Having a table at a con - advice for a beginner

Rabbit 2016-09-12 21:10:06 UTC #1

So I'm a total beginner with A) selling/trying to sell my art, and B) cons in general(I've never even been to one before!), but since I'm trying to make comics/art a part-time job of mine before I move out, meeting people at a con and maybe making a dollar or 2 seems like a good start to trying to make real money with comics in the future XD

I would like to go to a small one nearby, share a table with someone(as I don't think I would have enough stuff to justify an entire table), sell some pins, a small zine or two, maybe do some on-spot drawings (probably free because I don't draw well under pressure and I would feel bad making someone pay for that), pass out some little printed business cards and try to get some new readers for my webcomic.

The problems with this are/my questions are:
IDK how you even BEGIN to plan to have an art table at a con
I have no idea how/where I find out about local cons that will be happening
I have no artist friends IRL that would be willing to share a table with me and IDK how to advertise that I want to share a table with someone
I don't know what websites are best/cheapest to make pins/zines/anything else
I'm still kinda hazy about what kind of stuff even goes in a zine (Drawings? Mini-comics? Comic sample pages? Should zines be in color? Are there dos/don'ts with zines? How are these even printed?)
Also how do you become part of a collaborative zine? Is there some kind of online group I have to join to find out about them? Or are you invited in?
And other than collaborative zines, are there any other good ways to get your name out there during a con?

Some links to examples of con merch and artist alley beginner guides would be a huge help - I've searched for this information, but I haven't found much.. most 'guides' I found already assumed I knew a con, that I would have friends to share a table with, that I had zines/pins already made and printed, etc.

Also if you have any other random advice, please tell me!! Keep in mind a bunch of other beginners will probably read this thread too, so comment what you think us noobs should know >u<

storytimebiondi 2016-09-12 21:25:14 UTC #2

I've never tabled, but a good idea would be to just google around your area and see what cons you have. Once you find something, I'm sure they have a facebook page, in which case I'd say follow it, and then maybe PM them or post a request for a table partner.

Rabbit 2016-09-12 21:32:41 UTC #3

Honestly I've tried looking it up, but just had a lot of trouble.. I mainly get webpages for past cons, popular cons that are like 5 states away but come up anyway because they mentioned my state somewhere on their website once, and some super tiny high school cons that don't seem to have any real information online (it'll just be mentioned on like a parent's website as something you can take your tweens to so they can talk about cartoons lol). I thought maybe there are some websites listing cons that are going to be happening in different states but IDK.

Also yeah, when I do find a con to go to, I will probably try and find a table partner through their Facebook, but I figured I'd see if anyone here had had luck with that in the past (for all I know, someone who's done it before might even say it's not worth having a table partner if you're not friends with them IDK)

joannekwan 2016-09-12 21:35:07 UTC #4

Mind if I ask what state you're in?

Also it's worth noting to look up the rules and regulations of the cons you do table at. I know in California you're required to have a temporary seller's permit and many cons ask you to have it displayed at your table. It takes a little while to set it up, but better safe than sorry.

Rabbit 2016-09-12 21:38:12 UTC #5

I'm currently in New Jersey, but I'd be willing to travel to Pennsylvania or Delaware. I'm also in Florida several months out of the year, so I'll look up Florida too when I'm there - and I'd never heard of seller's permits for cons before! Thanks for telling me - I'll be sure to look it up for each state - and you're right, much better safe XD

joannekwan 2016-09-12 21:55:15 UTC #6

The New Jersey Comic Expo looks pretty solid.
Don't know if their Artists Alley is full or not but it's worth an e-mail!

Rabbit 2016-09-12 22:01:36 UTC #7

Did you find that just with google searching? It looks like a pretty big convention, and my art isn't super good, but I guess I can give it at try - I still need to figure out how to have merch printed and stuff though ;_;

agentfink 2016-09-12 22:10:58 UTC #8

here's an article that I found helpful for my first tabling event this year in Artist Alley.

joannekwan 2016-09-12 22:11:06 UTC #9

Yep, found it through google haha!

And it doesn't matter that your art's not super good, just get out there and get the experience! If you don't feel you're ready for such a big con, you can always attend with a regular ticket and check it out, maybe even go to the artist's alley and ask the tablers there questions.

As for printing, you'll probably find the best deals locally. I'm sure a lot of mom and pop shops will help you out with everything you need if you ask nicely. If it comes down to it, you can just have them print it and cut and staple the zines yourself. They should have a cutter and stapler you could use.

In my own experience, I've just done all my print printing at FedEx Kinko's. I've also printed some comics through Comix Well Spring. The end products are fairly decent and it was quick and painless.

agentfink 2016-09-12 22:13:43 UTC #10

well, you can google... key chains, patches, button markers... It really depends on what you want to sell!

What interests you at cons? What artwork do you have that is marketable? Sellable? Demand for? Good questions to ask yourself before you start venturing into merch!

Rabbit 2016-09-12 22:44:09 UTC #11

This link was super helpful! And the website mentioned in that link, http://animecons.com/ is a huge help XO Thank you!

AnnaLandin 2016-09-13 05:22:29 UTC #12

Googling the name of your city + "comic con" or "anime con" or whatever is usually a good place to start! Keep an eye out when other people talk about the cons they go to, and see if those cons are close to you, then apply for the following year!

Posting about it on artist-forums, or tweeting about it, can be good. For one of the cons I frequent, they set up this little mini-board for people who missed out on getting their own table to get in touch with people who did, to arrange table-sharing.

There are plenty of printing-options for zines - I go with a local Swedish printer, but there are many online options. I was once part of an anthology that got printed via KaBlam, but that was years ago.

As for pins and other merch - I want to recomment Zap Creatives and Awesome Merchandise. They're good at what they do, deliver relatively fast, and have a wide range of options to choose from!

The short answer is "anything you want". Some people do sketchbook-zines, some people do mini-comics, some people do illustrated prose stories, I've done a bunch that were just straight up comics of various kinds, a friend of mine I know published her travelling diary, etc.

Black and white zines are cheaper to print, colour is more expensive - it all depends on what you want to do, and what you have the money for!

The main "do" with zines I can think of is to make sure that what you want to print is at least at 300 dpi solution (colour), and preferably 600 dpi for black and white stuff. You don't HAVE to go to 600 dpi for black and white for a zine, but it comes out looking a bit nicer!

As for how they're printed - a lot of printers have templates and guidelines for you. When I print mine, I assemble them into a multi-page PDF for the interior pages, and keep the covers as separate files, because that's how my printer likes them.

Anthologies are fun! I've done a bunch of them, starting back when I was in college for visual storytelling. I've been invited to some, and seen others promoted via twitter and pitched to those. There's one called Tim'rous Beastie that will be opening for pitches in December!

Print up something small and cheap - like a bookmark, or a leaflet! - and hand them out for free to con-goers. Make friends with your fellow artist-alley tablers, and try to keep in touch afterwards!

I posted a list of general advice in this other thread a while ago:

It doesn't have any printing-advice, but it does have some general how-to-survive-a-con advice - like, bring a sandwich, and wear comfortable shoes.