no way I was going to make even a third of that by selling books. It’s about making connections and networking and promoting.
My table was free so I wasn’t super stressed about low sales. I’m glad I was able to get up and walk around and talk to people. But I am so glad I was at my table at that moment. Because if the only book I sold all weekend was to an interested agent, I’d say that’s a pretty successful weekend.
After three straight days of walking around and carrying free books all over the place, I was so tired and ready to curl up in bed. The good thing is, Sunday is always the last day of any event. It was finally over –
Day 4 of 3
What?! What kind of big industry event goes into Monday??? If they wanted to do a four-day event why not do it on Friday instead of making that a preview night? Alright, I’m not gonna say no to more networking opportunities – or more free books. Let’s go.
Monday was weird. It was quieter than usual. When I got to the Zine Pavilion on Monday morning, this is what I saw:
There were other tables not photographed, but my specific area was totally empty. I thought about moving to be closer to the others, but it felt silly this late in the game. And… I mean c’mon. I wanted to spend more time at my table resting and maybe actually selling… But I knew I’d probably be up and about most of the day.
I did end up selling a few books on Monday, but for the most part there was no one walking around by the Zine Pavilion and there was still so many cool people I wanted to talk to. Not to mention, there was one major theme of the day. It was something I had heard rumblings about all weekend.
“We don’t want to bring this stuff back. Take it.”
That’s right. Whatever books were leftover from author signings. Stickers, bookmarks, postcards, posters. Whatever was on display. Everything was free.
This led to an expected game of suitcase Tetris where I was constantly rearranging things and considering what I might have to leave behind. I had flashbacks to my first NYCC where I threw away my clothes to fit all the ARCs I picked up.
By the time I left the conference, my suitcase was bursting open and not zipped up all the way. And, on top of that, I had two full totes plus my messenger back and a drawstring backpack. What am I gonna do with all of this stuff?
I made a few more connections here and there, but most people were already packing up. Some left Sunday night. Nothing particularly significant happened… Except I kept organically, accidently bumping into Maia Kobabe??? I swear, I’m not a stalker.
Final Thoughts
While I am thankful for the Zine Pavilion letting me in, I did ultimately feel out of place with my corporate-looking comic books. If I come back for another round I might try to bring someone with me to sit at the table most of the time, sell my/our more classic “zines,” and then also use the opportunity to network my comics.
I also felt that, overall, foot traffic in the Zine Pavilion was low. Other zinesters had the same thoughts. Being way at the back of the expo hall didn’t help. Whenever I felt like “no one” was there, I’d get up and find everyone standing in long lines all over the place. If I could offer some advice to Zine Pavilion organizers, that’d be my biggest one.
Not every signing was held at the publisher’s booth. Some were hosted by Amazon, Hoopla, and the like. Others were held at specialty places like this one called the “Graphic Novel Round Table” where you could sit and chat a bit longer with authors.
I think the Zine Pavilion should try to work with publishers to arrange a few signings with some comics creators as a way to bring awareness – and foot traffic – to the area. Someone like Jonathan Hill, who runs his own zine community, would have been a perfect fit. It would certainly help with crowd congestion too if some of the lines spilled into the more empty areas.
Also, I would rearrange the Zine Pavilion layout in general so no tables are left facing the wall. Even if foot traffic was higher, staring at a wall all weekend is never fun.
As far as the conference itself, this was easily one of the best weekends of my life. I genuinely thought the main game would be convincing libraries to carry my books. I knew there’d be free things but I figured it’d be swag like buttons and keychains – not finished books. I didn’t even know there’d be signings.
As far as sales go, I had no expenses beyond paying for the subway. I made $70 or $75 dollars – I’m not entirely sure. The math between my sales log, inventory, and the combination of cash, card, and Venmo sales isn’t really adding up. I think I forgot to log a few sales and there is a good chance a couple books might have been stolen – that’s what I get for leaving the table unattended most of the time. Who cares though? I got to talk to an agent. 2000/10 best event ever.
Hello. Welcome to the bottom of another super long blog post with a table of contents. If you missed the last one, I wanted to do reviews of events but I just don’t have the energy to start a YouTube channel from the ground up. But this being my own website means I’m not on any platform. That means no recommendations or suggestions or any other algorithm pushing people to me. I don’t even have proof anyone reads these. So here are some cool ways you can support me.
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