The Long Con – Author Lessons Learned from a Year on the Convention Circuit

By John G. Hartness, @johnhartness

Part of the Indie Author Series

I might have mentioned that I do a lot of conventions. 36 so far in 2018, with a couple still to go. That’s up from 29 in 2017, and way more than I intend to do in 2018, so let’s take a look at some of the sales numbers, expenses, and lessons I’ve learned across the last two years of selling paperbacks at conventions all across the Southeastern United States.

One caveat before we start: I have excluded Dragon Con from these numbers. I don’t sell books at Dragon Con, because that’s not what I go to that convention for. Plus, it’s so much more expensive than any other con I do that it would skew the numbers.

First, the raw numbers. In 2018 I sold $15,240 in books at conventions. That’s a pretty good increase from the $11,953 I did in 2017, around 27% from 2017 numbers. Not bad, right?

5 Easy Ways to Look Like a Pro at Conventions

By John G. Hartness, @johnhartness

Part of the Indie Author Series

With a little prep time, it's easy to look like you know what you're doing.

Image is everything, right? Well, let’s be real. If your content is crap, image isn’t going to save you in the long run, but when you’re in a crowded exhibit hall with a hundred other vendors, and you need to stand out, what are you gonna do, wear a Hawaiian shirt and dye your hair purple?

Please don’t. That’s my shtick, and this hair color was expensive. I don’t want to have to go back to my natural brown just because every other nerd out there has purple hair. But you do have to look good. You have to have a solid presentation, and it needs to not only look as good as the people around you, but it usually has to look better. Because if you’re just keeping up, then you’re not really keeping up. So what can you do to look better than your neighbor in Artists Alley or the vendor room at a con?