greetings all. Just returned from Columbus, and possibly the worst con I've ever attended. If you've been there, you know It's held at the Adam's Mark Hotel, and it's on two levels, the top level, where the small press are "kept" gets ZERO traffic. Roger Price makes no mention of it in any of his announcements, or in the program, and we are the ones shelling out $70 bucks for a table.

Roger is a nice fellow, but in desperate need of a new venue for his show, and he needs to understand how much money he would stand to lose if he didn't get a single small presser to buy a table. The area was full, and NO ONE came up stairs to check any of it out save maybe fifty people the entire weekend, or the few that attended the panels.

Noeland

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Yeah it was pretty dead everytime I walked up there. I also saw a guy with Club 408 flyers walking around downstairs trying to get people to come check it out upstairs. I was disappointed at how the small press was segregagted upstairs, but I also understand it was the first time for the Mid- Ohio at the Adam's Mark so maybe next year we can have all this corrected?

Eric L. Kent
Powermage Studios
http://members.aol.com/kurserod/welcome.htm

wow, i'm glad i didn't drive all the way down then. i went to the comicfreek convention in toronto the weekend before, and it completely sucked. bad venue and only a few hundred people all together. (ignore this con in the future) two of those in a row for me would have been awful.


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Marcel Guldemond
Aporia Press
http:\\aporia.brainmade.com

oh yeah, just a clarification about comicfreek: maybe only a few hundred people ever entered the building, but the way things were set up, i had maybe a dozen people actually stop at my table over both days.

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Marcel Guldemond
Aporia Press
http:\\aporia.brainmade.com

I agree with Noeland that it's unfortunate that Midohiocon placed the small press area at the top of a set of stairs; but I think he exaggerates a bit. I recall several times when the room was crowded, and I had a steady stream of traffic at my table. Not many people were buying, but there are few conventions where they do. Note also that the small press area was adjacent to one of the speakers rooms, so there was carry over from that, and also from an adjacent movie viewing room.

I would say that the small press area at Midohio had more traffic than any mainstream convention I've attended recently. I experienced very little traffic at Motor City last year, even though it was adjacent to the main convention floor. I haven't been to the Chicago con in the past couple of years, but I've heard its a horror for small press.

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Joe Zabel

Well, I expect to see you all at San Diego next year then! I spent the majority of my time in the Small Press and Artist's Alley areas, and they were ALWAYS packed!

Take care & see you next year!

Walt "Cliff Guy" Parrish

Joe,
First off, the main door to the speaker room was off the elevators, not the small press area, so you could go into the speaker room without even knowing a small press area was there.

Second, I was sharing a table with Barry Linck of Phineus, Magician For Hire fame and he did triple my sales because he's simply a better salesman then I am, and his books are aimed for a wider audience than mine. My beef was with the venue, and the lack of support shown for those who PAID for table space. The convention itself made no true effort to get people upstairs. That's just not cool.

Also, this is the second year at the Adam's Mark, not the first, last year I attended without a table, but the second day so many people left, I snagged one and sold better than I did this year.

Plus, the three rooms off to the side on the second level seemed cramped and stuffy, it's just not the proper place to hold this type of event.

For the record, my sales are always great at the Motor City show. I cover my table and hotel costs every time I do the NOVI show, the only reason to do the Dearborn show is the hang out in the cool ROTUNDA and have fun with other convention junkies.

NJC

Hey Y'all,

Marshall Here. Well, I made LESS than $30 at the show. IT SUCKED! The Traffic was Terrible! My table was $70, and my room was $70. I lost $110. I blame this mostly on the setup of the con. I know people who made-out better, but not too many...

Joe, in response to your posting. You were only there on Saturday. Yes there were busy times, but for the most part there was Very little traffic. OFTEN I went down to the MAIN floor and It was packed!... I paid for a table and I receive NO attention from the fan base. As well, there were Several "PROS" who didn't pay for a table, they receive a lot more traffic than I did and DIDN'T pay for their space. I am a "Comic Pro". I've been in this biz for 5 years, and 3 years ago I dedicated all my Resources would go into self publishing. I 'feel' I made a huge investment into the 'Industry' that is modern comics. Why do I pay sooooo much and receive so little?? I'm Jealous and Bitter. Maybe Roger should get on this and discuss this with us.

As for me(as for now...)I WON'T do another show there. Nor will I stay at that GOD-AWFUL hotel!

Marshall

I just got back from Mid Ohio and I thought it was okay. My sales went up a little. (I think the Motor City Con stinks though.)

However, I can sympathsize with your complaints about Roger. He is more organized than most con people (although that's not saying much) but the problem is the lay out really has little rhyme or reason.

We couldn't even HEAR Roger's announcements because we were in the corridor to the right of the dealer's room. There was also a sign that was meant to keep people away from the celebrity signers if they didn't have a bracelet, unfortunately the way it was positoned and its vague wording made it look like you needed the bracelet to get back into the corridor.

I wouldn't pay $70 for a small press table there either. Roger should've stuck the Trilogy Tour upstairs and the celebrities down the corridor. That way, you'd have to go to all four "corners" of the con to see the big attractions. Then again, he has to placate these guys and they could get pretty ticked if they paid a lot of money (which they probably didn't) or don't get the exposure (which they always do).

Just get an artist alley table. What's the point of paying for a small press table? It makes no sense. I do it all the time and the con almost NEVER enforces it. Even if they did, I'd just take down the company logo and continue selling. ("Yeah, yeah, I'm an artist. Want me to draw ya a picture?") The only reason to buy a table is to get a BETTER or BIGGER space. Hell, at Chicago Con this year, small press tables are $450, but artist alley 4 foot space is only $100, meaning I can buy two and still get a whole table. (And all I have to do is take down my company logo IF they decide to enforce the rules.) Clearly, Roger has his heart in the right place by positioning artist alley tables on the main floor. He means well, he's just from the old school of fandom.

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It sounds like the discussion has been a pretty fair assessment of MidOhio. Note that I was responding to Noeland's original post, where he said 'the top level, where the small press are "kept" gets ZERO traffic.' He was obviously using hyperbole, but there are many conventions where things are literally that bad. A well-known small press fantasy artist told me a few years ago that he attended 3 days of Dragoncon and didn't sell ONE SINGLE BOOK!

I think there are issues here that go beyond one convention, and I'm gonna start a thread over in retailing and distribution. I hope folks who are interested in this topic will join me.

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Joe Zabel