This weekend was
Thought Bubble, the comic convention in Harrogate which has grown to become the biggest of its kind, and which I was attending for the first time in a decade. In fact when last I went it was held in Leeds, in a venue that was still called the Savile Hall and had pictures of Mr Jim'll Fix It all over the walls. Yes, that long ago.
This competed a trifecta of comic festival weekends that began with Coventry in September, and was followed by The Lakes in October. Though I've also done one day events in Clevedon, Bristol, and Bath, and classes at the Shrewsbury comic festival and Bourneville book festival, these were The Big Three comic conventions and for all of them I was behind a table selling my books to the public. So, how did the three compare?
Coventry, which I recorded in detail in my blog, was my big return to cons. An older generation remember me as the guy who used to run the Bristol comic festivals, but I'm well aware that that was 20 years ago and I feel like a bit of an outsider at these things. So Coventry was the most welcoming of events, being small, organised by Shane Chebsey who I know well, and being peopled by star creators who'd all recently done my Comic Cuts podcast (messrs Howell, Leong, Smith and Berry). There was ample opportunity to socialise, and I spent most of that time with Tony Lee, who I've not seen for years and who invites me regularly to LFCC in London which keeps getting cancelled but which I'll make it to soon. So Coventry was great and made me feel like a proper comic creator. And I sold a lot of books.
The Lakes, which I managed to not get round to blogging about, was a much bigger event in Kendal. I'd been to the first two Lakes, at which I did my classes (here's my blog from 2014's event), but have missed it every year since. I sold more books than Coventry (see details below), met lots more people from behind my table, then enjoyed two good nights of socialising. Having Brewery Arts Centre as a main location, and treating things as if Covid 19 had totally gone away, meant that we could party and chinwag like the good old days. The Saturday included going onto a venue called the Speakeasy which was hidden above a shop, and where we could drink later than elsewhere. And I was reunited with the Rockmans, Zoom and Ace and their parents, who are very much the superstars of the future.
Which bring us to the third, and last, comic festival of the season, Thought Bubble in Harrogate. As with the Lakes, I funded my trip up by doing a string of classes en route. Classes in Thirsk, York and Leeds on the way up, and Ripon on the way down, made it a very busy but profitable week. Once set up in Harrogate, in the massive convention centre, I found myself surrounded by more comic creators than I think I've ever seen in one place before. Certainly way more than ever came to the Bristol events that I used to run. Here's the floorplan of my hall, which was one of three:
I sold lots of books. Indeed my Saturday takings were the best single day of any of my convention appearances so far. And I got to chat with lots of the public, and a good few creators when they breezed past my table. But one big thing was missing from Thought Bubble - there was no party or social event.
I learned subsequently that there had been some sort of informal get together on the Friday night, but it wasn't officially promoted and I missed it, which was a shame. And throughout Saturday I, and many of us, kept asking each other where the Place To Be would be that night, and answer came there none. In the end I had a pleasant enough time sat around with a half dozen friends talking comics. But what I missed was the opportunity to network, to meet and be introduced to new people. In short I missed my favourite phrases "have you met..?" and "can I introduce you to..?"
A comic convention without a Saturday night networking event is basically two consecutive comic marts with a gap in the middle.
Hopefully, once we're all more relaxed about the Covid situation, parties will return to the big events. as it was, Thought Bubble was the strictest of the three events as far as mask wearing was concerned (most people were wearing them most of the time, which had not been the case at all at the previous shows) and obviously felt unable to offer an evening event for those cautious reasons.
(Here's my table in the Comics Clocktower at the Lakes)
So, how did I do in the all important selling of comic books? Well, luckily I have a very good record of that thanks to my iZettle card reading machine, which logs every card sale, and what products were sold. Sales by cash, sadly, aren't logged the same way, I just know the total taken but don't record which books sold. Since 90% of sales are by card, this is enough of a record for me.
Clevedon Literary Fest, June 12 - £130
Bristol "comic con" Ashton Gate, July 11 - £101
Bourneville Book Fest, Sept 12 - £69
Meanwhile In Coventry, Sept 18 £99, Sept 19 £129 = £238
Bath "comic con", Sept 26 - £90
The Lakes Comic Fest, Oct 16 - £157, Oct 17 - £190 = £347
Thought Bubble Harrogate, Nov 13 - £191, Nov 14 - £120 = £311
There had been talk, well a blog post by Rich Johnstone, which suggested we were all going to sell more comics at Thought Bubble than we could imagine, and that we'd sell out on the first day so should bring more stock. This turned out to be hyperbole, certainly in my case. I sold the most at The Lakes in total, with the Sunday of Thought Bubble actually seeing fewer sales than Clevedon Lit Fest in June. As you can see, I make way more from doing my Comic Art Masterclasses en route to the events than I made selling books, and I'll have to reconsider whether being stood behind a table from 10am to 5pm for a little over minimum wage is the best way of spending my time at a comic festival.
Clevedon Lit Fest:
Socks Superhero Comic - 12
Captain Clevedon - 7
Midsummer Night's Dream Team (MNDT) - 6
Prince Of Denmark Street (PODS) - 6
Findlay Macbeth - 5
Meanwhile In Coventry:
MNDT - 12
PODS - 9
FM - 6
Original art - 3 pages
Socks Superhero - 2
Hot Rod Cow - 2
Wallop Annual - 1
The Lakes:
FM - 19
MNDT - 17
PODS - 17
Colouring books - 7
Socks Superhero - 5
Socks Romeo & Juliet - 4
Hot Rod Cow - 4
Beano Annual - 1
Thought Bubble:
MNDT - 14
Colouring books - 13
FM - 13
PODS - 12
Wallop Annual - 1
Socks Romeo - 1
Socks Superhero - 1
The Pop Star Colouring Books were the hit of Thought Bubble, the 1980s edition selling all its 5 copies. Blank Comic Books are counted as Colouring Books, making up half the rest of that total. The Shakespeare books are the core of what I'm selling, and did best at The Lakes, where there was a higher proportion of familes with kids, who are my target audience.
It's worth noting that the attendees at Coventry and The Lakes had got in free, so we had more families and casual punters, to whom I can appeal best. Thought Bubbles attendees had paid £17 a ticket, so there were many more dedicated comic buyers, who knew the sort of thing they were looking for before they arrived, so weren't so easily attracted by my novel wares. I'm sure many other comic creators did their best business at Thought Bubble and I can see why.
In conclusion I want to continue going to comic conventions in 2022, the big ones and the small, but would like to try and see some panels - even be on them - if I can. I'd like to offer my classes as part of these festivals if I can, I possibly didn't even try and put them forward this year. And I'd like to feel these events give me the impetus to keep producing my books (I've told so many people about Twelfth Thing, which I started writing twelve months ago, that I really had better get on and finish it soon!).
I've also been booked to stage an episode of Comic Cuts The Panel Show at a literary event next year, so maybe I should be offering that to the comic festivals too.
Though Thought Bubble made me feel a bit of an outsider, The Lakes, Coventry and Shrewsbury made me feel welcomed back into the fold, and that's where I'd like to be. The comics world has become a big, exciting, creative family that I really want to be part of. I like to think they'll adopt me if I keep turning up at their door. Here's to all tomorrow's parties.
Kev F, Nov 2021
