DEBRIEF: Fan Expo 2023 (Patreon)

I returned home from my second convention and learned a lot. Firstly, electric cars are not at all meant for long trips lol It took me 15 hours on what should've been a 5hr 30 min drive!

Secondly, even if I sell my wares at a bargain, people still won't buy if they're not interested in the product. Even though this convention had much more people than Long Beach, I made just as many sales, which wasn't a whole lot.

Thirdly, Fan Art is what sells. People walk around looking for things they recognize and aren't really looking for original works. That being said, maybe I can have my characters cosplay as established characters so I can get both the recognition while also presenting my OCs. I haven't seen this approach done ever before at a convention, so why not give it a shot.

While I was setting up my booth, I realized that, while my decor says "Halloween", my actual merchandise isn't very "Halloween" at all. Emma may be a vampire, sure, but nothing else in my prints says "this story takes place in a Halloween world." My brand has shifted more towards "smol and big titty lesbian girlfriends" rather than developing the monster world of Headless Over Heels.

And given that my new fan art commissions aren't very "Halloween" either, I think I'll have to get new decor that says "sexy/cute/funny" because "Halloween" seems kinda random.

I think convention season opens back up in Spring so I'll have some time to develop new prints by then. Hopefully I can also split a booth with someone to help mitigate the overhead costs. And I'm staying local! No more drives or hotels!

I also left two hours before the convention ended on Sunday so I could get a head start on my drive back home. But I later learned that many people make lots of sales in the last hour or so of the convention as customers scramble to buy anything they've been checking out. So that's a lesson learned too.

Even if I didn't break even on the trip as a whole, it was a good learning experience and I look forward to preparing for my next convention!