Obsessing about the figures - Edfringe 09

Yesterday I got a bit obsessed by my sales figures in a way that I must try and stop doing. The first few nights of my show (SFSPT Goes To Hollywood, Gilded Balloon 22.15)were sellouts. This was quite dazzlingly brilliant and unprecedented for my shows and gave me delusions of adequacy, so it was galling when, on day four, my sales dropped and I ended up only 75% full.

I realised afterwards the reason. Last year I had, like every other show in my venue, had my show booked in with the first 4 shows at half price and the next two as 2 for 1. This year, somehow, I'd forgotten to do that. That meant that on Friday and Saturday, when my show sold out, I did so at full price, while everyone else was only taking half as much. However for Sunday and Monday, which are harder days to sell on, punters were seeing everyone else's shows listed as 2for1 tickets, mking mine prohibitively expensive.

So, on Sunday, when I ended up selling fewer tickets than I'd sold for the same night last year, I ended up making nearly twice as much money cos all my punters had paid full whack this time.

However Monday 10th was looking so poor (in advance, by the start of the run, it was the only show to have sold zero) that I had the box office change its tickets to 2for1s so I'd cost the same as everyone else. The drawback with that strategy was that the punters would only know I cost 2 for 1 if I told them personally. Which is why yesterday saw me doing my longest stint of flyering of the Fringe so far.

I ended up selling not badly, one ticket more than the previous night. The irony is, since all those people bought their tickets on the day and as a result of my flyering, they would most probably have bought them at full price if asked, rather than 2 for 1. So I went and worked myself silly, then cost myself a couple of hunded quid in potential dosh.

Today all shows revert to a level playing field, with all offers removed, and all shows on their normal price for weekdays, a bit more expensive at weekends. And we'll see how well I sell with absolutely no flyering, as from 10 till 4 today I will be giving my Comic Art Masterclass in a couple of librarires, in Granton and Muirhouse.

Happy flyering everyone else.