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Nov 2022

How much would it cost to create a real comic book event ( not as big as Comic Con )? I'd love to do something like this one day. I would hire the best speakers, and it would be fun. This would cost a lot, but I might do it one day.

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    Nov '22
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    Jan '23
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I’m afraid you’d have to be immensely wealthy to be able to finance one of those.

That is easily tens of thousands of dollars. You're talking about renting out a convention center for a couple days. You need to go in on this with multiple people, and make sure you can bring in enough of a crowd to cover the cost with ticket sales.

The cost depends a lot on things like where you're getting speakers in from, the length of the event, the size and location of the venue.... But yeah, even a small one is likely to run into thousands because you'll need venue rental, security, advertising etc. etc. There's a reason most of them have a lot of sponsors and sometimes government or charity funding behind them.

If you want to get into this sort of thing, I recommend starting out by becoming a volunteer at similar events and maybe trying to join the team that organises them. It's a good way to see what's involved and to learn the ropes.

Preface this with having never gone to a convention but I hope to eventually:

If I were to start a convention I would imagine that the cost of the venue for a weekend would be the first hurdle. This could vary widely depending on the location. Then probably whatever it costs to get a big name or two signed on. Then the money to buy a domain and create the website. Then probably the time or money to hire someone to take the time to market the event to companies to have booths. After that I would think support costs like security, food, tables, personnel to set up and tear down. Then the money to have pamphlets, tickets, and other media made. Then marketing costs to the public.

No doubt it is no small undertaking but the cost of each of these items will be different depending on the location you want to have your con. Altogether it's probably around $1-$2 Million up front to get a decent sized show going.

depends on what type of events, what "best speakers" means, where you live. If you want to feature mainstream comics and famous speakers and you live in a tiny town? prolly gonna cost you a few thousand dollars alone to get them out.

You could organize small Zine fests and indie comic gatherings for relatively cheap, or even free. A friend of mine organize the local Queer Zine Fest annually. They rent space from a bookshop and use vendor fee to pay it off. Another friend partners with a local art gallery to host an annual indie book/print showcase alongside an art opening. We live in a big city, and I would guess that each of these events draws 300- 500 visitors over a weekend.
Remember that ComicCon started as a book and sci-fi club meeting at a bookshop, and the first convention was in a hotel basement that drew 300 people. Took them 30 years and a whole lot of luck to get this big.

It would be a great idea, we really need more events, especially local (smaller) ones. I would suggest trying to keep it close to home, with local artists/writers etc.

27 days later

I have a digital comic book event, does that count?
DM me on the forum if you wanna participate and submit your art, Ink18th info below:

I've been thinking of something like this for my local area. Currently organizing my thoughts and notes and next I'm going to see what kind of community interest there is for something like this before I go all out. Like a one-day comics, illustration, and zine fest. It's a lot of work, but getting community partners, and sponsors, and having a list of people who are interested in participating and wouldn't mind volunteering defo would be a step in the right direction. Start locally and get involved with your local arts scene. If you wanted to host it at say a community center, church, library, local game/comic shop, or bookstore defo get involved first and do your research on what it takes to get one of these things up and running, even a small one is a lot of work to organize, but it's doable if you have a solid network and there's interest for it where you are.

My idea is more digital only, that way more people from around the world can participate! lol

It would be fun If you can rent a hotel, or a convention center space for the comic event, and able to get a non profit orgaizations, and sponsors for merch, and artists. Other wise it would be fun. Just an idea to throw in.

29 days later

closed Jan 2, '23

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