Grumpy, Part II

[ellenmillion]

Argh!

Having another spinning-my-wheels kind of a day.

Didn't art first, but I painted a few hours last night, so I consider that okay.

I have orders to go fill, and plane tickets and hotels to reserve, and this darn book to finish, and SO many emails to write back to, and... and... and...

It's rainy and misty and my back hurts, and I just want to curl up on the couch with the cat and pout.

My cryptic ego-smooshing last night was the results of InConJunction. I sold a whopping $5. I wasn't really expecting to sell *everything*, but I wasn't exactly hoping to lose $51, ya know? It was my first mail-in Con, and either a) I did something wrong, b) My art does not sell, or c) the Con stunk. In today's mood, naturally I'm leaning towards a or b... but it won't keep me down for long.

In fact, here, have an auction: My first ACEO original. Have some original Ellen art, starting at .99!

Only black and white, but if bidding goes high enough, I'll custom color it. Hmm.. shoulda put OOAK in the title, probably. Any input welcome. I might not bite. I've got two more I might post, and two LEs at home to eventually post, too. We'll see how these go - they sure are fun! I might do some for trade even if I can't sell 'em.

'Nuff fun stuff, gotta run into town and do orders and EMG pay now. Soooo behind.

Comments

[jenelycam.livejournal.com]

*MORE HUGS FOR YOU!!!!* And your ACEO looks great!! Good luck on the auction!!!

[hippiechic567.livejournal.com]

Very nice Ellen!Those little cards are fun, aren't they?! Good luck with yours!

[celticwren.livejournal.com]

"My cryptic ego-smooshing last night was the results of InConJunction. I sold a whopping $5. I wasn't really expecting to sell *everything*, but I wasn't exactly hoping to lose $51, ya know? It was my first mail-in Con, and either a) I did something wrong, b) My art does not sell, or c) the Con stunk."

That sucks...
About the same thing happened to me at my first, and only Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention I entered (Balticon). At the end of three days I'd sold one measly print for $15 after spending about $50 to get into the place, another ten or so to get space to put originals up, and some more to have (3 different)prints avalible... Oh and plane tickets from AZ (of course I got a visit to my sweetheart out of this so...). And not to mention the discouragement of seeing all the other artwork get bids, I think most of those were lithos (for the art gallery things were supposed to be originals or limited edition litho things). That is when I started thinking of my art as being "Pastel" compared to stuff I saw. And this is also why I haven't been back to a convention of the Sci _Fi nature. The ONLY way they would get me to go back to that thing is if Larry Elmore was going to be the Guest of Honor ( the other reason why I'd gone, Wendy and Richard Pini were there, I was at the end of my Elfquest craze).

The one good thing is that I sold three of the prints after the convention to other people I knew ( they all liked this one certain one).

[flasher.livejournal.com]

Ellen, a lousy first showing at a con is pretty normal. I've talked to a lot of con regulars and have been showing at them ~3 years now. Most of them say it takes at least 2 years at the same con to actually start selling well and, from what I've experienced, its the truth. Theresa Mathers sat down over dinner with me a few years back and gave me an education about how cons work. Her advice boiled down to "Do the con two or three times. If you still aren't selling, then take a look for flaws in your art".

Buyers want to see if you are a fly-by-night or if you're going to stick around. My first con, a local one here in Boston, I sold nothing. Second con, same city and a month later, I sold two prints. The following year, I sold half my panels at both of them and last year, 5 out of 8 originals at WorldCon, which was also in Boston. So don't be too upset if you didn't do well the first time out. Its pretty normal.

Just as a warning, DragonCon has always done horrible for me for everything but prints. No matter how much Patrick tries to pump it up, DragonCon is still mainly attended by college students and they just DON'T have the money to buy originals. Average sale down there is less than $50. If you're going there, stock your panels with little shit and prints if you actually want to sell. I decided its not worth it this year. All the jurying is just a pain in the ass for a con that averages <$100 in sales per artist. Unless you are Nene or Theresa, its not a high paying con.

WorldCon, when its in the US, is a GREAT place to send your big pricey originals. Everyone and their brother is there AND its an expensive con to attend, so the buyers already have to have money to even show up. That has been my best paying con ever and I can't wait for it to get back to the US. I'm not quite willing to ship to England this year, though.

Moral of the story, don't loose heart just because your first con went *splat*. Like anything, they take time.

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for letting me know all of this! How incredibly helpful! :)

[flasher.livejournal.com]

Not a problem. I remember how utterly heart broken I was coming home from that first con with all my stuff unsold. The guys over at the yahoo group held my hand through it and they were right. Things do get much better second time around. I'm not raking it in at the conventions but I can normally at least cover my panel fees and mail in costs. It just took a few years to get stuff moving.