The Value Of Child Labor, Potatoes And Eighties Metal At WonderCon

Published Sat, 30 Mar 2013 14:00:03 -0500

Last updated Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:31:42 -0500

David Blake Lucarelli writes;

So today I took the leap from fan to creator, from convention attendee to exhibitor, selling the first issue of my comic book "The Children's Vampire Hunting Brigade," at Wondercon. As I promised in 'Twas the Night Before Wondercon, I'll give you the full report, the truth and nothing but.

First things first: I sold 15 copies of my comic, and one of my band Dame Fortune's CDs. Now, at face value that may seem like a paltry amount. I'm not gonna lie. I wish I'd sold more. But…having said that, I had a pretty amazing time today meeting people, and selling my book. Full disclosure, a couple of my sales were to people who I knew, friends of mine. But to the 13 people out there, who took a chance on an unknown man, and an unknown brand, and plunked down their hard earned cash based on a cursory flip through of my book, and an elevator pitch, I salute you. I hope you all read the book, and send me e-mails telling me what you liked about it, what you didn't like and everything in between.

Of all of the hundreds of people I interacted with today, everyone was friendly, and I learned a lot. I learned that even the hardest hearted con-goer has trouble refusing a free bookmark and fangs from my four-year old son.

I learned that many people were intrigued by my story based on a real life incident about the hundreds of school children who descended upon a Scottish cemetery looking for a vampire with iron teeth who killed a couple of local children, and the teenage boys who were drinking in that cemetery a half a century later, the night the vampires came back.

I learned that even people that didn't want to buy my book seemed to appreciate the elaborate diorama put together at my booth, many of them to the point of photographing it.

My strangest request of the day came from the Asian girl who insisted that I draw a potato in her sketch book even though I made it very clear that I'm only a writer, and not at all an artist.

My favorite customer of the day was the girl who bought both a copy of my book, and a CD of my band, whose love of Buffy and Neil Gaiman made her the perfect candidate to appreciate my comic, and by virtue of the fact that she grew up with her father owning a recording studio that recorded 80's metal bands, also the perfect candidate to appreciate my band.

So…tomorrow is the big day. The day that is sold out. I've honed and refined my pitch. Learned on the job how to be outgoing and friendly without hopefully ever descending to the pushy sick desperation of a carnival barker or used car salesman. I'll let you know how it goes. And if you find yourself at the Small Press Area of Wondercon, stop by and say hi to me at Abacab Comics Booth SP-74. I'll be the guy in the Flash Gordon shirt with a sparkle in his eye, and a cool new comic book to sell.

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