ScienceFiction Fantasy Conventions?

I’ve done Dragon*Con the last two years: http://dragoncon.org/

It is the largest Sci-Fi/Fantasy con on the East Coast. Last year the headcount was something like 60-75 THOUSAND people! The official headcount was 30,000 because if it was higher the fire marshall would have shut it down. But I talked to some of the staff and was told the actual attendance was 60-75k.

Doing large conventions like this is a gamble. With such a huge attendance, you are likely to sell at least a little… but you never know beyond that. Yes, you get a bigger crowd at these, but they are also much, much more competitive. You may do well to start at a small local convention to test the waters.

At Dragon*Con, you need to reserve your space about 8 months in advance (Jury is usually in April or May for artwork). All artists must pass a jury in which they evaluate your work and see if you are up to par. If you want a table to sell in the art show at you need to pass said jury as well. Last time I went single panels in the art show cost $25, a table cost $200. As I said… competitive.. you’ll be showing art with the big wigs of the industry such as Todd Lockwood, etc, so you have to be at the top of your art game. You can sign up to get a dealer’s table, but beware that it will run you $1,000 or more, and you will be competing with others just to get a table.

Sales were… okay, for me, but I am not too widely known or ‘popular’. I barely broke even with all my costs.

When I started I’m glad I did a few local shows first… you don’t sell as much because of fewer attending con-goers, but it usually costs much less to get in and you are often not competing against as many artists of such high stature.

Does Melody go to Dragoncon?

I’ve been to Comic-Con in San Diego for the past eight years running; haven’t made it to a smaller con for a while, but I’d like to. Comic-Con is an enormous convention focusing on comic books, anime, Star Wars and Star Trek; there’s a tiny percentage of fantasy art as well. It’s great fun but everything Nam said about the cost and competition for tables is true. I have friends who have tried renting a space in the Dealer’s Room, and although they did pretty well in sales, they only just broke even with the cost of the space, parking, hotel room, and transportation. (The space itself was $1000! 😯 ). Plus, the other problem with a big convention is that it’s too big. People get glassy-eyed after the first fifteen rows and can walk right past a new dealer because they’re busy thinking about the stuff they saw last year and trying to find it again.

Small cons can be a lot better place to start, because the cost is lower and the people attending don’t have as much going on around them. They pay more attention to the dealers that are present because they’re not thinking about getting over to DC or Glass Onion or another of the big names. And a certain percentage are there because they are huge fans of the genre and don’t want to miss even the small cons. That makes them serious collectors. You just have to hope that they have some money left. 🙄

I’ve talked to artists who were new dealers at Comic-Con, and they’ve all said the same thing. The first year they felt like they sold mostly because their stuff were novel and exciting. That first year, they also got a lot of, “Oh, if only I’d known you were here! I’d love to buy but I’m out of money.” The second year, they start getting return customers and friends of old customers, plus a few of the folks who were out of money last year but really meant it when they said they loved their stuff. From there, it can slowly build. I’d think that small cons and craft fairs would show a similar pattern. It’s definitely an avenue worth pursuing, but it’d also be important to make sure the event was geared to favor your work. Renaissance Faires, crafts shows, and venues for fantasy art seem ideal. Comics conventions might do, if they have some fantasy material as well.

Good luck! 🙂

I mainly do science fiction conventions, and my website is actually a suppliment for convention-goers who want to browse more later.

With the type of art you do (lots of OOAKs), I would suggest skipping the dealers’ room and putting your items in the art auction, if there is one. Sometimes conventions’ art auctions are in a different place than the dealers’ room, and there is no table fee, but a small “hanging” fee for each piece. I would try there and see how it goes.

What conventions are you thinking of doing?

This is only true if you have 95% feeback or lower. If you have higher than 95% feedback they will not hold payments.

Yes, this is true of the conventions I’ve gone to as well. For the art show, the items being shown need to be 100% your own creation, or a collaboration (if you have the other artist’s direct permission). This is fairly standard.

You are talented- why not start making your own horses instead of piggybacking on the Breyers? 🙂

Well, can’t speak for anyone else, but I am DESPERATE to go to WorldCon (in Denver) this year — it’s in August. And I go to other scifi cons when I can, too — in fact, just went to MidSouth Con last month!

I kept an eye out in the dealers’ room and was disappointed to see no one selling Windstones there at all! So at least one person was ready to buy at a con. 🙂

They are heavy, though, and that might be a problem for some potential buyers — if they’re not staying in the hotel/con center, they probably wouldn’t want to be stuck carrying around their Emperor all day! 🙂 So if you worked out ahead of time some ways to deal with this and made sure all your customers knew it, I’d bet you’d be very successful!

And hey, if you do go to WorldCon (August 6-10! Go! Lois Bujold is their Guest Author!), PM me and I’ll look for your table! 🙂 I’ve been meaning to buy some Black Sunset Griffins for a while now… 🙂

I um… don’t think she was intending on selling production Windstones… she’s not a dealer! She was asking about selling her personal art. 🙂