I ran my first booth ever at Wondercon this weekend, and I learned quite a bit.
First I must explain that I have been studying this for quite a while; how to best use a convention to sell my products. I first went to Comic Con in 2007 and have been trying to utilize that convention and others in the best way possible. Mostly, I tried to do it on the cheap, handing out flyers in the front, and running events that didn't involve getting a table myself. One example was the treasure hunt I ran, where I gave out flyers full of clues that led attendees to several booths until they got to the last one where they got a prize relating to my series. (The flyer, of course, also said the name of the series on it.)
All of these attempts failed to have much of an impact. The treasure hunt, first of all, was too difficult to accomplish, and few people got to the end. But the biggest problem was that I was, ultimately, outside of the convention. To really be taken seriously, I had to go all the way and get a booth. So that is a must.
I became impressed with Wondercon when it first moved to Anaheim. The first year was rough; but overall it had the feel of a more independent minded convention that remembered its sci fi and fantasy roots. It wasn't quite so owned by the corporations. I knew that when I got a booth, it would be here.
My booth was way in the back, which made it easy to load, but harder for attendees to find. Luckily, it was right next to the food court, so a lot of people saw it during lunch.
I ran the treasure hunt again, but this time it was simple to do. And at the end, people who wanted to claim their prize had to give their name and email address to enter the drawing. The grand prize was a trip to Disneyland, so there were a lot of people who wanted to do it. This left me with an extended email list. However, it was not as long as it could have been since people had to do the treasure hunt first, and some didn't want to bother.
The table was filled with the flyers on the right, the books in the middle, and a large volcano model I made on the left. The Relic Worlds sign hung from the table int he front, and vertical signs of the two books hung behind me. I found this to be a really good layout, though I might have overdone it on the number of different flyers and different books. What I really needed was a flyer with the treasure hunt, a flyer with the books, and a flyer with a free short story. Maybe adding the bookmark was a good idea as well, because it was easy to get people to take a bookmark after they had bought other books.
The way the days worked seems to be the same for every convention. Friday is the day when people trickle in and look at what there is to offer. It's best to give them previews of what I have as well as get them on the treasure hunts. At night there was gaming in a different building. I thought this would be super important as it would be a whole new audience that extended into the evening. However, this year the gaming area was far away from the convention center, so hardly anyone was there. Also, people tend to break off into cliques at these gaming events, so its effectiveness was limited.
Saturday was the big day. It was the day to push both the free fliers and the books, as well as attract everyone with the volcano, and put on a game that utilized the volcano. This was more effective than the night gaming as it was in full view of other attendees, who looked on at the setup with amazement. (I spend hundreds of dollars making it.) I did find, though, that it would be better to have a separate person run the game, as I needed to be at the booth. I also had two models dressed as a couple of the characters posing for the cameras out front where the cosplayers hang out, and give out flyers. This was one of the best and most effective things to do as we got TONS of people photographing them along with the books. I could not have arranged this, however, if I hadn't had two wonderful volunteers at the booth selling books while I was dealing with the models.
Sunday is known as the dead day. However, it's also the day people are usually more apt to buy. They've spent the last couple days looking over everything, and on the last day they go through buying what they've decided to get. It's also the best day to network with other booths as they're less busy.
In the end, I learned that conventions are essentially the second half of the equation to sell books. The other half is online, which I'll get to in another post. Conventions are where you spread the word in person. You can't really expect to make any money at them; you're going to spend more money than you make creating an effective platform. However, this platform should be used to create something that the attendees go back and tell others about. The experience should be something they want to photograph either at your booth, or in the cosplay area. (I had both with the volcano at the booth and the two models in the cosplay area.) It's also a great way to get people to learn about your website and any deals you have going, such as a free book deal or a sale.
But what it's best for is what I've recently learned is the most important thing in independent book selling: building the email list. I never thought of this as such an important step, but it is. Having a website and Facebook page is important for people to go see, but the general public will forget about you unless you actively remind them of your existence, and sending short stories and/or updates is the best way to do it. So an email list is what you need. And there's no better way to build this than at a convention. When people meet you face to face, they get interested in what you're doing. They're usually not ready to buy anything because they want to keep checking you out. So they're willing to give you their email address for you to tell them. I made the mistake of tying it to the treasure hunt. While the hunt was fun and unique and best of all, made me stand out, it limited the number of people who signed up on the list; and many who would want to hear more later on never came back.
So the bottom line is it's best to find a way to have the attendees join your mailing list by doing something there at the booth that's fun and memorable, but they need to give you their name and email to do it.
