At the last weekend of July the first Comic Con Saar in the city of Saarbrücken took place, and me and our Comic Kolloq-group had our very own booth!
The Comic Kolloq is a monthly meetup setup by Dock11, where we discuss our projects and give each other feedback. Because of that, quite a few of us already had some stuff in store or freshly prepared to present and sell. The table was a beautiful mix of different styles and different articles, from postcards, stickers and buttons to tote bags, full on comic books and even huge linocut art prints. We also offered live portraits which was really well received!
All in all, we had a lot of fun these two days. Because we are so many people there was always someone to talk to at our table, and taking turns in the shifts was no problem. We also sold quite well, considering it was our first group convention (and the first for most people). After having discussed the results in the Kolloq, I want to share some of the points which we want to remember for future conventions. Maybe it’ll help you, too? (However just remember, every convention and the experiences may vary widly, there’s a lot of factors that probably play into it in the end if it sells for you)
- For one, the little refrigerator magnets (made by 99Nines) sold really well! They had fun motives and didn’t cost much, so often people took quite a few to get one of each. That was a success!
- The less people have to talk to you to buy something, the better! Placing the articles so that the customer can just take them and wordlessly give you the money seems like a good idea.
- Everybody likes a good deal, e.g. one print costs 4€ but you can get 3 for 10€.
- People like surprises, e.g. in the form of mystery bags. We didn’t sell those but we discussed that with somebody who has more experience.
- The live portraits were especially profitable. One for 20€, and there were a few families who wanted portraits of their kids, or some other people too. I guess that depends on the visitors of the convention and also how much room you have for such a setup.
That’s just about it. I do have my next Convention coming up in October, the Polaris in Hamburg– if you are there, come by to say hi, I’ll have a shared table with a dear friend!
I also want to thank Dock11 again for sponsoring us and our table. The table costs (and the additionals you have to pay for too) were quite high as we heard from other artists. We did have the luck that our only costs were the production costs (since we also all live in the area).
And last but not least, please check out my wonderful and very very talented colleagues from the Con: (those who have SM)
- 99Nines on Bluesky or Instagram (keep an eye out for when he launches his action-filled fantasy comic- or his little fun comic strips, I love those)
- Wasteland Lighthouse on Instagram and her super cool comic “Second Sky” on Tapas
- The Amazing Iris with her funny but thoughtful comics on Instagram
- Jeff La Rocca on Instagram, who’s gone from zero to hero in those last few months with his art, it’s crazy
- and Denys Kovalenko on Instagram, an overall amazing artist (and also the teacher of the comic class I’m visiting!)
Have a good week!