What I learned from my booth at Comic Con

What did I learn from Comic Con

 

Here are some of the more important items I learned at Comic Con.  Great event!  I certainly want to do it again.  I also sold 105 books and 30 ebooks when no one knew who I, or D’mok Revival, was!

 

#1 It’s an incredible event that you want to be at to reach science fiction and fantasy lovers.

#2 Candy works great to attract people near your booth

#3 You have to start the conversation and reach out. Say “Hello” or ask if they like Science Fiction (or whatever your topic is).  Otherwise people walk right on by. You have to play the role of an extrovert, even you are not one (and I am not).

#3b Have your story ready.  It’s your elevator pitch, you 60 seconds to tell someone about your story.  Believe me, if you don’t have one at the beginning you will at the end.  It’s an amazing “market research” opportunity to hone your message and see what works and does not work with your direct target market.  I certainly have my elevator pitch and story explanation down now!  That in itself makes the convention worth the booth price.

#4 Have something clearly posted with the highlights of your story.  A few words that get across the “ooooh” factor in your book.  This lets people anonymously (and safely from a distance) see if what you have is interesting to them.

#5 Display your price clearly, especially if you’re inexpensive for a soft cover book.

#6  Display information about your ebook version, especially if it’s on Amazon and inexpensive.

#7 Have a VERY flash visual to attract people (this is the only one I got right, next to the candy).  My cover art (Thank you Glenn Clovis) literally turned heads and brought people who had no idea who I was, or what the D’mok brand was to come over.

#8 Do a panel it’s great visibility, gets your name out there, and helps the community grow!  There were over 65 people at the panel, and many came over to talk and purchase a book after.  I’m still talking to some of them via email after the fact.

#9 Get to know the people with booths around you.  It’s an amazing networking opportunity, like the connection I made with the Stan Lee Foundation (AMAZING).

#10 PA announcements done with Comic Con promotions can be hard to hear.  I wouldn’t recommend you paying for them

#11 About 13 people came up following the registration bag flier I paid for with Comic Con promotions.  Unless you have a pretty big ticket item, or are well known, hold this technique off for later.  As Brittney pointed out to me, it’s like using a direct mailer, and those have pretty low returns on investment (with attracting people).

#12 I had about 5 people talk about the video reel slot I paid for with Comic Con promotions.  Honestly, it was great visibility and despite the lack of mentions, I would still do this again.  It’s a great value, and gets you out there during the con.

#13 Have a flier or business card for people to take.  They may not have time right now, or money right now, but want your product.  Giving them a card to take with email and URL gives them a chance to do it later.

#14 Be nice to the Comic Con folks and they will be nice back to you.  Things can get intense and very last minute–so be ready and roll with it.  It’s worth it.

#15 Do not rely on “bongo hot spot” or other facility wifi connections.  They get saturated very quickly and your devices will become unusable.  Make sure you have network access through your mobile carrier.

#16 “Square” (squareup.com) is an amazing and simple credit card reader.  You get the hardware free from the company, the software is free and intuitive.  The only draw back is you have to have an active network connection for it to keep working fine.  We used 2 ipads and a galaxy 4 smart phone.  The one login consolidated all the records into one sales listing and provided amazing trending reports (peak hours, etc.).

Comic Con is a must!

It’s only been one day, and I can say this was an incredible decision.  Not only is my book getting great attention (I did 27 sales on “the slow day”), but I’m learning a great deal about what scifi folks like about my story, the information they need to know to determine they want to “take the chance” and buy my book, etc.

My presentation on self-publishing is tomorrow at 1pm.  I’m a bit nervous as the venue is pretty LARGE, but it’s equally exciting.

I’m going to do a write-up of lesson’s learned and recommendations after the con!  If you have a scifi book, you need to do this!!!