Chicago’s first big comic convention of the season wrapped up yesterday. I attempted to purchase a table to exhibit my work but was turned down. Not because the request was late, but because artist alley exhibit space is not decided on a first come first served basis but rather by some other criteria determined by the folks that run the con. I can only imagine they pick those exhibitors based on popularity. Which makes sense I guess if you’re trying to attract the largest amount of fans you would like to have the creators with the largest fan bases do your show. Whatever. At least they were kind enough to throw me a bone in the form of a pro pass for Friday. The pro pass used to be for all three days but hey, it’s a free pass so I’m grateful for that. Several of my friends that are artists & writers were also denied a table and they were not even offered the one day pass.
So basically I went last Friday mostly as a fan, but still looking to attend as many panel discussions that were relevant to things I’m trying to accomplish. Turns out there were only three, two of which were scheduled at the same time in different rooms. In spite of all that I was able to learn a few things, do a little networking and pick up a few books for my silver age collection and some indie books I’ve been looking for.
With so many creators out there space at conventions is going to be hard to come by. That means those of us still building a fan base are going to have to get creative in promoting our work. Stay tuned…
