It’s amazing that we’re only a couple weeks away from Boston Comic Con 2014, where my podcast-mates and I will be manning the League of Ordinary Gentlemen Podcast Booth, and I will be trying to sell copies of the first issue of Robin Hood to the unsuspecting masses. We will have other cool stuff for sale, too, but I will be concentrating most of my efforts on selling Robin Hood (sorry, Gents).
I’m telling people that this is my first convention as a salesman (or huckster, if you prefer), but the truth is I played this role back in the day when John Hunt and I were trying to sell copies of our positively-reviewed but poorly sold comic, The Secret Monkey. “SM” had gone through a couple different incarnations already – webcomic in 2000 before they were cool, printed version before you could print on demand, and a second printed version after we fell in with a shyster lawyer who claimed he could put us on the shelves everywhere, including Wal-Mart – and we had bought a table at Wizard World 2005 as a last gasp to try and make some sort of splash. I don’t recall the actual numbers, but when all was said and done, I’m pretty sure we lost money on the deal.
Still, I got a little taste of what it’s like to get people interested, and have them tell you that it looks good, and actually pay you for your hard work. Unfortunately, I also got a taste for what it’s like to practically beg people to buy it, and you give them your whole five-minute sales pitch, and they look through it and seem interested, and then walk away.
But those people/losers were the exception. I know I said I lost money, but that was only because I didn’t know what i was doing, and we had just sunk too much dough into it in the first place. Now, thanks to the kindness of my Kickstarter backers, and the wonders of technology, I don’t have to print hundreds of comics and hope that I can sell enough of them to break even. And Wizard World wasn’t the only convention I did to promote SM. I did several tiny cons, as well. The ones that don’t have celebrity guests and long lines. The ones that just had guys selling old comics and Playboys (I’m not even sure those exist anymore.) Hell, I even included copies of The Secret Monkey as Kickstarter rewards, so I’m still trying to make money off that thing over a decade later.
But the business has changed. Now, it’s possible to make money, and Boston has become one of the bigger cons, at least on this coast. So, I’ve got my copies of Robin Hood, some swag, and my League buddies to help out, and help pass the time. I’ll either make money, have fun, or maybe even both. So, one way or another, I think Dursin will come out ahead on this one.
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