I have already attended, Bristol comic expo, Cardiff film and comic expo and Birmingham MCM and from these experiences learnt a lot form other vendors and artist on how to sell myself in the environment successfully. Like when behind the table you should always stand up and interact with the passers-by to bring people over to your stand, everyone likes a friendly face, this will also give you a good reputation if your friendly and nice to everyone. Also making sure the tables are covered with a cloth so you are presenting the table in the best way, we are starting to use a red cloth as white shows stains and black shows fluff. Another thing was no one likes an empty table so if after an hour no ones turned up next to you and the table is empty move over and use the table because you will be overlooked if there are empty gaps, presentation is important. Also I wont be handing out my laser cut business cards out at conventions as only about 50 percent of the cards are kept most end up in the bin, so I would rather keep these for publishers and illustration fair. So instead I will use the same image but get the cards printed at moo's so they are of high quality but it wont matter so much if they end up lost by the receiver. This is also because it will be more costly to get the cards laser cut after I leave university so I wont want to waste them. This is also how we learnt about the importance of having banners to attract and inform the passers-by.
At the moment I attended conventions with another illustration student and we split costs making it more cost effective to go but have found sharing a 6ft table isn't enough space as our work grows so we plan to start getting our own tables but under the business name' Tea house arts' this is so the tables will be together and so if we do collaborative works we still be together, also it means we can help watch over each others tables if we need a break. We use the name Tea house art because we want the name to be gender neutral but still feminine as we are both female.
As we become more adept to selling our work at conventions I would like to expand and attend more and more to help people recognise us and make friends who will also help spread word of mouth about us attending these conventions. At the moment I am thinking of at least attending at least 5 conventions a year that spread across the UK, but I would like to go further afield as France has massive comic conventions and over there the idea what a comic can be is freer so I would like to next year attend Paris's July anime and comic convention. This would be an amazing experience to make contacts and see what conventions are like in other countries and get a feel of what's hot in there comic industry at the time. I feel attending conventions will be the main way I promote and sell my comics and young adult material so travelling and selling in other countries will really help promote me and find a gathering who are interested in buying and following my new comics. I am aware that this wont be cheap as attending conventions in the UK aren't cheap, so France will cost even more but this is why I will have a part time job to fund these events and I have also been saving money since the end of my second year to fund me when I finish university.
List of UK conventions
I will highlight the conventions I plan to attend this year and once booked will make a timetable of the year so I have a timetable to show deadlines for these events.
February
- MCM Midlands comic con 15th, Telford international center
March
-Cardiff film and comic con 1st-2nd, Motorpoint arena
-Newcastle film and comic con 8th-9th, Metro radio arena
-London super comic con, 15th-16th, Excel
- MCM Birmingham 22nd-23rd, NEC
April
-MCM Ireland 12th-13th, Bailsbridge Dublin
-Wales comic con 23rd-25th, Glyndwr university Wrexham
May
-Bristol comic expo 10th-11th, Future Inn
-MCM London 23rd-25th, Exel
June
-Wigan comic con 22nd, Robin park arena
July
-London film and comic con, 11th-13th, Earls court
-MCM Manchester 19th-20th, Manchester central
August
-ICE International comic expo 2nd, The studio cannon street Birmingham
-Sunderland comic con 9th-10th, Sunderland software centre
-Sheffield film and comic con, 30th-31st, Motorpoint arena
October
-MCM London 24rd-26th, Exel
November
-Thought bubble 15th-16th, TBA
-MCM Birmingham 22nd-23rd, NEC
-Cardiff film and comic con 8th-9th, Motorpoint arena
Luckily I will only need to pay accommodation for when I attend Cardiff and Thought bubble as I live close to Birmingham and know someone who likes in Manchester. But when looking at cons I still have to take into consideration train fair, accommodation and table fees. Train fair isn't to bad as I have a 16-25 card making my fairs cheaper and as I am small press table prices are £50 per table. This sound expensive but I get the table for the duration of the convention, and it includes my pass into to convention. From the conventions I have attended I broke even each time, but I found Cardiff the most successful as after that weekend I had a lot more traffic through my blog and my Facebook. At the moment I have looked into accommodation for Cardiff and Manchester just in case staying with a friend fall through.
Manchester accommodation- prices for one night
-Premier inn city centre, city centre 0.5 miles away from convention, 10 minute walk, 2 people per room £78
-Premier inn central, 0.4 miles away from convention, 9 minute walk, 2 people per room £89
-Travelodge central area, 23 minute walk to convention, 2 people per room £51
-IBIS centre, 36 minute walk from convention, 3 people per room £48
-IBIS quays, 40 minute walk from convention, 3 people per room £37
Cardiff-prices per night
-Nomad backpacker, 15 minute walk from convention, 1 person £27.50
Considering pricing and booking is important, you don't wan tot be to far away from the convention as you have to carry your things, I don't mind a 15 minute walk but wouldn't go out to much further than a 20 minute walk as at the end of the day you are really tired.
I feel at the moment I am not advertising the fact I attend these convention, so other than my usual announce it on my blog and Facebook I would like to have a section on my website call upcoming events, where I will talk about events I am attending and what new work will be previewing there. I want to build more hype and start announcing on the social media pages about the conventions that I am goin and maybe start small promotional ways off attracting people like the first 50 people who visit my table get a free sticker that could contain my details and a illustration. So its almost like they will walk around and promote me at the same time they get a free small sticker of my art.
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