Monthly Archives: April 2011

Sorry, I’m not going to draw a five-part extravaganza like I did last year.
Instead, here’s a basic rundown on the MoCCA Art Festival, 2011 edition:

I had a great show.

My sales were great, I saw a ton of people I like, I met some new people, and I bought some great books.
The crowds never reached the ridiculous crush of last year, but it seemed plenty busy. I certainly had a steady stream of browsers all weekend.

Most years, I’ve shared a block of tables with a group of other gay cartoonists, but they all skipped MoCCA this year for various reasons, so I was by myself. I missed hanging out with my friends behind the table, but that was the only down note.

What I was selling
Here’s my table on Day 1:

I had three new books for sale – a new journal comic collection:

A collection of the first 15 Bar Scrawl strips:

And A to Z in the Monster Manual (which debuted at SPX in 2010, but was new to MoCCA):

I also had a painting for sale, which I’ve never done before. Behold, The Manatee with the Golden Gun:

Books that I bought:

I’m moving to a new apartment in a few days, so I restrained myself mightily in my purchases this year:
just a handful of mini-comics and Liz Baillie’s new Freewheel collection (it’s about runaway kids and magic hoboes – how can I resist?

I haven’t read all my minis yet, but so far the standouts are:

Smbitten: A Lady-Romance with Teeth, by Melanie Gillman

(that is one handsome mini-comic! Check out those pearls threaded in the binding! And the full-color art is super-pretty).

And:

Chickenbot’s Odd Jobs #1, by Eric H., which is really charming and funny, and if I had read it before the end of the convention I would have come back to buy numbers 2, 3, 4.

Also, I scored an Advance Reader’s Copy of Dave Roman’s Astronaut Academy, which rocks so hard I can hardly believe it.
I’ve been reading mini-comics about these space-kid adventures for a couple of years now, but this volume is gorgeous and jammed with almost 200+ pages of awesome.
You can buy it starting in June, and you should do so.
That’s nice. But how were your sales?

I spent some time last year breaking down my convention sales, and a couple of people have asked me to update those numbers. So:

In terms of sales, MoCCA 2011 was my best show ever.  Here’s a photo of my sales tracker:

I sold 102 mini-comics in two days ($3 each, or 2 for $5), plus two t-shirts ($15 each) and one painting ($40).
Total cash at the end of the weekend: $385.
(Note: those numbers don’t add up, so I think I forgot to record some sales.)

I didn’t sell any copies of my giant $25 book, or any copies of the ‘Zinesters Travel Guide to NYC (a $10 book I did some illustrations for)

My half-table cost $200 (I’m a member of MoCCA, so I get a discounted rate), and I spent about $70 at the print shop, so I still came out ahead for the weekend.
I’m splitting a table with a friend next year, so my share will be just $177.50. All three of my new books sold well, but “Bar Scrawl” was the clear winner, with a whopping 28 copies sold (the only comic that’s ever sold better for me was “Brood” at last year’s MoCCA, with 29 copies). And I definitely want to create and sell more original art.
That painting of the sinister manatee drew a lot of attention to my table, some of which I converted into sales of “A to Z in the Monster Manual”, which has a similarly cute style. And the guy who bought it….

…was so happy that it was totally adorable.
Him: Forty dollars? Man, I want it so much …  it’s such a gorgeous print…
Me: Actually, it’s not a print. That’s the original artwork.”
Him: “SOLD!”

Several of my friends told me that I under-priced that painting. I have no idea how to determine that sort of thing.
Maybe I’ll raise prices until nothing sells, then bring them back down again?
I know that I’ve bought better artwork for less money, but what do I know?

And here’s the current chart on comic sales:

And the income chart:

Yeah, I’m pretty happy with how things are going.

What did you think?