This past weekend we were at San Fernando Valley Comic Con,and I wanted to do another live edition specifically about small cons. Whenpeople think of going to cons, they always think of big cons like San Diego orNew York, but we build a lot of our business through smaller cons. These arecons that happen at local rec centers, community centers, or comic shops even.

The reason I love them personally is because they cost is somuch less and thus the pressure is off. I don’t have to worry about outlaying$500+ for a table. The table fees are usually well under $100 for a table. Manyof them are under $20, and if you do store signing you will probably findtables for free.

And that means you can do what you are there to do, which isbuild an audience, and talk to fans. Because there are not thousands of peoplewalking through the hall you can have real conversations with your audience,and they build that know, like, trust with you much quicker. Do you get as manypeople, no. But it’s not always about quantity. It can be about quality too.

Additionally, you don’t have to fight with hundreds of othervendors doing the exact same things as you. At these smaller cons you areusually one of a couple, if not the only person there doing what you do. Sopeople what want your kind of work are more likely to buy from you.

There are also less celebrities and other big name people atthese cons, so you don’t have to fight with them for your customer’s preciousmoney. Speaking of money, it’s also much cheaper (if not free) to attend thesecons meaning the people there have more money to spend on the vendors.

Small cons are a great way to build your chops and yourbrand. If you fail at these small cons, there is much less worry than failingat a big one. And you need to fail a lot before you can get good. So the morecons your do on a small level, the better.

First we talked to Daniel De Sosa, who I actually met at SanFernando Valley Comic Con in November. He’s a great guy who’s been conningforever. Super talented too. You can find him at backwardsburd.com and bysearching for desosaink on facebook and Instagram.

Then we talked to Lenny Romero, and awesome artist at onlyhis fifth con, so it was great to see how these small cons were helping him.You can find him on instagram @lenzations.

Third, we talked to Steve Waldinger. Steve didn’t have muchof his own merch at the table, but he was sharing with the Lady Beaver. Theywere just getting started too at cons, and this was only their second show.They did Long Beach Comic Expo in February, so it was great to see themcompare. There is so much less pressure at these small shows when you don’thave much product too. You can find him on twitter and Instagram @stevewaldinger.

Fourth, we talked to Erika Lipkes, the Lady Beaver herself. Shedoes zines and paintings, stickers and other awesome art. I love seeing zinepeople at cons because you don’t see them often at bigger cons. Again, thecosts are just so high there’s very little chance of making money, especiallywith the amount of time it takes to make these things by hand from scratch.However, she did Long Beach Comic Expo too, so it was nice to see her comparethe two. I loved that one of her students came to see the show too! That’s whatyou can do when the show costs very little to attend. You can find her onlineat ladybeaver.com.

Finally we talked to Allen Carter. I see Allen at tons ofshows all over the place. Almost every time there is a con he’s be there. Heeven tells me about lots of cons. So it was great to hear him talk about hisbooks, trades, zines, and other work. You can find him online at the cartercomics or the figure of speech mongoose where he does a Mongoose Mondaychallenge every single week. Check it out.

And that’s it. I really appreciate everybody taking a coupleminutes to talk to me. Small cons are so important. The people are nice andgracious, and it’s nice to have sometimes 10 minute conversations with a singlefan.