Cincinnati Comic Expo: A Recap

It's been two weeks since the start of the Cincinnati Comic Expo, which was held at the Duke Energy Convention Center in Downtown Cincinnati from September 22-24. It was my first time attending, so I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since I was a vendor selling my own books. Would any attendees be interested in supernatural suspense novels? I figured they would be, but I didn't know, so some risk was involved there. I did split the cost of an exhibitor booth with fellow author A. Charles Ross, which turned out to be a splendid idea since one of us could hold down the fort while the other went exploring the rest of the Expo.

As it turned out, I sold enough books to cover the cost of my half of the table (but not the exorbitant cost of parking--alas!). Overall, it was a great investment. I came SO CLOSE to breaking even, and since I'll have a new book out soon, next year I will probably do even better.

Here are a few things I did that I think helped with sales.

1. I marked down the cost of my books.

I normally sell my trade paperbacks for $17, which includes sales tax. For the Comic Expo, I marked the price down to $15 including tax and had signs clearly stating that this was a Special Convention Price. This gave people a reason to buy my books right then and not later.

2. I made signs summarizing each book.

I typed up a brief summary of each book I had for sale and listed authors and TV shows that were similar to each story. This helped tell people about the books for those times when I couldn't be in the booth to talk about them myself.

3. I bribed people with cool bags.

I ordered a hefty batch of reusable shopping bags with my name and website on them (Big shout-out to Uncover Creative for designing them!), then made a sign telling people that they could get a free bag if they bought three or more of my books. I had at least five people take me up on the offer, which amounted to quite a few books sold!

4. I handed out bookmarks.

Foot traffic was a little slow during certain times at the Expo. During those instances, A. Charles Ross and I stood out in front of our booth passing bookmarks out to the few people passing us by. One man who would have passed us by without looking ended up buying ALL of our titles after we gave him free bookmarks. Not too shabby!

5. I had clearly-marked signage.

I recently had my publisher, BHC Press, design a table drape and retractable banner (a.k.a. My Giant Face) for my events. The table drape and banner clearly state that I write supernatural suspense, and My Giant Face on the banner was so captivating that one girl saw it from across the room and thought it was her own face that someone stole off the internet and turned into a banner. (She had brown hair and glasses, too.) Another woman noticed My Giant Face and said that I looked like I could be one of her sisters. My doppelgangers didn't buy any books, but at least I know that my retractable banner is noticeable!

6. I talked to lots and lots and lots of people.

In fact, I talked to so many people that my throat was raw and rasping by the time the Expo was over. I used about 70,000 cough drops over the weekend just to maintain the ability to speak. I still sounded like a frog as the event came to a close. But that's good--that means so many more people know about my books now!

In all, I sold 15 copies of Ordinary Souls, 10 copies of Rage's Echo, 6 copies of Servant, and 5 copies of Sacrifice. I can use these numbers as a benchmark to surpass at next year's Cincinnati Comic Expo.

Have any of you sold books at conventions? What tips would you add here?