It’s official. We’ve gotten our table assignment for Awesome Con 2019! So, who’s going to be around DC on April 26-28 to visit M.L.S. Weech, Jessie, and me?

I guess it’s time to start laying out my con plans.

Our table will be near the center of Hall B, at table M-15. Hall B is relatively small compared to the much larger Hall A, so we won’t be lost in a sea of tables and signs as easily. We’re also close to the center pathway, so maybe we’ll get more eyes on our table?

I don’t really know how these floor plans impact foot traffic, and I don’t care much.

We also received a fairly detailed list of preparations to make for the convention. Most of it is pretty basic, like check-in and load-out procedures.

Some of it is not so basic, like finding reliable parking in DC, and accounting for appropriate sales tax. Their instructions advise us to reserve advanced parking. Yikes.

Operational Costs

Now, I’m not planning on making a profit from Awesome Con. I’m spending a hefty amount of money, and I only have one piece of merchandise to sell: my book.

The only reason this venture is even financially viable for me is that we are splitting the cost of our table three ways. Still, I should be a responsible indie author and track my expenditures and projected revenue.

The only known expenditure I have right now is the cost of the table and my artist badge. 

• Table cost ($350 split three ways): $117
• Artist badge: $95

On top of that, I’ll have to order my merch and freebies:

• Books — I’m thinking 30 as a slightly optimistic goal to sell at the convention, but I’ll probably order more just to have extras on hand.
• Fliers for “The Grand Mythos”, just in case any convention-goers are on Wattpad and like free stories
• Bookmarks as freebies
• Possibly a banner, although I may be cutting it too close at this point, and I’m okay with not having a banner for my very first convention. You know what, I’ve convinced myself. No banner.

That already puts my convention cost at several hundred dollars. I’ll be selling my books at the event for $10 each, with a profit of about $2.70 over printing/shipping costs.

That means I would have to sell 150+ books just to break even from Awesome Con. I’m only bringing 30 books, so that’ obviously not happening.

Hopefully, some convention peeps will check out my book after the event and order it online, which would be amazing.

So aside from selling the inventory I bring to the event, my other goal for Awesome Con is to see a bump in sales immediately following, even if it’s just for a week or two temporarily.

That’s what my freebies are for. By handing out bookmarks and fliers and talking to people, I can try to be memorable enough in some minds that a few of them decide to read my Wattpad series or even buy my book online.

Considering all of that, and the fact that I will not break even on this event for a long time (if ever), I can project some tentative goals for Awesome Con:

1. Sell 30 books at the event
2. Hand out a couple hundred freebies (bookmarks and fliers). I still need to order these, so I’m not sure of the quantity yet.
3. Sell some books online after the event
4. See bumps in Goodreads follows/to-reads and website traffic

This will obviously change depending on how Awesome Con goes. If I don’t sell out of my inventory, that will make a huge difference.

Excitement!

I’ll have a clearer picture of all of this once I actually order my materials. I’ll do a full rundown of my materials, costs, and some firmer goals then.

What I do know for certain is that I’m attending my first convention as a real-live-author in five weeks. Regardless of my book sales, I just want to enjoy it.

Steve D