{"id":1060,"date":"2008-06-26T09:52:58","date_gmt":"2008-06-26T13:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.benzilla.com\/?p=1060"},"modified":"2009-01-01T14:40:12","modified_gmt":"2009-01-01T18:40:12","slug":"thoughts-on-heroes-con-08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benzilla.com\/?p=1060","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on Heroes Con ’08"},"content":{"rendered":"

In previous years, I’ve done a day-by-day roundup of Heroes Con, usually typed semi-deliriously from my hotel room in the wee hours of the morning.\u00a0 This year, though, with so much comics press at the show (Heidi MacDonald from PW’s The Beat<\/a>, Johanna Draper Carlson from Comics Worth Reading<\/a>, Matt Brady from Newsarama<\/a>, Craig Fischer from ThoughtBalloonists<\/a>, Tom Spurgeon from ComicsReporter<\/a>, etc.) it hardly seemed necessary.<\/p>\n

So, this year, rather than a blow-by-blow “Friday I did this, then I did that”-kinda thing, I thought I’d address a few broad general topics, particularly some that there seems to be a lot of post-show chatter about:<\/p>\n

Indie Sales<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n

If there’s one single topic folks in the circles I run in seem to be discussing, it’s this, the somewhat lethargic sales among indie folks.\u00a0 The Indie Island portion of the show is one of the things that makes Heroes unique among big cons, and for this “show within a show” idea to take off in the long-term, it’s got to be worth people’s while financially to come to the show.<\/p>\n

A lot of the talk about indie sales have been pretty anecdotal, so I guess I’ll add to that by giving a roundup of what I sold this year vs. last year at Heroes and last year at SPX.\u00a0 Note, though, that this is really an “apples and oranges” comparison, since at each of these shows I had different things for sale, each of which may or may not have been available at previous conventions, and which may or may not have been available for a while through retail outlets.<\/p>\n

This year, the only recent thing I had for sale was the Midnight Sun<\/em> GN, which by June had been out for six months and had been available for purchase during that period at comics shops, including the Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find retail store, and at big chain stores like Barnes and Noble.\u00a0 Given that, I went into the show expecting modest sales of the book.\u00a0 I also had copies of my older book Farewell, Georgia<\/em> as well as my rapidly-diminishing supply of minicomics.<\/p>\n

Heroes 08:<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

SLG books\u00a0 ~ $400.00<\/font><\/p>\n

Minis\u00a0 ~\u00a0 $50.00<\/font><\/p>\n

Original art & commissions\u00a0 ~ $325.00<\/font><\/p>\n

$775.00<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

Heroes 07:<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

SLG floppies\u00a0\u00a0 ~ $45.00<\/font><\/p>\n

SLG books ~ $70.00<\/font><\/p>\n

Minis ~ $60.00<\/font><\/p>\n

$115.00<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

SPX 2007:<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

SLG books ~\u00a0 $200.00<\/font><\/p>\n

SLG floppies ~ $50.00<\/font><\/p>\n

Minis ~ $30.00<\/font><\/p>\n

Original art ~ $75.00<\/font><\/p>\n

$355.00<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

So, numbers-wise, Heroes was actually pretty good for me this year, despite things seeming a bit slow on the floor.\u00a0\u00a0 (Although, a comparison with Heroes ’06 probably would have been better since that was the last show with a big Indie Island push courtesy of Dustin… but, alas, I can’t find my sales info for that year.)<\/p>\n

A few thoughts<\/p>\n